Gsus4 Guitar Chord Lesson

In the following lesson, you will  learn how to play the Gsus4 chord for guitar (also known as G Suspended 4th).  This is an advanced lesson and will demonstrate, with the use of the chord charts below, how to play several advanced voicings of this chord.

Let’s first talk about some of the theory behind the construction of this particular chord.   This chord is built from the G Major Scale.

The G Major Scale contains the following notes: G A B C D E F#

The notes that we need for the Gsus4 chord are in the above scale.   So, in order to find those notes, we need to apply a little formula.  That formula is: 1,4  5.  This simply means that we take the 1st, 4th and 5th steps of the G Major Scale to form our chord.  Those notes are G, C and D.

Gsus4 notes again: G, C and D

Suspended 4th chords are one of my favorite types of chords to play.  They have such a wonderful sound to them.  The only difference between the Gsus4 and G Major chord is that we are “Suspending”or replacing the 3rd with a 4th, in other words, we are replacing the “B”  of the G Major with a “C” in this particular case.

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 Tip

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.