Sus 2 and Sus 4 Chords for Guitar

If you've ever found yourself searching for a way to harmonically spice up your folk and pop based tunes then check out Sus2 and Sus4 chords. They are versatile, easy to play, and harmonically satisfying.


What are Sus2 and Sus4 Chords?

The sus stands for a suspension. The formula for a sus2 is [1 2 5] and the formula for the sus4 is [1 4 5]. Notice that neither chord contains the 3rd, that's because it's replaced by the 2nd (sus2) or the 4th (sus4).

Playing Sus Chords on the Guitar

The easiest way to learn sus voicings is by altering your triad voicings. For a usesful reference sheet on triads visit my post on triads.

All you need to do is find the 3rd of your chord voicing and replace it with either the 2nd or the 4th, depending on which sus voicing you are creating. That's all there is to it!

Sus Voicings Handout-click to download

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning the Notes on the Fingerboard

Image
One of the best pieces of advice I received from a former instructor during my developing years was, "You need to know every note on the fingerboard." This seemed like a daunting task to say the least. But this instructor was right on! It's incredibly helpful to know the names of every fret on every string. So let's look at what it takes to accomplish this task. Open Strings To start, you must know the open strings of the guitar. From strings 6 (lowest) to 1 (highest) the notes are as follows: E, A, D, G, B, E. By memorizing these notes you now have a home base to work from for figuring out the remaining notes. Musical Alphabet and Natural Half-Steps The musical alphabet is made up of 7 notes: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. When you reach G you wrap back around to A. The distance between each pair of adjacent notes is fixed. For example the distance between A and B is a whole-step and on the guitar a whole-step is 2 frets. There are two pairs of notes that are a h
Read more

Free Music-Adventures of Superball

I've had a few people request a written version of my tune Adventures of Superball . So, for those who are interested, you can download a copy here . There are two versions one for guitar and one for mandolin. This tune is on my latest CD, Open Spaces . You can purchase the track, Adventures of Superball and the rest of the CD below. Have fun with it!
Read more

Swing Jam- 10 Picks for Sweet Georgia Brown

Image
One of the tunes we've covered in the Swing Jam at All 12 Notes has been the classic Sweet Georgia Brown . This tune is a great vehicle for some hot pickin'. Soloing Tip The tune is primarily made up of Dominant 7th chords. A common chord scale for the Dom. 7th chord is the Mixolydian scale. The Mixolydian scale is nothing more than a major scale with a lowered 7th. The formulas is: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7 8. Take a D7 and record yourself playing the chord. Now that you have a practice track try playing the D Mixolydian scale over the D7 you just recorded. Listen to how the notes of the scale fit with the chord. Reference Recordings Below you'll find 10 different recordings of Sweet Georgia Brown. Taking ideas from recordings is great ear training and it will help you develop vocabulary that you can use to create your own solos. Amazon.com Widgets You can also find many of these tracks on Emusic...
Read more