A7sus4 Chord on Guitar: Open Shapes and Wonderwall Voicing

Q: How do you play A7sus4 on guitar?

The simplest shape is x02030 : first finger on the D string at fret 2, third finger on the B string at fret 3, with the A, G and high E strings open. Strum from the A string and leave the low E silent.

Q: What notes are in an A7sus4 chord?

Four: A, D, E and G . Root, fourth, fifth and minor seventh. There is no third (no C#), so the chord is neither major nor minor.

Q: What is the difference between Asus4 and A7sus4?

A7sus4 adds G , the minor seventh. Asus4 sounds tense and wants to fall back to A. A7sus4 sounds wider and more open, and it tends to move on, often toward D.

Q: How do you play A7sus4 in Wonderwall?

With the capo at the second fret, play x02033 or x02233 . The third and fourth fingers stay on the B and high E strings at fret 3 for every chord of the loop, so only the lower fingers move.

A7sus4 is the suspended chord behind some of the best known acoustic guitar parts. It is an A7 whose third, C#, has been replaced by D, the fourth. Without a third it is neither major nor minor; it just hangs there, open, waiting for the next chord. The good news: the open shapes take two to four fingers, and one of them shares its top two fingers with half the chords of a folk song.

A7sus4 chord: notes and shapes at a glance

Name: A dominant seventh suspended fourth
Symbol: A7sus4
Notes: A, D, E, G

Each shape below is written from the thickest string to the thinnest: a number is the fret, 0 an open string, x a string you do not play. New to this? See how to read chord diagrams.

Shape	Frets, low E to high E	Notes, low to high	What it is for
A7sus4, open	`x02030`	A E G D E	The plainest A7sus4: two fingers, with the open G string as the seventh.
A7sus4, G on top	`x02033`	A E G D G	Same chord with G doubled on the high E. The third and fourth fingers sit at fret 3, where the anchor shapes keep them.
A7sus4, Wonderwall voicing	`x02233`	A E A D G	A on the G string instead of the open G. Fuller, and the top two fingers never move.
A7sus4, fifth fret barre	`575755`	A E G D E A	The E7sus4 shape barred at the fifth fret. All six strings, movable to any root.

A7sus4, open x 0 2 0 3 0 · · 1 · 3 · fingers

A7sus4, G on top x 0 2 0 3 3 · · 1 · 3 4 fingers

A7sus4, Wonderwall voicing x 0 2 2 3 3 · · 1 2 3 4 fingers

A7sus4, fifth fret barre 5 7 5 7 5 5 1 3 1 4 1 1 fingers

Read each diagram from the thickest string on the left to the thinnest on the right. A cross means the string is not played, a circle means it rings open.

A7sus4 on the neck: every A, D, E, G

Standard tuning, frets 0 to 12. The highlighted notes are the notes of A7sus4: any shape you build from them, anywhere on the neck, is still A7sus4.

Fretboard notes

Swipe the fretboard sideways to see every fret.

1 - E

2 - B

3 - G

4 - D

5 - A

6 - E

How to play A7sus4, step by step

Start with the open shape, x02030.

First finger on the fourth string (D) at fret 2: E, the fifth.
Third finger on the second string (B) at fret 3: D, the fourth, the suspended note.
Open G string: G, the seventh. Open A for the root, open high E on top.
Strum from the A string. The low E stays silent.

Then add the fourth finger on the high E at fret 3 (x02033) and listen: the same chord, with G doubled on top. For the fullest version, put the second finger on the G string at fret 2 as well (x02233). That is the voicing many players know from Wonderwall.

Keep the third finger arched on x02030. If it lies flat it touches the high E, and the open string the chord depends on goes quiet.

The two fingers that never move

In x02033 and x02233, the third and fourth fingers sit at fret 3 on the B and high E strings: D and G. Those two notes also belong to Em7, G, Dsus4 and Cadd9. Keep both fingers planted and only the lower fingers change.

