Suspended chords

You could be asking one of 2 possible questions here and I'm not sure which one so I'll answer both:

1) What is the difference between major, minor and suspended chords?

The best way to understand chord construction is to appreciate that chords are built from formulas:

• Major chord: 1st, 3rd, 5th
• Minor chord: 1st, minor 3rd, 5th
• Suspended chord: 1st, 4th, 5th

What do those numbers mean? Simple: take a C major scale. It has the following notes:

C D E F G A B C

So how would you construct a C Major chord? You take the 1st note (C), the 3rd note (E) and the 5th note (G) and you have a C Major chord. Similarly, a C Minor chord would be C, Eb, and G. And finally, for a C Suspended 4th, the notes would be C, F and G.

2) How do I transition from Am to Am sus4?

Well, I'm not familiar with any chord called "Am sus4" so I'm assuming that's a typo and you meant to say Asus4. In that case, the easiest way to switch from Am to Asus4 unfortunately involves lifting every finger off the Am shape to get to the Asus4 shape. You'll want to play the Am shape with your index finger on the b string, first fret, your middle finger on the d string, 2nd fret and your ring finger on the g string, 2nd fret. For the Asus4, you have 2 choices: middle finger on the g string, 2nd fret and ring finger on the b string, 3rd fret or index finger on the g string, 2nd fret and middle finger on the b string, 3rd fret. I would opt for the former in this particular transition from Am. It may seem unnatural at first but take it slow and focus on accuracy over speed. Speed will come with practice.

Suspended chords add the fourth degree instead of the third degree. The chord is not really a "major" or a "Minor" chord. it is suspended in mid-air so you can feel like a complete ditz when you realize how easy all this stuff really is.

If you do not know already, chords are made up of "triads". That means that there are three notes you play together to make a chord. No matter what key you are in C, D, E, F, G, A, or B, the "one-chord" also known as the roman numeral "I" is always the first letter of the key you start in. The "two-chord" is the second one or roman numeral "II". The "three-chord" is the last one or roman numeral "IV". If you want to play in the key of "C" and make an "C Chord" using the "I-II-IV" formula from above, you write down the letters: C D E F G A B. Next you start on the first letter and pick out every-other letter until you have a total of three letters. For the "C Chord" you should only have C, D, and E. This formula is the same for every key. There is always a number system that goes with every letter system in music. Learn about music theory and you will discover how something really simple can be over complicated by academic elitists. So, now that you build your own chord, you realize the chord you made has been bad. The chord was late for school and then had the audacity to talk in class! So you chord must now be suspended! In order to suspend this bad-boy, you take away its 3rd note and replace that 3rd note with a nasty forth note. In the key of "C" the 4th note is "F". (CDE-F) Yes, it is the alphabet! The distance between the 3rd note and the 4th note is a whole step. You just skip over one fret going toward the body of the guitar. Like, from the first fret on the B string to the 3rd fret on the B string as shown in the example Asus Chord pictured in this post.

I Like suspended chords. I like when things are easy too. If you happen to use drop D tuning Suspended chords can easily be fingered. Ex: Asus2 = (779xxx)

Suspensions are one of many borrowed concepts from classical theory. It was initially a way to notate one voice in the harmony hanging over a chord change before it resolved to a chord tone. And in the most strict sense if the suspended note was not in the first chord it wasn't a sus.

In popular music suspensions are used more freely; almost to a point of meaninglessness. One of the watermarks of modern music is the jarring use of odd chord changes. In this way an Am sus 4 is actually very common, but it would be written as Asus4.

Am= A-C-E (532xxx), AMaj= A-C#(C Sharp)-E (542xxx), Asus4= A-D-E (552xxx).