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Kids Guitar -- The Sus4 Chord
By Professor Bruno Noteworthy of profbruno.com
Hi gang! One of the coolest chords in the entire universe is the "suspended" chord". Wazza suspended chord? Ah gee... Well, it creates a kind of suspense because when you play it, you get the feeling that the chord wants to resolve (or go to) somewhere else. But you're in a state of "suspense" because you don't know where it's gonna resolve to... Ahem... The type of suspended chord that creates the most "suspense" is the suspended 4th (sus4) chord. Chords like the sus4 chord definitely are not stand alone chords. They are often used as a kind of an in-between chord between 2 other chords. They're called "transition" chords. Okay, so just what exactly IS a sus4 chord? The absolute positively strict definition of a sus4 chord is: R + 4 + 5 The 4th is substituted for the 3rd on major chords. There is no 3rd in a sus4 chord. I have never in my experience seen a minor sus4 chord. They are the same for both major and minor as far as I can tell. Further this "4th" is 1/2 step above whatever the major 3rd is. So... If an A chord is A C# E, an Asus4 chord is: A D E -- the 4th INSTEAD of the 3rd. D is 1/2 step above C#. Got it? Yeah, okay... well... I'm gonna actually show you some of these puppies. Let's start with the Asus4 chord, but before we do that, the best way to look at one is to see where it really comes FROM. It comes from the major chord itself. Okay, now the Asus4. Look at the A chord picture below, then look at the picture for the Asus4 chord. Do you see what's happenin' here? Play the A chord as shown below. To play the Asus4 chord, simply add your pinky to the 3rd fret on the 2nd string. This note happens to be a D -- the 4th -- the suspended note. To get back to the A chord, simply remove that finger. Try this a few times. This is one of the ways that this kind of chord is actually used in songs! There are also pictures for C, D, E and G. They all use the pinky to get to the sus4 chord. Except for the G chord. Notice that THIS G chord is played with fingers 2, 3 and 4 instead of with fingers 1, 2 and 3. This frees up the 1st finger so that it can be used to play other stuff -- like the Gsus4 chord for example. Remember, play the regular chord first. Then play the sus4 chord, then go back to the regular chord. This way you can get a feel for one of the ways that you can use this chord. Enjoy!
Professor Bruno Noteworthy
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Contributor's Note
Professor Bruno Noteworthy is a toon music professor who loves teaching the guitar to kids (and other humans).
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Professor Bruno Noteworthy's Blog
         
A chord
Asus4 chord
C chord
Csus4 chord
D chord
Dsus4 chord
E chord
Esus4 chord
G chord
Gsus4 chord
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I agree, sus chords are so very cool. I love the sound of tension and resolving. You always share great stuff.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Thanks again,Diana! Gotta love those sus4 chords...
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