Meaning Of Sus In Guitar Chords

Many guitar players who play by ear play sus chords all the time without knowing it.

Meaning of sus in guitar chords. The lack of a minor or a major third in the chord creates an open sound while the dissonance between the fourth and fifth or second and root creates tension. Sus chords short for suspended chords are chords in which the third is omitted and replaced with usually either the second or the fourth. The second note in the chord is flattened or raised one step.

What happens from a theoretical aspect with the chord when you add sus to it is that the third note in the scale i e. Now if you aren t familiar yet with the major scale and how a guitar chord is created from that i would recommend reading my beginner guitar chords guide. Sus chords are particularly common in pop music sus is an abbreviation of suspension.

Guitar players often become frustrated when confronted with the mysterious sus chord in a music book.