Piano for Beginners 6th ED - 2016 UK

Playing the piano

T

he chords that we have examined so

far have all involved the third note in

the corresponding scale. However, the

thing that defines a suspended chord is

that it doesn’t use the third note at all. In the world

of piano compositions, the two most common

suspended chords are sus 2 and sus4.

In order to play a sus 2 chord, you must replace

the third from a major or minor chord and instead

use the major second – the second note in the

chord’s corresponding major scale. Using C (C-D-E-

F-G-A-B-C) as an example, you would replace the E

(the third) in a C major chord with D (the second).

So, to play a Csus 2 chord, you would play C, D and

G at the same time. Note that the root (C) and the

‘perfect’ fifth (G) remain the same.

To play a sus4 chord, you must again replace the

third from a major or minor chord, but this time use

the fourth note in the chord’s corresponding major

scale – this interval between the root note and the

fourth is known as a ‘perfect fourth’. So if you’re

playing Csus4, you would play C (the root), F (perfect

fourth), and G (perfect fifth). Try alternating between

C major, Csus 2 and Csus4.

To hear how suspended chords work in pop

music, have a listen to Erasure’s A Little Respect. The

keyboard part shifts from a major/minor chord to a

sus4 to give the progression a little more variation.

Suspended chords

Shake things up and add some variation to your chord

progressions with suspended chords

Putting it into practice See how a suspended song works

“In order to play a sus2 chord, you must replace

the third from a major or minor chord and

instead use the major second”

Resolution

Suspended chords aren’t the best chords

to finish with if you want a resolved ending.

We’ve used A minor to end our piece

Simple left hand

While you’re learning

suspended chords, it may be

best to keep the left hand

parts simple – like here

Sus progression

Here we move

from Asus 2 to

A to Asus4 back

to A major, and

then repeat it for

the next bar. It’s

quite a common

progression

Key change

Make sure you

don’t miss this key

change. We’ve

moved from

A major (three

sharps) to A minor

(no sharps or flats)