Suspended Chords

Let’s look at how to play an Fsus (“F suspended”) chord on the piano. We’ll look at the pattern for building both Fsus2 and Fsus4 chords.

What Are Suspended Chords?

There are two main types of suspended chords: sus2 and sus4.

To play a sus2 chord, we’ll play the first, second and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

To play a sus4 chord, we’ll play the first, fourth and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

Suspended chords are similar to major chords. Major chords use the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale to build the chord, but suspended chords change the middle note. Instead of using the third note of the matching major scale for the middle note of the chord, a sus2 chord uses the second note of the scale, and a sus4 chord uses the fourth note of the scale.

You can learn how to build a major scale here.

Chord Types Printable

Learn to play 17 types of piano chords using 12 different root notes with this 35-page PDF! Chords are sorted both by their root note and type.

Get the Printable

How to Play an Fsus2 Chord

To play an Fsus2 chord, we’ll play the first, second and fifth notes of the F major scale: F – G – C

F – G – C

We can use this pattern to build any other suspended second chord! All we need to do is play the first, second and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

How to Play an Fsus4 Chord

To play an Fsus4 chord, we’ll play the first, fourth and fifth notes of the F major scale: F – B♭ – C

F – B♭ – C

We can use this pattern to build any other suspended fourth chord! All we need to do is play the first, fourth and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

If you see a chord labeled Fsus, without a number after it, it usually indicates a sus4 chord.

Other Chord Types

Some other chord types you can learn are:

Major
Minor
Augmented
Diminished
Second
Minor Second
Fifth
Sixth
Minor Sixth
Seventh
Minor Seventh
Major Seventh
Ninth
Minor Ninth
Major Ninth

Conclusion

Now you know how to build Fsus chords, and you can use this knowledge to build other sus2 and sus4 chords on the piano!

Suspended chords sound really lovely at the piano, and are fun to use as substitutions for major and minor chords. They can tend to sound like they “leave you hanging”, and you may want to resolve them back to their matching major or minor chord. But I often leave them suspended because I like the way it sounds.

Have fun using these wonderful chords!