Suspended chord
A suspended chord (or sus chord) is a musical chord in which the (major or minor) third is omitted and replaced with a perfect fourth or a major second.[1] 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".[2] 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.
Examples in popular music[edit]
Suspended chords are commonly found in folk music and popular music. Ian MacDonald writes of the "heartbreaking suspensions" that characterise the harmony of "The Long and Winding Road" from the Beatles' final album Let It Be (1970).[12] MacDonald describes another Beatles song "Yes It Is" as having "rich and unusual harmonic motion" through its use of suspensions.[13] Joni Mitchell was perhaps one of the most prolific songwriters to make extensive use of multiple sus chords, explaining that "so much in my life was unresolved from 'when were they going to drop the big one?' to 'where is my daughter?' that I had to use unresolved chords to convey my unresolved questions".[14]
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. [15] Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love" in the arrangement performed by Dusty Springfield (1967) opens with a clearly audible Dm7 suspension.[16] Carole King's song "I Feel the Earth Move" from her album Tapestry (1971) features a striking B♭9sus4 chord at the end of the phrase "mellow as the month of May".[17] The last chord of the first bridge of The Police's "Every Breath You Take" is an unresolved suspended chord,[3] the introduction and chorus of Shocking Blue's "Venus" each contain an unresolved suspended chord,[3] 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. [3]
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