Songs that use Sus4 and Sus2 chords

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Enjoy full access to over 40,000 sheet music works with a Tomplay 14 day free trial: tomplay.com/premium-trial?ref=davidbennett6 🎼

[@adb012]

David, I would have loved that your 100% sus song hadn't end in a fade out. I would have loved to see a creative way to finally resolve the melody and harmony bringing closure to the song... al in sus chords.

[@sophiebride-gq8fn]

There is the Sus2 for example The Show Must Go On by the Queen in Bmin ? It's BminSus2 or F#majSus2.

[@catzenbeurg]

I pay my respect to David for his willpower, as he hasn't broken down from his narration style a single time while talking about sus chords for the entirety of this video.

[@majman446]

i don't think he knows what sus means *_amogus_*

[@polibix]

@@majman446 he referenced it in another video so he does

[@SilentAttackTV]

maybe because it was funny in 2019 and we're in 2022

[@catzenbeurg]

@@SilentAttackTV I dunno, I still shiver every time I hear "sus" in a formal situation

[@twhylerm]

@@SilentAttackTV still tho… you can’t help but think

[@J-W_Grimbeek]

It's honestly kind of surreal watching an entire video about sus chords after 2021 without making a single amogus reference. Makes me nostalgic for a simpler time

[@riddellgalbraith9897]

seeing absolutely no among us references in this comment section is very soothing to the soul

[@t.p6791]

I totally forgot this existed while I was watching it haha

[@windwaker01]

That's two years ago, what's there to be nostalgic for 😂

[@bareakon]

Using both sus2 and sus4 is extremely common as a guitar player, especially noodling around an open D or A chord, because it's easy and always sounds great. Kickapoo is a pretty clear example that immediately comes to mind

[@victorwilburn8588]

I saw a Beck concert long ago where he called the little sus flourish on the D chord the "pinky of freedom". If anything, it's even easier on piano, just move that third one key to the left or right.

[@mooseyard]

I’ve been doing this a lot since figuring out this technique a few years ago … to the point where, when I pick up a guitar, my fingers automatically fall into an Asus2 shape. A lot of my improvisation is modal stuff in Am or C since it lets me use all the open strings without having to retune.

[@aah4632]

i thought of the same song as well!

[@liimlsan3]

Two others that always come to mind are the Byrd's "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" and Shonen Knife's "I Am A Cat."

[@ericpayne9091]

Lifeson uses sus2s all over Rush songs

[@Wonderland_Jutomi]

Mad respect for the song you made at the end. Positively beautiful and serene. Admittedly I could definitely see this being a minecraft music disc.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊

[@michaelsomerled396]

That composition at the sounds so Ethereal. Great work my friend.

[@twhylerm]

yeah sounds like some video game music or something

[@thomasmoss9042]

To me it sounds like closing credits music for an old science fiction show.

[@brandoncheever1897]

I'd pay for a full version of it

[@luxinveritate3365]

Was going say the same lol. That openness is awesome.

[@evedotcom]

At the… ? What?! The suspense is killing me

[@Lefty7788tinkatolli]

Any other KZbinr: I couldn't find any examples of songs written entirely using sus chords. Thank you all for watching! David Bennett Piano: I couldn't find any examples of songs written entirely using sus chords...... so I wrote my own piece using just sus chords!

[@spectenix]

Damn, Innersloth needs to hire this man

[@MonkeyBrains4311]

Beautiful and ethereal song there. Major and minor tonality at the same time. Very airy and harmonious as well. Very nice.

[@grizzkarizz2960]

What I Am, is very close.

[@the_b_emoji]

Can we get a video on quartal harmony. I've been struggling to get a full grasp of it, and would love to hear your explanation. Keep up the great work!

[@Alberto-ny7kf]

up up up

[@marceloagustinmombelli3767]

No podría estar mas de acuerdo. Armonía cuartal explicada por David Bennet, si si.

