Suspended or sus chords are fantastic, they’re great for creating interest within any chord progression with very little physical effort, usually by simply lifting or adding a finger.
But what exactly is a sus chord, why do they work so well in songs, how do you play one, and what songs should you be practicing to perfect it?
Well, let’s find out, starting with…
What is a sus Chord?
As you probably know, the majority of chords are either major or minor. When you first started playing, you got a hang of the basic root major chords - A, C, D, E, and G - as well as their minor versions - Am, Dm, and Em. You then probably moved on to barre chords, such as playing an F and Fm, and a B and Bm.
Do you notice something that all these chords have in common? Yes, they are major or minor. So…
What’s the difference between a major and minor chord?
Most basic chords are built on a triad, i.e., three different notes. For a major chord, this would be the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of a major scale; for a minor, the 1st, flattened 3rd, and 5th. Therefore, the difference between a major chord and a minor chord is the 3rd note of the scale.
But what if we remove the 3rd note altogether and replace it with a different one?
Well, we are left with a chord that is neither major nor minor, and that’s exactly what a sus chord is. A sus chord contains the 1st and the 5th of the major scale, but replaces the 3rd with either the 2nd or the 4th, therefore it is ambiguous, not being major nor minor.
Let’s now take a look at…
How to Play a Dsus2
The chord is simple enough to play, it’s a standard D shape without the second finger, as shown below…
As can be seen, the chord consists of three notes, two Ds, an A, and an E.
Let’s now consider the D major scale:
D - E - F# - G - A - B - C# > Back to D
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 > 8
As mentioned, a major triad is made up of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees of the major scale, but the Dsus2 doesn’t contain the 3rd - F#. Whereas a minor triad consists of the 1st, flattened 3rd, and 5th, but again, the Dsus2 doesn’t contain the flattened 3rd - F.
It does, however, contain an E note, which is the 2nd. Therefore, a sus2 chord is constructed from the 1st, 2nd, and 5th notes of the major scale.
Now for a Dsus4…
This time it’s a standard D chord but with your little finger on the third fret of the high e string. Theoretically, it’s the same as the Dsus2, but instead of adding the 2nd, the 4th note of the D major scale is included, the G.
Where can you play Dsus2 and Dsus4 Chords?
In addition to the root positions shown above, they can be played in various positions across the neck. But all the songs we are covering contain the root versions, so I won’t go into the positions higher up the fretboard.
What do sus chords sound like?
Suspended chords have an open, unresolved sound because they lack the major or minor third. They’re superb for creating a sense of tension and ambiguity, and sound dreamy or magical. The third is replaced by either the fourth or the second, which creates a dissonant interval that sounds gorgeous when resolved.
A word of warning - Don’t Overdo It!
Every guitarist loves suspended chords, especially when you first learn them. They add so much interest to whatever you are playing with so little effort. This does, however, frequently create a problem - overusing them.
It’s so simple to use sus2 and sus4 chords to bring rather boring chord progressions to life. Take a finger off here, add a finger there, and all of a sudden, everything sounds so much more interesting. But it’s so easy to overuse them, especially when they are all new and shiny.
This problem tends to become less over time as the honeymoon period wears off and you get used to playing sus chords. However, I have seen guitarists play live who add sus chords constantly in almost every song they play, and it gets very tedious to listen to in no time at all.
The best way to make sure that you don’t fall into this trap, or if you do (which is the case for most guitarists), get yourself out of it quickly, is to remember that the three most important things whenever you play live are…
The song, the song… and the song!
The audience has come to enjoy themselves and see a good band. They want to hear songs played well that produce an emotion - it could be love, or anger, happiness, or sadness, or maybe the songs will make them want to get their dancing shoes on. Whatever the emotion, they have come to see the band play to feel something. Therefore, it is your (and every other member of the band’s) duty to play the songs as well as you can and express the emotion within them.
There is a reason the songwriters who wrote the songs you are covering didn’t constantly use sus chords, it’s because the songs don’t need them. So, don’t add them continually because you think it sounds better; in most cases, it doesn’t. Play the song as intended, or do your own version of it. But don’t add sus chord after sus chord to try and make it more interesting. If you think the song is so boring that it needs sus chords, dump it, and cover another song instead.
