What makes up a suspended chord

Suspended chords can be expanded beyond simple triads. You often hear dominant 9sus4 chords in jazz. Once you start getting into these extended chords, however, they start to lose their identity as suspended chords and start to sound more like eleventh chords. First up is the Zombies, who used them all the time. Scott McCormick is the author the Audible bestselling Rivals! Scott can be reached at storybookediting gmail. Related Posts How Nashville tuning can transform your arrangements Eleventh and thirteenth chords: How to play them on guitar Using augmented chords in your songs Sixth chords add moody complexity to your music Songwriting: advice and insight on the craft of writing a song.

Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Skip to content. Written by Samuel Chase. Samuel Chase has been playing music since he was 5 years old, and teaching music since he was He has a PhD in Music from the University of Surrey, and he has composed music that has been played in three different countries. He is currently working as a film composer and writing a book on film music.

Sign up for our Newsletter. Popular Pages. About Us. Site Information. By making this slight adjustment, the chord becomes something new. Whatever number is after the abbreviated sus will be the note that replaces the third. The Sus2, or suspend 2nd chord, will have the third note of the chord replaced with the second note. The Sus4, or suspend 4th chord, will have the third note of the chord replaced with the fourth note. So the next time you see a sus chord, know that someone decided to transform a major chord into something more interesting.

Try to find these special chords in songs you learn every day, or get back to basics by learning how to play a song using sus chords on Fender Play.