Sus4 chords: tension and release

Play a D chord, add one finger on the first string, take it away again. That little push and release is a sus4, and you have heard it in countless songs without knowing its name. Sus4 chords are the simplest way to put movement inside a chord: a moment of tension that resolves straight back home. This page covers how they are built, the open and barre shapes, the 7sus4 chords that add a seventh, and how to use them without overdoing it.

What a sus4 chord is

A sus4 chord replaces the third with the fourth. The formula is 1, 4, 5: root, perfect fourth, perfect fifth.

The fourth sits a half step above the major third, and that closeness is what drives the chord. The fourth sounds like a note leaning on its neighbor, and the ear expects it to slip down to the third. When it does, the suspended chord resolves into the plain major chord, and you feel the release. That is the whole idea of "suspended": the third is not gone, it is delayed.

The open sus4 shapes

Dsus4, Asus4 and Esus4 are each one finger away from the major chord. Dsus4 adds the fourth finger on the first string. Asus4 moves the note on the second string up one fret. Esus4 moves the note on the third string up one fret. Csus4 and Fsus4 take a little more work: Csus4 turns both E notes of the C chord into F, and Fsus4 is a full barre with three notes at the third fret.

Each one resolves to its major chord with a single finger. Try them back and forth until the move is automatic:

Sus4 barre chords for every root

Two barre shapes cover every other sus4. The E shape, with its root on the sixth string, is Fsus4 above moved along the neck. The A shape puts the root on the fifth string and adds the fourth with the fourth finger, one fret above the other fingers: at the second fret it is Bsus4, x 2 4 4 5 2.

These are the shapes from the barre chords guide with one note changed: the third becomes the fourth. If a chord in the table falls at the twelfth fret, play the open version instead.

7sus4 chords: the suspended dominant

Add the minor seventh to a sus4 and you get a 7sus4, formula 1, 4, 5, b7. A7sus4 is A, D, E, G. It is a dominant chord with its third delayed, so it carries two kinds of pull at once: the fourth wants to fall to the third, and the whole chord wants to move on, A7sus4 toward D. It can resolve to A7 first, or skip straight to D.

Each one is close to its seventh chord: A7sus4 to A7 (x02020), E7sus4 to E7 (020100), D7sus4 to D7 (xx0212). The seventh chords page has those shapes in detail.

To hear a sus4 and a 7sus4 working in a real song, listen to Wonderwall by Oasis. The verse loops four chords: Em7, G, Dsus4, A7sus4. Neither suspended chord ever resolves, which is a big part of why the loop sounds as if it could go on forever. The song is played with a capo at the second fret, so those shapes sound as Esus4 and B7sus4; the transposing with a capo guide explains the shift.

How to use sus4 chords

• Inside a chord. On a chord that lasts two bars, play the major chord for the first bar, the sus4 for the first half of the second, and resolve. The harmony does not change, but the accompaniment moves.
• Before a resolution. At the end of a song, hold the sus4 a little longer than feels comfortable before the final major chord. The delay makes the arrival sound earned.
• On the V chord. In G major, D7sus4 to D7 to G stretches the dominant over two steps, a staple of country and folk endings.

Do not suspend every chord. A sus4 works because it is a moment of tension in a song that is otherwise at rest; when every chord does it, the effect disappears. And check the melody: if the singer is holding the third while you play the fourth, the clash is a half step and it will sound like a mistake.