[@icytea0]

pls

[@MusicTheoryLover]

He’s literally taught me more than any teacher from school can

[@aaronclift]

McCoy Tyner’s piano work would be the best primer to immerse yourself in the world of quartal harmony. “My Favorite Things,” “A Love Supreme - Part 1: Acknowledgement,” and “Passion Dance” all being great examples of this style of harmony.

[@bilingualkaraoke8665]

Wow, I love your "Exit Music (For The Patrons Credits)"

[@Churro_Flaminguez]

I think quartal harmony is my new favorite thing, after being a fan of accidented ambiguous chords for a long long time Thanks for another great video, David. This is one of your best IMHO.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

As someone who as an amateur organ player plays a lot of hymns both at home and in church, sus chords are something I play a lot. Something very common is to play sus4 and then sus2 before playing the actual major or minor chord.

[@frigginjerk]

I have that pattern in my head as the default ending to any song on a pipe organ.

[@pierrezapata90]

Pigerty third?

[@wyattstevens8574]

Does Toccata And Fugue use that? It sounds like it.

[@BryTee]

YES! I kept thinking church organ hymn endings. With the last chord adding a deep heavy bass tonic note too.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

Well, not necessarily ending on a Picardy third but sure, if a piece is say in F minor, the final few moves can be something like Fsus4 - Fm - Fsus2 - F. And yes, I believe the Bach Toccata and Fuga in D minor does end that way maybe a bit more embellished. But yes, very common to use these sus chords in hymns.

[@shadehunter]

I always enjoy when you compose your own pieces, but WOW! This one at the end was stellar in every sense of the word. I might be biased as a stringsman, but the use of nothing but suspended chords sounds wicked cool!

[@striverfor7628]

1:04 For No One - Beatles Crazy - Gnarls Barkley Pinball Wizard - The Who Crazy little Thing Called Love Cold As Ice - Foreigner 4:07 Love Song - Sara Bareilles The Scientist - Coldplay Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House Champagne Supernova - Oasis 6:57 Exit Music (For a Film) - Radiohead Summer of 69' - Bryan Adams Other Side of the World - KT Tunstall Free Fallin' - Tom Petty

[@iamtheimagedoctor]

for more old school: The Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler), and She Believes in Me (Kenny Rodgers)

[@kenreeve32]

Your piece built on sus chords at the end of the video so wants to resolve, but it keeps traveling alongside, above, and below any resolution. It evokes such a strange and wonderful emotion. Beautiful!

[@kenreeve32]

@ghost mall totally agree! It still leaves the listener "hanging" enough away from a full resolution to be slightly tense.

[@dreadmag6372]

the what chords?

[@AlexanDrMoskalenko]

Have you heard bands in the shoegaze/dream-pop genre? I got the same vibe from this piece, strange and wonderful)

[@kenreeve32]

@@AlexanDrMoskalenko definitely feel it, yes. Also reminds me of some ambient music artists.

[@aaronclift]

“When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around” by The Police is probably the closest song I can think of to being all sus chords. It does have an Em11 chord in the sequence, but the harmony of the song feels very open and ambiguous much like a sus chord.

[@rome8180]

That ending track may have been my favorite composition of yours yet.

[@mateusbez2669]

Some missing that came to mind immediately: Black (Pearl Jam) uses a Dsus2 in the entire outro The opening riffs of Jump (Van Halen) and The riff of Black or White (Michael Jackson) are pivoting Sus2/major/sus4 Grunge, and Pearl Jam specifically, uses a lot of sus chords. Alive, Jeremy, Better Man, I am Mine all have sus chords in the chord progression (and there are probably many more). Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden) is built on a Gsus4. The sus chord is a very important part of the Grunge sound, and it usually never properly resolves.

[@IsaacMyers1]

Black hole sun is actually built on a G half sharp chord.

[@marques04rj]

Rush !! Alex Lifeson uses a lot of sus chords on many songs. Sus chords is part of his guitar signature.

[@tentothepowerof10]

Pompeii by bastille, notice that there is a sus4 chornd in the synth riff

[@alantaylor2694]

Beautiful melody in your piece at the end. Great vid as always. Thank you.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@MsMiDC]

As a guitar player, these chords are the best. They sound so ethereally good, and has a sort of sense of mystery and melancholy.

