A Suspended 4 Guitar Chord
Voicing Positions (6)
Interval Colors
In Chord8, every interval has a unique color. The colors follow the function of each note relative to the root — so they change when you switch chords.
A Suspended 4 Chord
The A Suspended 4 chord is built from the intervals: R, 4, and 5. It contains the notes A, D, and E. This is a suspended triad — one of the foundational chord types.
What A Suspended 4 Is
The A Suspended 4 is a suspended fourth chord — the third is replaced by the perfect fourth above the root. The fourth wants to resolve down to the third, which gives sus4 chords their characteristic forward motion. Held without resolving, they sound open and questioning; resolved into the parent major chord, they create the most basic and useful suspension in tonal music.
How A Suspended 4 Sounds
The suspended quality gives A Suspended 4 a sense of motion. It can either resolve directly into the parent major or minor chord, or be left hanging as a colour chord. In acoustic guitar arrangements, sus chords are often used to add melodic interest to a static harmony — strumming through A major, A sus4, A major creates the classic folk-rock sound of an embellished tonic.
How To Use A Suspended 4 In A Progression
Suspended chords almost always either resolve to or come from the parent major chord. They are most common as embellishments on the I, IV, and V chords of a key, adding melodic interest without changing the underlying harmony.
Playing A Suspended 4 On Guitar
On guitar, the voicings shown above represent practical fingerings across different positions of the neck. Open and low-fret voicings tend to sound fullest because of the ringing open strings; higher voicings give a tighter, more focused sound. Try each voicing in context — the right one is whichever sits best under your melody.
Related Chords
Same quality (Suspended 4)
See the music. Every interval has a color.
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