Suspension chord

What it means

A suspension chord is a triad in which the third is replaced by the fourth or the second. Since the third decides the mode, such a sonority stays undecided between major and minor. In jazz and popular music it is familiar under the English designation suspended, abbreviated sus; chord symbols accordingly append a 4 or a 2.

Musical use

Historically the sonority arose from the suspension. In classical composition, the third of a chord is temporarily replaced by the fourth, which lies on an accented beat and subsequently resolves stepwise downward into the third. Especially often this fourth suspension stands on the dominant before the close: the dominant at first appears without a third and receives the leading tone only with the resolution, which delays and reinforces the close.

In twentieth-century music, in jazz, and in popular music, the sonority has become independent. It no longer needs to be resolved but can stand as a colour, seeming open, floating, and slightly tense. Because it lacks the third, it fits over various contexts and is suited to sound planes and transitions.

The suspension chord is to be distinguished from the power chord, which likewise lacks the third but contains no substitute note, and from the chord with an added second, in which the third is retained and the second only joins it.

In jazz and pop music, such chords are designated as sus2 or sus4, from suspended. There they need not be resolved but count as an independent colour. In classical harmony, the fourth suspension before the dominant is especially frequent: the fourth above the bass falls stepwise into the third.

Performance practice

Determine first whether the suspension is to be resolved or stands as a colour — in classical composition it almost always resolves downward into the third. In that case give it weight and the resolution lightness. And check, with chord symbols, whether a fourth or a second is meant; the two sound distinctly different.