[@nbnewman]

Another classic suspended fourth intro is "Carry on" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (Deja vu). I enjoyed the closing instrumental.

[@boomerbear7596]

There doesn't always have to be a resolution, or a destination... sometimes the journey is the destination in and of itself. After realizing I had been playing "Free Fallin'" wrong (with regular major chords as opposed to the sus chords here) I have never been able to look at the song the same way and now the sus chords stand out. I was hoping for this song to be in this video and here it was!

[@beethockmtee8565]

Respectfully, without any intention of being rude, I don't know how you could possibly play Free Fallin' without suspended chords.

[@isaacthomas9279]

We use suspended chords a lot in Christian worship music. Common voicings are the IV and the V chords simply labeled sus so you get to pick sus4 or sus2. And players often use suspended chords when it is not written to do so either because they prefer the sound, or it’s easier, or both.

[@hnnymn]

James Taylor uses sus4 chords in quite an unusual manner (see: You've Got A Friend, Carolina In My Mind, Sweet Baby James, many others). He often uses the sus4 chord _not_ as a temporary variation of a Major chord that resolves to the Major chord (such as the “D → D4 → D → D4 → etc” opening of Crazy Little Thing Called Love and hundreds of others). Instead, James uses the sus4 as a “softer” _replacement_ for the V chord in a perfect cadence (V → I). This “Taylorized” perfect cadence (Vsus4 → I) resolves more gently due to there not being a half-step movement from the 3rd of the V to the Root of the I. Taylor does this a lot (eg, G → A7sus4 →D), and he's the only one I can think of who does it. I like to imagine that he uses this “softened” cadence because it fits with his laidback easygoing personality.

[@MrGeorgeNkillersmile]

The main riff of 'love will tear us apart' uses a Dsus4 chord also. Great video.

[@TigerRogers0660]

Another great video David!! When i saw the title i just KNEW you were going to use "Free Fallin". Nice little outro piece by the way.

[@A-D-D-F_Toxic]

Whenever I feel the urge to strum a guitar, Blue Rodeo “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” is usually the first song to come out. It’s so fun dancing between the D, Dsus2, and Dsus4.

[@charliechase8423]

Sus 2 and major 9ths (unresolved) are my bread and butter of writting! Your fully sus song made me very happy! Thank you.

[@liam1253]

3:26 I think it's slightly inaccurate to say that the sus2 chord's resolution is always weaker than a sus4. The strongest resolutions are the ones that contain half steps. When going to a major chord, the sus4 is stronger (4-3 suspension). But when going to a minor chord, the sus2 is always going to be stronger than sus4. But in that case, it's a 2-3 anticipation, resolving upwards. While not technically a suspension, it has a stronger resolution in this specific case

[@adrin181]

i was thinking more about this as the video went on, happy to see it put into words

[@SirBenjiful]

Half-step resolutions do usually sound stronger than whole-step resolutions, but downward resolutions also usually sound stronger than upward resolutions. So sus4 to major is a half-step resolution AND a downward resolution, making it stronger than sus2 to minor, which is a half-step but upward rather than downward. Additionally, major chords sound more resolved than minor chords, because a major third is a simpler ratio than a minor third (which is why the picardy third trick sounds so good), so that’s another count in sus4 to major’s favour. Of course all this stuff about what kind of resolutions sound stronger is kind of subjective, but the proof is in the pudding.

[@liam1253]

@@SirBenjiful downward resolutions sound stronger than upwards? The strongest resolution is leading up to tonic. And b2 resolving down to tonic isn't as strong as the classic leading tone resolution

[@SirBenjiful]

@@liam1253 “b2 leading down to tonic isn’t as strong” well, I think it is. Try it out yourself! Db7 -> C sounds just as strong as G7 -> C to me, if not stronger. This is why the ‘tritone substitution’ trick popular in jazz works so well. But ultimately it’s just a matter of opinion. If it doesn’t sound good to you, don’t play it that way! Peace.

