Category: Guitar Chords

December 16, 2011

What is a Sus 4 Chord and How is it Played on Guitar?

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You’ve probably seen the chord symbol D sus 4 in many popular guitar songs. But what does this really mean?

Let’s start by looking at what a chord really is.

A chord is three or more notes played simultaneously.  Chords provide accompaniment and support for melodies.

There are many different types of chords; the most common are called triads.

A triad is a chord that contains three different notes.  To build a major triad, take the first, third and fifth notes from the major scale.

In the C major scale, the notes are:

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

C major scale in tab and standard notation for guitar

C major scale in tab and standard notation for guitar

 

If you were to take the notes 1-3-5 from the C major scale, your result would be the notes C-E-G.  These are the notes required for a C major chord.

 

C major scale with major triad

C major scale with major triad

There are many C’s, E’s and G’s on the neck of the guitar.  You can play any combination of the notes C-E-G, and you will have a C major chord.  You may double and even triple the notes as needed.  The most common way to play a major chord is in root position.  In root position, the root note, or 1, is the lowest sounding note in the chord.  In other words, a C major chord in root position has C as the bass note.

Below you will find a very popular fingering for C major.

C Major

C major triad guitar fingering

C major triad guitar fingering

 

C major barre chord

C major barre chord for guitar

To build a sus 4 chord, all you do is take the first, fourth and fifth notes from the major scale.  So this means for a C sus 4 chord, you would need the notes:

 

C-F-G

1-4-5

C sus 4 formula

C sus 4 formula

Here is one fingering for C sus 4.

 

C sus 4

C sus 4 guitar chord diagram

C sus 4 guitar chord diagram

C sus 4 chord diagram for guitar

C sus 4 chord diagram for guitar

Now let’s look at how to build a D sus 4 chord.  To play a D sus 4 chord, take 1-4-5 out of the D major scale.

The D major scale consists of the following notes:

D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D

 

D sus 4 chord formula

D sus 4 chord formula for guitar

Therefore, the notes in D sus 4 are:

D-G-A

1-4-5

Here is a popular fingering for D sus 4.

D sus 4

D sus 4 guitar chord fingering diagram

D sus 4 guitar chord fingering diagram

By the way, the word “sus” is an abbreviation for the word suspended.  So a D sus 4 chord is more formally known as D suspended 4.

As you can probably now guess, understanding the notes on the fretboard and the basics of scales will make it much easier to learn guitar chords.  Obviously, when you understand how guitar chords are put together, you will find it much easier to remember guitar chords.

Here is a proven way to totally understand and use guitar theory superfast -> How to totally understand guitar theory superfast.

April 4, 2011

An Overlooked Way to Improve Your Guitar Playing

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Most guitarists learn to play some basic open string chords and a handful of barre chords.

After this, the focus is usually pretty much just on songs.  In other words, most guitar players don’t learn any new chords unless they encounter them in a new song.

But have you ever thought about this?

In most popular songs, about 80% of the guitar parts involve playing guitar chords. This means that the vast majority of your guitar playing is related to chords. This is especially true if you’re in a band, or want to be in one soon.

So doesn’t it make sense to devote some of your guitar practice time to learning new guitar chords?

The more guitar chords you learn, the faster you will learn songs.

If you want to improve your guitar playing and learn songs faster, spend some time working on new guitar chords.

Decide that you are going to learn 3 new chords every week. That means you will learn 12 new guitar chords every month. As you can guess, this will add up fast. In a year you have added 144 new guitar chords to your vocabulary.

Now here is an important point to keep in mind…

You do not have to learn every guitar chord under the sun!

However, the more chords you know, the faster you will learn songs.  Also, if you want to write your own songs, having a good chord vocabulary will help you immensely.

As your chord vocabulary improves, you can use all kinds of substitute chords in your own songs to add variety, freshness, and your own personal touch.

A good chord vocabulary will help you develop your own personal guitar style and sound.  Also, if you are doing cover songs and want to change things up a bit you can use substitute chords.

The key when you learn new guitar chords is that you MUST find a way to use them.  If you learn a new chord and don’t use it, it’s like learning a new word and never being able to use it in conversation. In a short period of time you will forget the word.

The same is true with guitar chords: if you don’t use them you will forget how to play them.  So use it or lose it.

To learn new guitar chords, and understand how they work, get started with Guitar Essentials: Chord Master Expanded Edition, or 7 Secrets to Learn any Guitar Chord Super-Fast.

December 4, 2010

Guitar Lesson: Why are There So Many Different Ways to Play the Same Guitar Chord?

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It’s a common scenario as a beginning guitar player…

You start to learn to play some basic guitar chords.  Then you look in a songbook or some sheet music and see a chord you know and it’s played an entirely different way.

What gives?

The very nature of the guitar allows us to play the same guitar chord many, many different ways.  To understand why this is, we will take a brief look at the basic theory behind major chords.

Major chords are built by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes from the major scale.  I covered the basics of the major scale in this blog post: Here’s a Quick Way to Understand the Major Scale on Guitar.

The notes in a C major chord are C-E-G.  To play the C major chord all you do is find the notes C-E-G on the fretboard.

As you will see from the diagrams that follow, there are many C’s, E’s and G’s on the guitar neck.  You can play any combination of the notes C-E-G, and you will have a C major chord.  You may double and even triple the notes as needed.  Experiment with this and come up with some different voicings for C major.

Now here is one of the most common ways to play C major.

Next we will look at a common way to play C major as a barre chord.

Now here is the breakdown of the notes contained in the fingering…

Now let’s take it a step further and look at all of the C’s, E’s and G’s over the fretboard.

Now you can see why there are so many different ways to play a C major chord!

To play a G major chord, you need the notes G-B-D.  So all you would do is locate the G’s, B’s and D’s on the fretboard.  Then you select the combinations you like and presto…you’ve got multiple ways to play G major.

For D major you need the notes D-F#-A.

When you understand how a chord is built, you can play the chord many, many different ways.

But Hold on a Minute…

Why would anyone possibly need to know these different ways of playing guitar chords?

One word: variety.

When you know different ways to play chords, it opens up lots of options for you.

As your chord vocabulary increases, you will become a more versatile, creative and interesting rhythm guitar player.  On top of that, as you learn more guitar chords, you will be able to learn guitar songs much faster.

To learn more about the basics of guitar chords and guitar theory check out my music theory course -> Guitar Theory: It’s Easier Than You Think.

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