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A suspended chord (or sus chord) is a musical chord in which the (major third or minor third) third is omitted and replaced with a perfect fourth or a major second. 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. When using popular-music symbols, they are indicated by the symbols "sus4" and "sus2".Benward & Saker (2003), p. 77. For example, the suspended fourth and second chords built on C (C–E–G), written as Csus4 and Csus2, have pitches C–F-G and C–D-G, respectively.
Suspended fourth and second chords can be represented by the integer notation {0, 5, 7} and {0, 2, 7}, respectively.{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 \key c \major} }1 1
Each suspended chord has two Inverted chord. Suspended second chords are inversions of suspended fourth chords, and vice versa. For example, Gsus2 (G–A–D) is the first inversion of Dsus4 (D–G–A) which is the second inversion of Gsus2 (G–A–D). The sus2 and sus4 chords both have inversions that create quartal and quintal chords (A–D–G, G–D–A) with two stacked or .
Sevenths on suspended chords are "virtually always minor sevenths" (7sus4), while the 9sus4 chord is similar to an eleventh chord and may be notated as such. For example, C9sus4 (C–F–G–B–D) may be notated C11 (C–G–B–D–F).
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 \key c \major} }1
Compared to the otherwise similar Eleventh chord, the dominant 9sus4 chord generally does not include the third factor. It may be thought of as a slash chord: G9sus4 without the 5th (G–C–F–A) is equivalent to F/G (G–F–A–C). (1997). 9780793581849, Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9780793581849 "(A9sus4 = G/A)." It may also be written Dm7/G, which shows the merging of ii7 and V7 functions in one chord.: "Dm7/G describes the function of the sus chord, because a sus chord is like a ii–V progression contained in one chord. The ii–V progression in the key of C is Dm7, G7." Although the suspended fourth is not always resolved down to a third, the note is still not usually notated as an eleventh because of the chord's function as a cadence point to the tonic.
It is also possible to have the third included in a sus chord, the third being generally voiced above the fourth (i.e. as a tenth) though this is not absolutely necessary. For example, a G9sus4 chord played on a piano could have its root note played with the left hand, and the notes (from the bottom up) C (suspended 4th), F, A, and B (the third) with the right hand.: "A persistent myth about sus chords is that 'the fourth takes the place of the third.'"
Red Garland's piano introduction to "Bye Bye Blackbird" on the Miles Davis album 'Round About Midnight features suspended 9th chords.Sher, Chuck. (1991, p. 35). The New Real Book, Volume 2. Petaluma, Sher Music. In his book Thinking in Jazz, Paul Berliner writes at length and in detail about how the improvisation unfolds from this opening.Berliner, P. (1994, pp. 678–688), Thinking in Jazz. University of Chicago Press.
With the advent of modal jazz in the 1960s, suspended chords were to feature with increasing regularity. For example, they dominate the structure of Herbie Hancock's 1965 composition "Maiden Voyage". In his book, What to Listen For in Jazz, Barry Kernfeld cites Hancock's own explanation of how the harmony works: "You start with a 7th chord with the 11th on the bottom—a 7th chord with a suspended 4th—and then that chord moves up a minor third. ... It doesn't have any cadences; it just keeps moving around in a circle."Barry Kernfeld (1995, p. 68) What to Listen For in Jazz. Yale University Press Kernfeld comments: "Thus in addition to a slow-paced harmonic rhythm, this composition features chords that individually and collectively avoid a strong sense of tonal function." Kernfeld admires the way that "Hancock's cleverly ambiguous chords intentionally obscure the identity" of a particular key. Roger Scruton sees the jazz sus chord in "Maiden Voyage" as opening "a completely new harmonic perspective... as we come to understand sus chords on the tonic as supporting improvisations on the dominant."Roger Scruton (2009, p. 17) Understanding Music. London and New York, Continuum.
The instrumental opening to The Four Tops’ song "Reach Out I'll Be There" (1966) features an E chord containing a suspended fourth, resolved immediately by being followed by an E minor chord. Holland, Dozier and Holland (1966), Jobete Music Co. Inc Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love" in the arrangement performed by Dusty Springfield (1967) opens with a clearly audible Dm7 suspension.Burt Bacharach and Hal David (1967, p. 9) "The Look of Love" in Burt Bacharach Anthology(1989). Miami, Warner Brothers. Carole King's song "I Feel the Earth Move" from her album Tapestry (1971) features a striking B9sus4 chord at the end of the phrase "mellow as the month of May".King. C. (1971, p. 4) "I feel the earth move" in Tapestry. Milwaukee, Hal Leonard The last chord of the first bridge of The Police's "Every Breath You Take" is an unresolved suspended chord, the introduction and chorus of Shocking Blue's "Venus" each contain an unresolved suspended chord, and the introduction of Chicago's "Make Me Smile" has two different suspended chords without traditional resolution. The verses of Oasis’s Champagne Supernova (1996) is entirely based on an Asus2 chord.
The piano postlude to the song "Ich grolle nicht" from Robert Schumann's 1844 song cycle Dichterliebe.
The concluding bars of the Prelude to Richard Wagner's final opera Parsifal (1882):
The first movement of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7:
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