[@liam1253]

@@SirBenjiful in both examples you give the strongest resolution is leading tone resolving up to the tonic. And you're talking about resolving to a major chord. I was talking about minor chords. G7-Cm has a stronger resolution than Db7-Cm because the D in the G7 chord resolves up to the Eb in the Cm chord. And this is also the strongest resolution when using suspended chords.

[@aminthasangel6393]

Beautiful melody, dear David!

[@thecountofgoldmoor1332]

Thank you for keeping us in suspense!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

👌🏼🥳

[@alexcrawfordguitar9361]

In John Denver’s Annie’s Song, the primary chords within the song and verses are the D and Dsus4.

[@bobsykes]

Your composition at the end is eerily beautiful. Tom Petty's "Free Falling" is an incredible song, although I pretty much think of that bass line as doubling the vocal, rather than changing the harmony of that part. I love your work on these videos! 🙏

[@hmat3255]

I really like your composition, David. I really love the atmosphere.

[@Danthatsgoodmusic]

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your videos and how much they help me. Even though I have an Advanced Higher Music certificate, I have difficulty hearing intervals or chords, and these videos are assisting me in my learning!

[@edwardcardona717]

This might be the first one of these videos where not only do I know most of these songs (which is relatively normal), but I specifically enjoy most of these. Over and over again, stuff that’s on my playlists

[@DoTheDaringDew]

Ooo I really like that piece you wrote yourself at the end of the video!

[@zippy-zappa-zeppo-zorba-etc]

That's a beautiful song you wrote at the end of the video

[@richardchin1545]

You're quartle harmony piece at the end really works. Well done!

[@iancurry]

Love the melody of your composition at the end. 😄

[@patrickrichardson2518]

Just a side note: sus2 chords are really just the first inversion of a sus4 a 5th above the root, i.e. Csus2 = Gsus4 which is an interesting thing to play with if you're going for a perfect cadence. Also, those weird 9sus4 chords are inversions of a 6/9 chord a whole step down, i.e. C9sus4 = Bb6/9.

[@everydayispoetry]

Yes, exactly. For example, I tend to hear the final chord in the Free Fallin riff not as Csus4, but as Fsus2 -albeit with a C in the bass (which I think is there because it foreshadows the eventual melody, as someone else here has pointed out.)

[@jegoy68]

I like how you made a tune built around sus chords…the transitions are very smooth!!!…I guess maybe because of the common notes in them!! Great as always David! 👏👏👏👏👏🙂

[@DavidBennettPiano]

thanks!

[@brodiejones2028]

Great video. I've loved sus chords (and therefore songs that feature them )for as long as I can remember. Now I have an understanding of why. Another great song that alternates uses both the sus2 and sus4 is "Brass in pocket" by the pretenders. The song is beautiful. Just needed to finish on a major!

[@gregsullivan7408]

Lol! I was thinking "he'll never think of Cold As Ice". Nothing gets past this man. Nothing. 😃

[@stoneagedjp]

My love affair with Baroque music comes from those wonderful buildups to a suspended forth and its dramatic resolution.

[@vanilla_milkshake]

bro, that all-sus song you wrote for the end is giving me some emotions and feels 😢🔥

[@JoeForrestart]

U2 - Bad, one of the best songs ever, great example of vamping on the sus4 and sus2

[@madelineeaton551]

I always love the compositions at the end of your videos. I don't know if it's at all beneficial for you to put them on Spotify or anything, but there's so many I've longed to be able to listen to. Big fan of your Longest March!

[@frankzelazko]

David - our greatest music teacher

[@cakemartyr5794]

Excellent video and explanations, thanks. Thanks for including Crowded House. Would be good to see Keane feature one day as their chord sequences seem very interesting to me.

[@patemblen3644]

Thanks David, once again. I don't think you've ever made an uninteresting video!

[@etiennelj]

Happy Xmas (War is over) is a great example of a song that uses a lot of sus chords.

[@MrPedal88]

Some things never change as far as sheet music goes. "For No One" is in B major. The band Chicago used both of these chords quite a bit.

