What notes comprise a (only) "sus" chord?
When reading chords (such as is common in music for guitar), what notes should be played when the music says a "sus" chord without putting a 2 or 4 after it (such as "Csus4" or "Gsus2")? (Assuming we are not playing a guitar and instead something like a piano).
Sites like this www.pianochord.org/c-sus.html decode most chords, BUT none I have found so far tell you when "Csus" is on the page whether that should be played as Csus4 or Csus2.
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I'm going to disagree with the other answer a bit. If only says “sus” then yes, sus4 is a valid interpretation, but it also means you don't necessarily need to play the 4 note all the time. What I mean by “sus” alone is most of all: neither major nor minor, and also not merely a powerchord. But how exactly to render the suspense becomes an interpretable detail (similar to how you normally don't notate out the exact rhythms / voicings / arpeggios to play).
In particular, “sus” also gives you the freedom to step between sus2 and sus4 as changing tones. This kind of thing might of course be written by explicitly switching between sus2 and sus4 or as 9sus4, but the former is a bit unwieldy and over-specific whereas the latter invites just slamming in all the notes simultaneously, which I wouldn't do for just “sus”.
If there's only a sus, it's indicating a sus4. This is due to the sus4 being considered to be the default suspended chord type and because its closer to the traditional terminology of a suspended non harmonic tone.
I highly recommend to put sus4 instead of sus though to avoid confusion.
I'm late to the party but I'd still like to offer the following points:
A major chord is made of Root, major third, and perfect fifth. E.g. C major = C E G
A minor chord is made of Root, minor third, and perfect fifth. E.g. C minor = C Eb G
Suspended chords have no thirds, neither major nor minor. It is precisely this lack of thirds that doesn't lock them as major or minor chords of any kind, but leaves them, how to say it... suspended :)
If you raise the major third of a major chord, you get a sus4 (suspended 4th) chord: Root, Perfect fourth, Perfect fifth.
Example: C sus4 = C F G
Most of the time, suspended 4th chords resolve on the corresponding major chord.
Example: Bsus4 Bmaj Asus4 Amaj Gsus4 Gmaj F#sus4 F#maj etc.
(Pinball Wizard - The Who)
If you lower the minor third of a minor chord, you get a sus2 (suspended 2nd) chord: Root, Major third, Perfect fifth.
Example: C sus2 = C D G
But most importantly, notice that sus2 is essentially the same thing as a sus4 -- a different inversion of the same chord.
Example 1: C sus4 = C F G = F sus2 = F G C
Example 2: C sus2 = C D G = G sus4 = G C D
I think it's fair to say that 99% of the time, when people say "sus", they mean sus4.
In some genres, including jazz, sus is added to other chord flavours. For example, sus7 is a dominant 7th chord, where the major 3rd is raised to perfect 4th.
Example: Csus7 = C F G Bb, while C7 = C E G Bb.
Other sus-something chords can be similarly derived from the regular, non-sus version, by replacing the third with a perfect 4th.
Sus4. If they wanted sus2 they'd have said so.
But that's the ideal. Considering how often this question gets asked, I suggest YOU write sus4. Or sus2. (Or add2, if THAT's what you want. It's often written inaccurately as sus2.)
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