How To Play Sus Chords On Guitar: A Guide For Beginners
In this lesson, we are going to learn how to play sus chords on guitar. A guide for beginners. This will not only increase your knowledge of guitar chords but will also improve your chord vocabulary and overall musicianship.
What does Sus mean?
Sus stands for suspended. This means that one of the notes in the triad (major or minor) going to be suspended or moved over. By doing this, you create a new type of chord. A sus chord. A chord that gives you a different sound, or emotion.
The note that is moved in the triad is the third. That is why this note is so important in the major triad. It allows you to create additional guitar chords. When we move it back one fret we flatten it to create the minor triad.
If you’re not familiar with this, I recommend you check out the lesson I created on creating major and minor triads. This will help you to understand how these chords are created. Now, if you already know these chord types, we can look at how to play sus chords.
The Sus2 chord
To create the Sus2 chord we need to move the 3rd note back to the 2nd position. Let’s look at this in more detail.
Key of A major: A B C# D E F# G#
Look at the notes above. You can see that there are 7 notes. The A is the 1 the C# is the 3rd and the E is the 5th. These three notes will make up the major triad. A C# E = 1 3 5. f we flatten the 3rd note, we create the minor triad. A C E = 1 b3 5.
When the 3rd note is moved back one more or replaced with the 2nd note (in this case the B note) we create a whole new chord. The Sus2 chord. The A B E = 1 2 5. We now have three chords. The major the minor, and the Sus2.
Can you see how we just move the third note back from the major to create the other two chords? This is called guitar chord theory. It is just about knowing your notes, where they are located in the chord, and moving them to create new ones.
The Sus4 chord
Now let’s look at the Sus4 chord. This chord is very similar. In this case, we move the 3rd note to the 4th position instead of the second. Let’s look at this in more detail.
Key of A major: A B C# D E F# G#
Like before, we use the 1 and the 5, but we move the 3rd. Which is the C#. This note is moved or replaced with the D note. The 4th. Now the chord formula is A D E = 1 4 5. This allows us to create the Sus4 chord.
Can you see how simple this is? By just knowing where the third more is in the chord shape, we can easily create additional chords. And, this concept works with all major triads. By knowing what the third note is and being able to locate it in the chord shape, you can create more chords.
If you were working with a D major, you could create a D minor, a D Sus2, and a D Su4. Just by knowing the information taught in this lesson. If you know 5 major chords, you can create an additional 3 chords out of each. This would give you a total of 20 different chords.
Imagine what that could do for your chord vocabulary. Look at how that can inspire your creativity. Look at how it can improve your overall musicianship. This is what learning to play guitar is all about. Getting better at every turn.
Learn even more
If you found this lesson to be an eye-opener, I recommend you check out the book I authored.
Learn Guitar Chord Theory is a 148-page book that teaches you exactly how to build a solid foundation of chords. You will have a full understanding of how they are constructed. It is not just a book of chord diagrams, but an explanation of how they are built, and why they are named as such.
So if you feel you are ready to start learning guitar chord theory, I recommend you check out the book. It will not only teach you how to create all types of chords found in all your favorite songs, but it will also help you to build self-confidence.
Of course, this can only be done by daily study, and daily practice applying what you have learned. If you want to be a great guitar player, then you need to put in the time. A little bit daily with this book, will provide you with quick results.
In addition to that, I am always available to help if you get stuck or have questions. Just reach out and I am at your service. I hope you have enjoyed this lesson and put it into practical application.
Best of luck and take care.
Sincerely, Dwayne Jenkins
Dwayne’s Guitar lessons
