Could someone please explain sus2 and sus4 chords to me? Is it just a case of replacing the III with a II for sus2 and a IV for sus4? Or is that too simplistic? My Bible of chords doesn't show sus chords at all.
45 years playing and still rubbish.
Yes that is how simple it is. CMajor = C E G Csus 2 = C D G Csus4 = C F G where D = II of C Major scale, F = IV of C Major scale.
For fingerings just search for chords on google there are alot of different fingerings.
People sometimes argue about whether there should be a sus2 chord designation, saying that there are only "suspended chords" which are the sus4 sort, and that the 2 should be considered a ninth, but if you use the 2 instead of the 3 as a suspension it works that way.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I'm happy to see the sus2 definition, it does what it sets out to do, methinks. Both the sus2 and the sus4 refer to a controlled dissonance within a chord, and both of them require resolution. The sus4 version resolves to the standard major chord, so the 4th resolves to a 3rd, and the sus2 can either resolve to the tonic (producing a power chord) or the 3rd (producing the major chord again).
Best,
A :-)
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