I cannot find these chords in my piano chord manual and think they may have alternative notations. What is an Es or As chord?

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    Might be sus4 chords if I had to guess off the top of my head. Can you post the context? – Dom Oct 31 '14 at 19:11
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    would be easier to guess if there was piano notation to go with it... – Tetsujin Oct 31 '14 at 19:40
  • So, where DID you find them ? – Tim Oct 31 '14 at 21:38
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    @MatthewRead: why did you delete my answer? It was posted before the other (equivalent) answer by dennisdeems. – Matt L. Nov 1 '14 at 10:38
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    @MattL. I'm really sorry about that, I must have misread the timestamps. I've upvoted your answer, I agree with it. – Matthew Read Nov 2 '14 at 0:45

I agree that it's probably a sus4 chord, but if it's hand-written, could the "s" possibly be a "5" and it's a power chord? Only other kind of far-out thought...

  • No, says "Es". Probably sus4 indeed. – h22 Oct 31 '14 at 20:08
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    Why is this chosen answer while other answers are clearly better? It's German naming for sure. – Wookie88 Mar 28 '18 at 8:12

Is this handwritten or printed? Is the notation of German origin? In German, the notes E flat and A flat are called Es and As.

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    While "-is" is the suffix used for sharp (i. e. C sharp is Cis in German), flat translates to either "-es" (Ces for C flat) or "-s" for other cases, like Es and As. Also, B is called H in German - while the German B corresponds to English B flat. – david.mihola Oct 31 '14 at 22:00
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    @david.mihola - the flat in German for A and E is 's'. Strange that there are Ces, Des, and Ges only. C flat being B, but in German that's B. B flat is just B. Confusing, if you're not German... I need to know where on the stave the H line or space is !! – Tim Oct 31 '14 at 22:20
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    It's not just Germany, but some other European countries too (see this answer). For us, the B/Bb system is the confusing one. – molnarm Nov 1 '14 at 11:36
  • It is handwritten but looks much more like Es than like E5. – h22 Nov 1 '14 at 14:10
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    @AudriusMeškauskas: Then why is the the answer that suggests it means E5 the accepted one? – O. R. Mapper Nov 2 '14 at 9:50

Could it maybe be German (or Dutch)? Because in this case it would mean Eb and Ab (i.e. E flat and A flat). And in this case 'Es' would refer to an Eb major triad, and 'As' refers to an Ab major triad.

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    c.f. this list of key names in different languages library.yale.edu/cataloging/music/keylang.htm – Dave Nov 2 '14 at 16:16
  • I think so. Indonesia seems to have picked it up from Dutch, and the examples you mentioned above are true for Indonesia as well. – mey Jan 26 '15 at 2:46

After doing a little bit of digging, I found a source* that uses the s instead of the full sus symbol to notate a suspended chord. They always put the number next to it, but a sus alone indicates a sus4 so I would imagine that they would be equivalent. I would still like to see the context just to be sure but I think it is pretty likely.

* I don't really like or agree with a good chunk of the notation that this page uses, but shows the possibility of a sus being notated that way.

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