What is a sus chord?

A sus (suspended) chord, like all other chord names, describes the content of a chord.

In a “normal” chord (normal in the sense of: If nothing special is indicated, but only major or minor) there are root and fifth as well as the third.

The third indicates whether the chord is major or minor. A major third is major, while a minor third results in a minor chord.

In a sus chord, neither major nor minor is played, as the third is completely omitted and exchanged for a second (sus2) or a fourth (sus4).

Fortunately, this is quite easy to do on the guitar, as you only need to know where the third is located in the chord.

In this example of an A major chord, we see the second, third, and fourth in “blue”.
By moving the third up or down, you get either a sus2 or a sus4 chord accordingly.