Music Theory Problems...Sus2sus4-minor 3rd and 6th interval confusion..Help!

Hey Everyone,
This is my first post on the board, and unfortunately it's probably going to be a little long and confusing.
I greatly appreciate all help in advance!

Currently I'm reading a book by Jimmy Webb called "Tunesmith". It's about writing songs. I'm in the middle of some theory stuff and I've come to a road block I don't know how to get through.

Basically the writer is explaining the construction of a Csus2sus4 chord.

He explained using the 4th tone instead of the 3rd for a Csus4.

He explained using the 2nd tone instead of the 3rd for a Csus2

I get confused when he starts to talk about the sus4sus2.

I do understand that to create a sus4sus2 you use the 2nd tone instead of the third tone, and the 4th tone instead of the 5th tone. The chord he uses as an example in his book looks like this....

--------------

--------------

--------------

G Clef--------------
0
--------------
0
--0--

(this is how it looks on sheet music, so imagine this like sheet music and the final note is on a ledger line)

This is where I get confused.
He says that the interval between the 2nd suspended tone and the 4th suspended tone is a minor third.
He also says this minor third is one and one half steps.

Because were talking about a C chord the 2nd and 4th are....
2nd= D
4th=F
So we count up from D...D#(1) E(2) E#(3)
Sure enough that is 3 half steps.
But why is it a "minor" third and not just a third?

He then says to invert (revoice) the minor third by placing the D above the F.
He says that now the interval between the 4th and 2nd tones is a sixth.
He says a sixth is 8 half steps.
4th=F, 2nd=D

F#(1) G(2) G#(3) A(4) A#(5) B(6) C(7) C#(8)
And it comes out to 8 steps.

Now here is what I REALLY don't get....
He says that with this revoicing, the C major triad is inverted as well.
The next chord example (labeled as a sus2sus4) he shows looks like this...

--------------

-------0------

--------------

G Clef------ 0-----
0
-------------

What I don't get is that this is supposed to be a Csus4sus2, but there is no C note at all! there is an F, G, and a D.
2nd, 4th, and 5th tones.
Where did the root go and why is it not in the chord?

Shouldn't the revoicing of the sus4sus2 look like this?

--------------

-------0------
0
--------------

G Clef------------
0
-------------

It gets more confusing for me when he resolves the suspension.
The resolved suspension is a revoicing of the C triad...but the C tone is back.
Here is the resolved chord...
-------------

------------
0
-------------

G Clef ------0-----

------0------

Sorry this post is so long!! Can anyone help me understand why the C is missing from the revoiced Csus2sus4 and why the 3rd between the 2nd and 4th tones is minor?
Any other help is also encouraged and I'm very thankful for your help in advance.
-Daniel

You are absolutely right. That post was very confusing.

Ok why the C is missing - This book is for guitar that you're using right? Wheen looking at chords for guitar, the root is actually one of the least important notes of a chord. It's very weird but I'll elaborate -

When you think about guitar, you usually play it in a band, and you have a bass player. The bass almost always has the root of the chord when he or she is playing. So a lot of guitar players figure - what's the point of repeating the root? The bass has already got it... So now I (as a guitarist) get to bring out all the other notes of the chord!

Also you said that was an inversion. Some inversions, like in some piano chord books, don't include the roots. Usually you can still use the chord in the exact same way, because you have a bass player playing the root.

NEXT - I am sort of confused about what you meant about the 3rd is minor. But I'll try to answer. If you say a chord's root, and nothing else, then you automatically assume it is major. Like a "C chord" is automatically C major. This is true for intervals to. If you say the third in that - it means major 3rd. A major 3rd is 4 half steps from the root. You have 3 half steps - this means it's got to be a minor 3rd. Intervals can't be "nothing." They are either minor, major, augmented, perfect or diminished. It's sort of confusing at first. Eventually you'll be able to grasp the concept.

Later!

Yeah that was confusing. I see where the logic comes from, it's just explained wrong. I think it's what Ace explained as the root is usually on the bass guitar. That's why it's not in the chord. But any chord can be substituted with another chord, which is another thing that person was trying to explain.

However I don't agree with the idea that the root is the least important note in a chord. They are all evenly important to this concept.

In fact the most important notes are the root and the third when it comes to basic substitution because the relationship between the root and third is what makes up major and minor chords. Like the notes of C major, C and E. Any chord with C and E in it can sub for the C major chord. Typical example is A minor.

Another common subsititution is for the dominant 7 chord, which is (not the tri-tone bII7) but VIIo7 chord. Which is handy because this chord is a powerful modulation tool. Since any note in this chord can act as the root, or leading tone to another key. Usually this sub is not seen this way, but instead as a V7b9 chord, and almost always in first inversion (3rd in the bass).

noticing that wasn't what I meant. In general, I find the root to be the most important note of the chord. But when you play with a band, the bass gets that, like I said. So in terms of guitar chords (of guitarists that play with basses, or some other bass section), the root is ONE OF the least important notes for the GUITAR to cover, not the chord in general.

I may have also sounded a little biased towards that I idea, because I play in a big jazz band - and between piano, bass guitar, tuba, trombone and bari sax - the root note is not needed to be repeated by me.

Yeah I know but it can still cut ya short when thinking of the guitar mixed with other instruments. There's just more to it than just avoid doubling the root note. It's a good thing to double the root if it happens to be the tonic, subdominant, or dominant note in the key. Same thing with inversions, take a ii chord in first inversion (which is the sub-dom note). The sub-dominant note is then doubled, rather than the root. So here you might find the bass player and the guitarists doubling the bass note. You also can't always expect the bass player to just play the root, especially in jazz. So I wouldn't just avoid doubling the root in the chord, but instead do so and let the bass find the inversion on some chords. Especially if it's a melodic step from the last chord. Think of it as what you can do not what you can't do. You can leave the root for the bass player, not that you can't doubled the root in the chord you want.

I know that... I'm just saying from personal experience that the root note doesn't need to be played by me.

I actually do play with a root a lot, it helps me when I practice to here where it goes.