Absus4 Guitar Chord Lesson

Learn how to Play the Absus4 Guitar Chord

This lesson will demonstrate  how to play the Absus4 guitar chord (also known as A flat suspended 4, A flat suspended 4th).

The formula you will need to use in order to find the notes of this chord is: 1, 4, 5.  This means that we need to look for the 1st, 4th and 5th positions from the Ab Major Scale: Ab – Bb – C – Db – Eb – F – G.  When we do this, we come up with the notes:  Ab, Db and Eb. Simple enough right?

Absus4 Notes: Ab, Db and Eb

This is a difficult chord to get under your fingers if you are a beginner as there are barre chords and muted strings involved.  Barre chords are always a difficult hurdle for beginners to overcome.  It can be extremely frustrating.  Remember that it takes time to build the strength necessary to play barre chords.  So try not to become frustrated if you aren’t able to play them right away.  Check out this post on how to play barre chords for beginners.  It includes a handful of great videos and lots of articles from around the web.

Here is a key that will help you read the charts:

Everything on the above chart should be self explanatory, except for the last three in the third column. They may need a bit of explaining. The O, or open symbol, simply means that you do not press down on any notes on that string. The X means you do not strum that particular string. The Barre symbol means you need to barre that particular fret. When you barre a fret you are pressing down on multiple strings at the same time with one finger.

Chord Playing Tips

Be sure that you are pressing down on the strings hard enough and play each string one at a time to make sure you have a nice clean sound. If any of the strings buzz or sound muted, then something is not right.