Suspended & power
A♯ suspended 4th chord
Hanging tension that usually resolves to a major or minor chord.
- Notes
- A♯D♯E♯
- Formula
- 145
- Built from
- root · perfect 4th · perfect 5th
How to play A♯sus4
About the A♯ suspended 4th chord
Playing it
There’s no open-string way to play A♯sus4 on guitar with the root in the bass, so the standard shape is a barre across the 1st fret (x11341).
On piano, A♯sus4 has two black keys (A♯ and D♯) and one white key.
On ukulele the usual A♯sus4 shape is 3311, with a small 2-string barre at the 1st fret.
Related chords
A♯sus4 contains exactly the same notes as E♭sus2. Which name fits depends on which note is in the bass and what key you’re in.
Move a single note and A♯sus4 becomes a different chord: lower D♯ to C𝄪 for A♯, swap D♯ for C♯ for A♯m, swap D♯ for B♯ for A♯sus2 and add G♯ for A♯7sus4.
Where you’ll hear it
Notice the E♯ in A♯sus4 (A♯ D♯ E♯): each note of the chord takes its own letter (A–D–E), so the perfect 5th has to be written E♯ rather than F — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