[@erikhuseth1578]

The song you made would be a cool opener for an album

[@PeterArnold1969]

At 11:00 your song built just from suspended chords sent my vivid scene imagination into a spin. It sounded really interesting.

[@astro_cat030]

Thanks for making this. I was founding what sus chords are for and their uses that says it straightforward and short like you. This was really a sus video!

[@JamieAndersonMusic]

Another great video. I've watched so many of your stellar videos I feel like I've earned a music degree.

[@artemisnite]

Brilliant analysis as always, David. I'm in your debt. You've taught us all so much. ❤️‍🔥

[@borkomasda]

I rarely comment on youtube videos but the composition at the end is really good. Thanks for that.

[@oliverzwahlen]

So excited that you put in Tarkus as an example. Most music youtubers are surprisingly blind for 70ies prog rock even that time was probably one of the most experimental phase in music history.

[@aaronclift]

Agreed!

[@csimon4974]

Thank you David!

[@MandrakeGuy]

i love using sus2's and keeping them held for a long time, especially if you place the fifth with the fourth, fun sound.

[@King4taday]

Another great video. When I think of suspended chords on guitar I always think of John Lennon's Happy Xmas and that 80s song A Little Respect (successfully covered by Wheatus).

[@seanocean]

That last original composition you made on the end credits, is super pretty. 🥰

[@image30p]

Really nice explanation thank you! I like that piece at the end too. It has a feeling of floating or gently getting away from gravity and moving around from place to place

[@Elwrt455]

David Bennett is the BEST music theory instructor on KZbin hands down. Breaking down popular tunes as examples has opened creative doors on piano for me

[@marceloxvieira]

Oh, man. Please make this song you composed available on your Spotify. It’s so beautiful!

[@Wendolynn_Jane]

David's song at the end was really compelling.

[@siulumlion]

I always learn something new.

[@ale305z]

Another great way to use the sus4 is to use its pull towards the major triad to change key. I believe there's an example of this in exit music by Radiohead and it's a really subtle key change Street Spirit also is a brilliant use of both the sus4 and sus2

[@Lesyeuxouverts]

oh man, this compo of yours was mindblowing! really eerie and hauntology-like, it almost felt like listening to Boards of Canada. Also adds a sense of nostalgy and serenity.

[@gregsullivan7408]

Nice sus4 action in Abacab (Genesis). I particularly like the lead synth part that uses a constant two note 4th interval - very gritty.

[@Bekirkursunet]

Dear David, thank you for providing valuable information.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks for watching 😊😊

[@ballhawk387]

Enjoyed this, and very much your own composition. Nice work, mate! Sus2 chords are my fave chords that for reasons I can't fathom, appear on hardly any guitar chord box diagram posters. I dig all these tunes, so it shouldn't come as a surprise sus2 and sus4 chords appear in many of my own compositions. A couple of my main musical inspirations, Robert Smith and Pete Townshend, who you mentioned, feature *a lot* of sus chords in their compositions.

[@jcarty123]

Sus4 on dominant (V): note how note 4 is the tonic, ie., the chord virtually SHOUTS that a perfect cadence is coming. Sus4 on tonic (I): note how the 4 note is the subdominant, ie., it may as well be a IV chord / a plagal cadence "feel" is coming.

[@robertpien8708]

Van halen uses a lot of sus chords it really helps keep building emotion in music . Great lesson ty

[@Oafah]

1. Flesh out and release the closing track. Dreamy. Gorgeous. 2. Sus chords are basically what I call a "tweener". If you want a sub-dominant sound but want to cling to the root a bit, you plop a Sus4 chord in place of where a 4 might go. The same is true for Sus2 chords in place of dominant 5 chords. They can serve as harmonic substitutions for one another.

[@atom_c]

The Way Home by The Devin Townsend Project is pretty close to being completely sus2. Great video as always David

[@ivanazaroffmusic]

I really like that track you made with just sus chords at the end, sounds super cool

[@peterkelley6344]

David you once again do such wonderful example music. This time you seem to pick open the music from my dreams! It ia so nice ot know you can pull that out of my head!

[@panosmosproductions3230]

I feel Ike a sus2 chord resolving to a minor chord sounds like a satisfying resolution.

