The Sus4 Chord

Sus4 chords are made by building any major triad and raising the 3rd one half step.

If you haven't built any chords yet please click here.

Because there is a half step between the 3rd and 4th degree of a major scale, the raised 3rd becomes the 4th.

To learn more about scales click here

Major triad or chord: 1 3 5
Sus 4 triad or chord: 1 4 5

In the key of C the 1st, 3rd and 5th will be C, E and G. The 1st, 4th and 5th would be C, F and G. Play the chords below and listen how the 4th (suspended tone) wants to resolve back to the 3rd. In other words, how Csus4 sounds like it wants to go back to C.

Occasionally we may want to add the 4th and still keep the 3rd (the chord is then called an add4). For a bigger sus4 chord, bar your first finger across your first two strings.

Tom Petty Lesson - D, Dsus4 and Asus4 chords make up Tom Petty's Free Falling.

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