About C#sus4 — triad voicings
C#sus4 is C#, F# and G# — C# with the third replaced by the fourth.
It sounds suspended mid-air. Played before the plain chord it is the oldest tension-and-release move there is.
C#sus4 notes and formula
| C# | F# | G# |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 5 |
Suspended — classically it resolves down onto the third.
Also written C#sus or C# suspended 4th. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C#sus4
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
C#sus4 has 46 of them, on the top three strings, the bottom three strings, the bottom four strings, the high-middle three, the top four strings, the middle four strings, the low-middle three, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: C# in the bass, F# in the bass and G# in the bass. The one to learn first is the G# shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
6 of them sit on the bottom four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x4412x — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for C#sus4 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 1 of the 6 needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x4412x | 1st fret | C#, root position | C# | all fretted |
| x46674 | 4th fret | C#, root position | G# | all fretted |
| 9x6679 | 6th fret | C#, root position | C# | all fretted |
| xx6679 | 6th fret | G#, 2nd inversion | C# | all fretted |
| 9-11-11-11-9-9 | 9th fret | C#, root position | C# | barred |
| x-x-11-13-14-14 | 11th fret | C#, root position | F# | all fretted |
How to use C#sus4
Voice by voice, C#sus4 → C#. One voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In C#sus4 | Moves | In C# |
|---|---|---|
| C#, the root | stays where it is | C#, the root |
| F#, the fourth | falls a semitone | E#, the major third |
| G#, the fifth | stays where it is | G#, the fifth |
In which keys. Every note of C#sus4 belongs to C# major (the I), C# minor (the i), Eb minor (the ♭VII), E major (the vi), F# major (the V), F# minor (the v), Ab minor (the iv), A major (the iii), Bb minor (the ♭III) and B major (the ii).
What to play over C#sus4
Every note of C#sus4 is in C# minor pentatonic, C# blues, C# major, C# mixolydian and C# dorian.
Chords near C#sus4
Change one note of C#sus4 and you have C# (the fourth becomes a major third), C#m (the fourth becomes a minor third), C#sus2 (the fourth becomes a ninth), C#sus2sus4 (add the ninth), C#5 (drop the fourth) or C#7sus4 (add the flat seventh).
C#sus4 is a suspended chord — root and fifth, with a second or fourth where the third would be — or nothing at all. Suspended and power chords on every root.
On C#sus4’s sound and use this page follows Edward Aldwell & Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading (Schirmer / Cengage, 4th ed., 2011). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.