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The Asus4 chord

Built from A - D - E, the Asus4 is a suspended fourth that sounds a tension chord waiting to land. It lives at the centre of tension-release moments in pop and rock, and it shows up in more songs than you would expect. Add one finger to A and you have Asus4. Used by Tom Petty and Guns N' Roses alike. What follows below: the voicings worth memorising on guitar and piano, the theory in plain language, progressions in two or three different keys, and a short list of real records that lean on the chord.

Hear the Asus4 in the chord builder →

Voicings for Asus4

Common ways to grip the Asus4 on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.

Guitar , full chord shapes

CAGED-derived voicings for Asus4 across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.

Guitar: Asus4 shape at fr.2

Notes: A - D - E (chord tones)

Guitar: Esus4 shape at fr.5

Notes: A - D - E (chord tones)

Guitar: Dsus4 shape at fr.7

Notes: A - D - E (chord tones)

Guitar: top-4 voicing

Notes: A - D - E (chord tones)

Guitar , triad shapes

Three-note voicings on three adjacent strings. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.

Triad: top-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: middle-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: bass-side triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Piano voicings

Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.

Piano: root position

Notes: A - D - E. Root A at the bottom. The classic stacked-thirds spelling of a suspended fourth.

Piano: first inversion

Notes: D - E - A. D at the bottom. Common in chord-melody, walking bass lines and gentler voicings.

Piano: second inversion

Notes: E - A - D. E at the bottom. A floating, suspended feel often used in hymns and ballads.

The theory behind Asus4

The Asus4 chord (A - D - E) is a suspended fourth. Its intervals are root, perfect fourth, perfect fifth. Functionally it lives at home in a closely related major key as the passing chord, but you'll also find it in a closely related major key as the passing chord. The chord tends to resolve down a step to its parent major, which is why it shows up in classic rock and gospel.

Progressions that use Asus4

Short progressions that put the Asus4 to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.

I→IV→V key of C major

Asus4 (as passing colour)

This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many major-key progressions.

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Songs that feature Asus4

Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.

Cathedral by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Asus4 colour throughout.
Patience by Guns N' Roses. Asus4 within the verse.
Tom Sawyer by Rush. Asus4 in the iconic intro.

Related chords

Chords a step away from the Asus4 in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.

TriadA DomA7 Maj7Amaj7 m7Am7 NeighbourE NeighbourEm NeighbourE7 NeighbourD

Keys where Asus4 lives

The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.

C major A minor

More songwriting tools

Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the Asus4 fits into context. All free, no signup.

About the chord builder

The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.

This page is a static reference for the Asus4. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.