Asus4 Chord on Guitar

1,008 guitar chords with several shapes each, finger numbers, difficulty and real sound, in any tuning.

Asus4 is a suspended fourth chord made of 3 notes: A, D, E. It sounds tense and hanging, as if waiting to resolve, and you hear it in the classic sus4-to-major move at the end of a phrase. It is the I chord of A major and turns up in 5 other keys.

The library above opens on Asus4 with 14 shapes up and down the neck, starting with hand-checked ones. Tap a shape to hear it, or play it one string at a time.

Notes in Asus4

Note	Degree	Interval from A	Semitones
A	1	root	0
D	4	perfect fourth	5
E	5	perfect fifth	7

Formula: 1 – 4 – 5. On guitar the 5th is often left out of the bigger shapes without changing the chord.

How to play Asus4

Open positionBeginnerx02230

E-shape barre at fret 5Medium577755

Open positionBeginnerx0023x

Open positionBeginnerxxx230

Fret 5Beginnerxx775x

Fret 5Beginner557xxx

Open position (root on the 5th string), step by step

1st finger (index): 4th string, 2nd fret (E, the fifth).
2nd finger (middle): 3rd string, 2nd fret (A, the root).
4th finger (little): 2nd string, 3rd fret (D, the fourth).
Let the 5th string, 1st string ring open (A, E).
Strum from the 5th string, and keep the 6th string quiet.

Tips

The open position shape is the one to learn first. Once it is easy, try the shape at the 5th fret (577755): the same chord, higher and brighter, handy when the chords before and after it sit up the neck.

Keys and progressions with Asus4

Asus4 belongs to 6 keys: V in D major, IV in E major, I in A major, VI in C♯ minor, III in F♯ minor, VII in B minor. In A major, try I–V–vi–IV: Asus4 – E – F♯m – D.