Chord	Shape	What moves
Em7	`022033`	First and second fingers on the A and D strings at fret 2
G	`320033`	Second finger on the low E at 3, first on the A string at 2
Dsus4	`xx0233`	First finger on the G string at fret 2
A7sus4	`x02033`	First finger on the D string at fret 2
Cadd9	`x32033`	Second finger on the A string at 3, first on the D string at 2

This is why those songs feel so smooth to play: the top of the chord never changes, the bass and middle move underneath it.

Where you hear A7sus4

Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here is played without a capo, and its chords are Em7, G, A7sus4, C, D/F#, Am/E and Am. In the intro, A7sus4 follows Em7 and G: you hear the real chord, at its real pitch.

Oasis's Wonderwall uses the A7sus4 shape with a capo at the second fret, in a loop with Em7, G, Dsus4 and Cadd9. With the capo, every shape sounds a whole step higher, so what the record plays is technically B7sus4. The fingering is the same, and that is what matters when you learn it. The capo chart shows how any shape transposes.

Where A7sus4 goes next

A7sus4 behaves like the V chord of D with its tension held. The D wants to drop to C#; the G wants to fall to F#. Each of these moves lets out some of that tension.

Change	Shapes	What happens
A7sus4, A7	`x02030` to `x02020`	The suspension resolves: D falls to C#, one fret.
A7sus4, A7, D	`x02030`, `x02020`, `xx0232`	The full cadence into D.
A7sus4, D	`x02030` to `xx0232`	Skip the A7: the D on the B string becomes the root.
Asus4, A7sus4	`x02230` to `x02030`	Lift the finger on the G string and the seventh appears. See Asus4.

The same family exists on other roots: E7sus4 and D7sus4 work the same way.

Other A chords

A chord (A C# E)
Am chord (A C E)
Am/G# chord (A C E G#)
A7 chord (A C# E G)
Amaj7 chord (A C# E G#)
Am7 chord (A C E G)
Am7/G chord (A C E G)
Am7b5 chord (A C Eb G)
A6 chord (A C# E F#)
Am6 chord (A C E F#)
Aadd9 chord (A C# E B)
Am(add9) chord (A C E B)
Asus2 chord (A B E)
Asus4 chord (A D E)
A9 chord (A C# E G B)

7sus4 chords

D7sus4 chord (D G A C)
E7sus4 chord (E A B D)

Frequently asked questions

How do you play A7sus4 on guitar?

The simplest shape is x02030: first finger on the D string at fret 2, third finger on the B string at fret 3, with the A, G and high E strings open. Strum from the A string and leave the low E silent.

What notes are in an A7sus4 chord?

Four: A, D, E and G. Root, fourth, fifth and minor seventh. There is no third (no C#), so the chord is neither major nor minor.

What is the difference between Asus4 and A7sus4?

A7sus4 adds G, the minor seventh. Asus4 sounds tense and wants to fall back to A. A7sus4 sounds wider and more open, and it tends to move on, often toward D.

How do you play A7sus4 in Wonderwall?

With the capo at the second fret, play x02033 or x02233. The third and fourth fingers stay on the B and high E strings at fret 3 for every chord of the loop, so only the lower fingers move.

How does A7sus4 resolve?

The D in the chord is suspended: it wants to fall a half step to C#. Play A7sus4 then A7 (x02020) and you hear it settle. From there, A7 leads naturally to D.

Yohann Abbou, guitar teacher and founder of Guitar Social Club

Who made this

Guitar Social Club is the work of Yohann Abbou, a guitar teacher in Paris who teaches adults. Every shape on this page is written string by string and checked against standard tuning, and the diagrams are drawn from those same fret numbers. The rest of our free guitar tools, including the chord finder, work the same way.

More about Yohann on his page, and about why Guitar Social Club exists.

The A7sus4 chord on guitar, open shapes and Wonderwall