Sus2, and the Elusive Mu

Greetings, Intermediate Pickers!

In a previous post from earlier May, I talked about suspended-fourth guitar chords--that is, a chord where you replace the 3rd of the chord triad/musical scale, with the 4th of the musical scale.  It's a technique used by most guitarists and mandolin players to make a standard major or minor chord a little more interesting, and add some forward movement to a chord progression. 

Today, I want to briefly talk about suspended-second chords, and the elusive "mu" chord popularized by the jazzy-rock group Steely Dan.

To understand what a suspended chord really is and how it operates, you have to know a little bit of music theory. A normal major chord consists of the root, 3rd and 5th notes of the major scale (1-3-5). If you take the A major scale for example: A,B,C#,D,E,F#,G#,A and you take the root (1st), 3rd and 5th note of that scale you get A,C#,E. 

The sus4 chord consists of the root, 4th and 5th notes of the major scale (1-4-5) = A,D,E. You can see that the sus4 chord (“sus” stands for “suspended”.) replaces the third with the fourth note.

The sus2 chord consists of the root, 2nd and 5th notes of the major scale (1-2-5) = A,B,E. The sus2 chord replaces the third with the second note.  By removing the 3rd in a chord, the chord becomes neither major nor minor, as the 3rd determines the happy major or "dark" minor sound. Therefore, suspended chords can be applied to both major and minor chords.

Here are some common fingerings for the guitar:

Finally, a quick word on the Steely Dan "Mu" chord, which is almost impossible to play on the guitar--but can be done!  Whereas a sus2 chord consists of the 1,2, and 5 of the musical scale, the "Mu Major" chord adds the 2nd note of the scale, but also keeps the 3rd in!  So, an "A Mu Major" would have A,B,C#,and E.  This is easily done on a piano--not so simple on a guitar without some serious pinky-stretching.  Here's one example of an A Mu Major:

So--have some fun trying these out, and don't be afraid to embellish the songs you already know with these alternate chords.  Happy Pickin!'

Here's a video, where I show some examples:
Video--Suspended Second Chords