That’s it for the chord info, it’s therefore time to move on to the best thing about learning new chords - playing songs!
We’ll begin with the all-time classic…
Crazy Little Thing - Queen
This is a masterclass in how adding a sus4 chord in just the right place takes a very simple intro and turns it into a legendary one.
It really couldn’t be simpler, it’s a D chord interrupted by a single strum of a Dsus4. This makes it one of the simplest intros you can learn - one of the most basic chords - D - with another chord which is exactly the same but with the little finger added - Dsus4.
You would expect it to sound simple and boring, but it doesn’t. The swing of the rhythm and the accent produced by the Dsus4 make it a legendary intro that any guitarist can play in no time at all.
Play along with the YouTube video below, and if you want to learn the rest of the song, check out the full Crazy Little Thing Called Love TAB.
Summer of ‘69 - Bryan Adams
Let’s now move on to a song that not only contains the Dsus4 and the Dsus2, but also Asus4 and Asus2 - it’s the perfect lesson in sus chords!
The sus chord fest comes in the chorus, up until then it’s just palm muted downstrokes on D and A power chords for the intro and verse, and some picking in the pre-chorus. Anyway to the chorus…
It starts with a picked pattern that moves from a…
Dsus2 to a D to a Dus4 and back to a D
…with an open high e string and the second fret on the high e string to finish. Before moving to an…
Asus2 to an A to an Asus4 and back to an A
…ending again with the open string and a note on the second fret, but this time on the B string. And that’s it for the first chorus. The other choruses are repeated, giving more time to practice your sus chords.
Here’s the YouTube video to play along…
Check out the full Summer of ‘69 TAB for the other sections, the solo, etc.
Push - The Cure
One of The Cure’s lesser-known songs, wth an unusual structure, in that it basically repeats itself - the first half is instrumental, then the second half is an exact repeat of the first, but with vocals. That makes it one of the longest intros in any song of this length, i.e., the intro is half the length of the entire song.
But that’s not why it’s on this list, it’s the extensive use of sus chords that makes it well worth learning.
It starts with a very interesting riff which is played using a fretted note and an open note simultaneously. This usually involves playing two figures per set of strings (although three are used occasionally) across four sets. After this is repeated two times with different endings, we get to the verse, and the sus chords.
It starts with a…
Dsus4 / D / Dsus2 / Dsus2
The first three bars are strummed once, the final bar of Dsus2 is picked. This is then repeated, a common aspect of this song.
We then go to…
A / Asus2 / A / A
Which is again strummed, then picked. Repeat. Then this entire section is repeated.
Later in the song, there is another sus section which is strummed. This consists of the a D chord going to a Dsus2 and then back to the D, followed by the same on an A chord - A > Asus2 > A.
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Let’s finish with one of the greatest songs ever written, Stairway to Heaven. There are various sus chords masterfully used throughout the song, but I’ll be concentrating on one section, the interlude. This comes before the full-on rock extravaganza near the end when the lead guitar starts wailing and the song gets heavy.
It starts with a single downstroke of a D chord, before getting into some pretty fancy fingerwork with three very rapid downward strums, the first on a Dsus2, the next on a D, and the final one on a Dsus4. This phrase is then repeated two more times. This is followed by a few downstrokes of a standard D chord.
The tension created by these Dsus chords is then resolved by a change to Cadd9.
This whole section is then repeated (a common theme in today’s blog) but this time it ends with a few strums of the Cadd9, which is then picked, before moving to a Gmaj7, which is again picked, before moving into the bombastic Am / F / G / G final chord progression that is the foundation for the solo.
For a full roundup of everything contained in this epic masterpiece, check out the Stairway To Heaven guitar TAB.
Wrapping it Up
We’ve come to the end of my in-depth look at how to play Dsus4 and Dsus2 chords on guitar, and what songs should you practice to master sus chords.
The key to learning anything is practice, so get those fingers moving and spend some time discovering the wonderful world of suspended chords. But don’t forget that they are infectious, so don’t overdo it!
Once you get the hang of the chord changes, play along with the songs on Spotify, YouTube, or whatever streaming platform you prefer. This will ensure that you quickly improve as a guitarist and makes practice sessions a lot more fun.
Happy practicing!
