How to play the A Suspended 4th chord on guitar
Asus4 pushes the A chord upward into tension that wants to fall back to plain A. Alternating the two under a held strum is a standard way to keep a static section moving without changing chord.
A Suspended 4th swaps the third for the fourth, giving A, D, E. That suspension builds tension that resolves when you drop back to the plain A chord.
Finger it one string at a time
- low E string: don't play it.
- A string: play it open.
- D string: fret 2 with your index finger.
- G string: fret 2 with your middle finger.
- B string: fret 3 with your ring finger.
- high E string: play it open.
Shift your finger on the B string up one fret from an A major chord.
What makes this shape awkward
- 1 string stays silent, so your strumming hand has to start on the right string. Aim the pick rather than sweeping all six.
Where you'll use it
Asus4 appears in 2 of the play-along progressions in RiffRoute. These are the actual sequences it sits in:
- Windfall Picking (Acoustic Folk, 90 BPM) —
C → C7 → Am → Asus2 → Asus4 → Am - Dust & Shadows (Desert Rock, 92 BPM) —
Am → Asus4 → F → E7
Chords it's usually played with
In the progressions that use Asus4, these turn up alongside it most often — learning them together is more useful than learning Asus4 alone.
Hear it and check yourself
Reading a diagram only gets you so far — the part that decides whether Asus4 sounds right is whether every string rings cleanly. RiffRoute plays the chord back, listens while you strum it, and tells you which string is buzzing.