In music, a suspended chord (or sus chord) is a chord in which the third is replaced by a dissonant tone like a perfect fourth or a major second. The resulting sound is tonally ambiguous. The practice is widespread in popular music.
The term derives from suspensions in counterpoint, where tones of a previous chord are suspended into the next harmony. The suspension creates a dissonance which must be resolved. A common suspension is a fourth above the root resolving to the third of the chord. Sevenths, ninths, and seconds are also common suspensions. [2]
As tonality expanded, classical composers began embracing less functional harmony structured in fourths and fifths. [3] In popular music, it also became commonplace to leave suspensions in place without resolving them. [4] [5] [6] Popular musicians further dispensed with the requirement that the suspended note originate in the preceding harmony. Suspended chords are commonly nicknamed "sus chords". [7] In chord notation, a number is added to indicate the suspended note, for instance Csus4. The absence of the third creates an ambiguous, open sound. [8]
Suspended chords are commonly found in folk and popular music. Keith Richards makes extensive use of suspended chords in his preferred open tuning for guitar. [9] He found it integral to his songwriting, "I learned there is often one note doing something that makes the whole thing work. It's usually a suspended chord. It's not a full chord, it's a mixture of chords, which I love to use to this day. If you're playing a straight chord, whatever comes next should have something else in it. If it's an A chord, a hint of D. Or if it's a song with a different feeling, if it's an A chord, a hint of G should come in somewhere, which makes a 7th, which then can lead you on." [10] Joni Mitchell also favored suspended chords because, "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". [11]
The Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road" is full of "heartbreaking suspensions", according to Ian MacDonald. "Yes It Is" also relies on suspensions to create a "rich and unusual harmonic motion". [12] 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. [13] Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love" in the arrangement performed by Dusty Springfield (1967) opens with a clearly audible Dm7 suspension. [14]
Pete Townshend opens "Pinball Wizard" with a suspended four chord that resolves to the tonic. It is one of the signature motifs of Tommy . [15] Songs with prominent suspended chords that do not resolve include The Police's "Every Breath You Take", Shocking Blue's "Venus", and Chicago's "Make Me Smile". [4] Noel Gallagher relies heavily on suspended chords in Oasis songs like "Champagne Supernova" and "Wonderwall". [16]
A common suspended chord in jazz combines the supertonic and dominant chords into one sonority: V9sus4. [17]
Red Garland ends his piano introduction to "Bye Bye Blackbird" on the Miles Davis album 'Round About Midnight with a series of suspended chords. [18]
Suspended chords are a common feature of modal jazz, which emerged in the 1960s. McCoy Tyner played them frequently. [19] Herbie Hancock described the structural chord of his 1965 tune "Maiden Voyage" as "a 7th chord with the 11th on the bottom—a 7th chord with a suspended 4th". Instead of resolving the way such a tall chord would in functional harmony, Hancock simply transposes the chord up a minor third, "It doesn't have any cadences; it just keeps moving around in a circle." [20]
