Guitar Basics: How to Use Sus and Add Embellishments with Open Chord Shapes

In the first installment of this Basics series on chord embellishments (July/August 2024 issue), we focused on simple ways to sweeten your accompaniment by using hammer-ons and pull-offs with open chord shapes—either hammering onto a fretted note from an open string, or pulling off of a fretted note down to the open string. In this lesson we’ll continue to build a vocabulary of chord embellishments by bringing in notes outside the underlying chord: specifically, the second and fourth, which create sus (for suspended) and add chord voicings. Essentially we’ll be changing one note in a chord, or adding one note, to color or extend the harmony. 

When we talk about seconds and fourths, we’re referring to scale degrees—for instance, the second is the second note of the corresponding scale. Even if you’re not accustomed to thinking about chord notes by number in this way, you’ll recognize the sound of the embellishments in this lesson. Sus and add chord voicings are used all the time to add variety to rhythm patterns and create riffs—as you’ll hear in examples inspired by classic songs by Van Morrison, the Pretenders, Graham Nash, Tom Petty, and more.

Sus and Add Shapes

First, a quick note about the naming of chords in this lesson. Chords with the second or fourth are labeled as either sus or add chords, depending on whether the third of the chord is included. If the second or fourth replaces the third, you’ve got a sus chord. If the chord has the third and adds the second or fourth, that’s an add chord.

In Example 1, play through a series of shapes to check out the sounds of sus and add chords. Each grouping starts and ends with the regular major chord so you can hear the changes in harmony more clearly. First strum a C major. Add your fourth finger on the third fret of string 4 (an F note), while maintaining the chord shape, for a Cadd4. Then open up string 4 for a Cadd2. The second group of shapes shows another C chord embellishment, this time adding a D note on string 2. (Here the chord is called add9 because the D is an octave plus a second above the root.) 

Continuing with the example, play sus/add voicings for D, G, A, and E. On the G chord shape, the second and fourth are available in two octaves: on strings 2 and 3 and on string 5. On all these G shapes, use your third and fourth fingers to fret the low and high strings. 

On the A chords, use the fingering X01230 or X02130 rather than a first-finger barre, so you can open up the second string for a sus2 while holding down the rest of the shape. Finally, in the E chords, you may find the Eadd9 a bit of a stretch; I’ve included it for reference but don’t use it in the examples below. The Esus4 is an easier and more common open chord shape.

One-Chord Patterns

One great use of sus/add embellishments is to create movement when you’re staying on the same chord. 

Let’s start with D, which on guitar is the open chord that most often gets the sus treatment. In Example 2, go from D to Dsus4 in measure 1, and from D to Dsus2 in measure 2. Use down strums on the beats and up strums on the offbeats. Then in Example 3, strum a more elaborate pattern that may ring a bell: it’s the type of ubiquitous D chord embellishment heard, for instance, in Don McLean’s “American Pie” and the Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine” (transcribed in the January/February 2024 issue).

Moving over to an E chord, Example 4 is based on the intro to the Grateful Dead’s “Jack Straw,” a rolling, midtempo pattern that toggles between E and Esus4. Hold the E shape throughout and add your fourth finger for the Esus4. 

Sus and add embellishments can create readily identifiable rhythmic riffs. Example 5 is inspired by Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic,” decorating a C chord with an add4 and add2 (capo at the third fret to match the original key). Use a hammer-on with the first C chord, and at the start of measure 3, use a pull-off with your fourth finger to go from Cadd4 back to C. If you have trouble getting that fourth finger pull-off to sound clearly, you could pick that note instead.

The Pretenders’ “Brass in Pocket” is another classic song that makes hay with sus chords. In Example 6, based on the band’s acoustic performance on The Isle of View (on which the main rhythm is played on a 12-string for extra jangle), use a fast down-and-up strum as you go from A to Asus2 to Asus4 and back to A. Note that the changes to Asus2 and the last A are anticipated—play them before the downbeat. 

Sus Chord Sequences

Now let’s play a few short progressions dressed up with sus and add chords. Example 7 is based on Graham Nash’s ever-popular “Teach Your Children” and uses sus embellishments on the D and A. (Nash plays this song in dropped D, but we’ll stay in standard.) When going from D to G, keep your third finger on string 2, fret 3. For the A, I recommend a first-finger barre—that allows you to hammer onto the sus4 with your third finger. If you use the fingering X01230 or X02130 for A, you’ll need to hammer on with your fourth finger. 

Note that in Ex. 7, I’ve included symbols for all the sus chords so they’re easy to spot. But the basic chord progression is just D–G–D–A. The sus chords here are quick decorations more than full chord changes. 

Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” is built on chiming sus chords played on multiple guitars. Example 8 shows one version of the song’s rhythmic hook, using D, Gsus2, and Asus4. Capo at the third fret to play in Petty’s key (F). Keep your third finger planted on string 2 throughout. I like to use a mini first-finger barre for the second D chord and for the A, as indicated, but you may prefer a different fingering. 

Minor Sus Chords

So far we’ve worked with only major chords, but you can use sus and add embellishments with minor chords, too. In fact, because sus chords have no third (which is the note that makes a chord major or minor), sus voicings are interchangeable for major and minor chords. In other words, you can use an Asus4, for instance, as an embellishment for an A major or an A minor.

Let’s wrap up the lesson with a famous example of sus and add sounds over both major and minor chords: “Dust in the Wind,” by Kansas. In Example 9, fingerpicka pattern over C and Am7 chords in which the top note changes to create add9, sus2, and sus4 harmonies. In measure 2 there’s also a major seventh with the C. Play a steady alternating bass with your thumb on the down-stemmed notes, and pick the up-stem notes with your fingers. Let everything ring as long as possible. 

Make Your Own

These examples give you a taste of how sus and add chord sounds can liven up your accompaniment and add character to a standard chord progression. Try subbing these shapes into other songs you know. Just let your ears be your guide.