[@TheDSGuy]

I’m a big fan of dominant seventh sus 4 chords, such as Getting In Tune by The Who on the line, “And I’m gonna tuuuuune-“. If you want, you can add a ninth on top.

[@demonicusa.k.a.theblindguy3929]

For no one is my absolute favorite Beatles song, so it is the cherry on top of an already good day that it was the first example here. In addition it was crazy to hear Sarah bareilles mentioned for the 1st time in the David Bennett videos I've watched anyway. I worked with her when she was still in high school.. A coworker asked her one day what she was gonna do after graduating and she said right and perform songs. The CO worker said that's cute but what's your backup plan? She replied with "nope that's what I'm going to do" .

[@SpadajSpadaj]

Fooling around sus2/sus4 is relatively typical with guitar since it's just holding the main part of the chord but moving just one finger back and forth adds additional "texture".

[@robertgoodwin7256]

David, much as I respect your analysis I think you overlooked the John Lennon song and ‘so this is Christmas’. I’m pretty sure it’s packed with sus chords

[@kennethbropson8019]

Erasure's "A Little Respect" has a ton of sus2 and sus4 chords in it! Even an amateur like me can hear it in that one.

[@maxblatter]

I like the composition proposed at the end of the video! I think a band who wrote songs based on this sort of somewhat enigmatic sound would even have the the potential of becoming my new favorite band ...

[@markpeam8549]

For an overload of that Sus4-tension, there's always the bridge in Springsteen's Born to Run.

[@frankkay6457]

Your lovely piece at the end really demonstrates your point...It was enjoyable, but I was itching for resolution!

[@liquidsolids9415]

So great to see The Who in one of your videos! Keep up the good work! 🎸🤘🎵

[@ecotonoirrelevante246]

tokio hotel - durch den monsun to me is one of the greatest uses of this tool. that riff is so memorable.

[@sweetdragon36067]

Thank you for an very indepth review of sus chords: I was struggling to understand what they were.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊

[@DeGuerre]

One use of sus chords that is worth mentioning is to soften the effect of a cadence. A perfect cadence, V->I, feels very strong, partly because of the leading tone to tonic resolution. If the V is a suspended chord, the overall effect is softened, and the cadence doesn't sound as strong or final. A classic example of this is "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton. The chorus ends with a ii->V->I progression, where the V is a sus4 chord. The effect is that it feels like a perfect cadence, but doesn't feel like the end of the song. V7sus4->I feels less "final" than V7->I. The double suspended chord is where you omit the 3rd, but add both the 2nd and the 4th. No uses from popular songs come to mind, but the Raiders March by John Williams uses this to great effect on the tonic in C major. The notes of Csus2sus4 (what should you call it?) are the same as G7sus4 and F6sus2, the dominant and the subdominant respectively. So if you use I -> Isus2sus4 -> I, the second transition feels like a resolution, but to the ear, it's very ambiguous as to whether it's resolving suspensions, or a perfect cadence, or a plagal cadence. The overall effect is of an extremely "soft" progression, raising the tension just a little bit and then releasing it. Since it's Proms season at the moment, there's another example of the double suspended chord in "Jack's the Lad", the hornpipe from Henry Wood's "Fantasia on British Sea Songs".

[@thegothaunt]

Loved your composition at the end.

[@RugbyLeaguePassport]

Your composition at the end reminded me of Psychedelic Furs - Ghost of you

[@signoresal]

This is such an informative and well put together video keep up the high quality good work

[@NS-ov6mm]

Oh great👍 one of my favorite sounding chords :) I'm excited to watch it soon as I get home:) thanks David👍

[@gikem4882]

These chords seem kinda sus

[@krakenhawkstratdude204]

Another great example of suspended chords is the opening to “Can’t stop loving you” from Van Halen. For me, suspended chords provide much more tension and in effect more use than augmented and diminished chords.

[@geoffclarke1974]

Top marks for the outro

[@amesstarline5482]

The sus-chords at the start reminded me a lot of "I Love You, Always Forever" for some reason.