What exactly is a sus4 chord, and why does it sound so unresolved and interesting?
Most players just memorize Dsus4 from a chord chart and move on. What I want to show you here is what’s actually happening inside that chord, because once you see it, you can build a sus4 from any root note anywhere on the fretboard. The key is understanding the 1-3-5 formula that makes a major chord, and then swapping out one note. That one swap is all a sus4 is.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
- How D, F#, and A stack up as the 1st, 3rd, and 5th of a D major chord
- Why lifting F# up one semitone to G turns a Dmaj into Dsus4
- A Gsus4 fingering that mutes the muddy B on the 5th string and adds a C on the 2nd string instead
- How knowing your chord tones helps you build solos that lock into the rhythm section