From the Who's "Pinball Wizard" to Tom Petty's "Free Fallin" you have all heard suspended chords before, but may not have known how to form and play them on the guitar.
These chords are often notated as "sus" chords in guitar chord charts, but there really is no mystery--a suspended chord creates a harmonic "tension" by swapping out the 3rd of the key/chord for the 4th of a key/chord.
Knowing that all major and minor chords are built upon a 1-3-5 triad (major third for a major chord, and flatted third for a minor chord), you simply swap out a fourth for a third.
In the video link below, I demonstrate this with a D major chord, where I replace the F# on the first string with a G played on the first string with my pinky. The G is the fourth tone of the D major scale, and is the "suspension."
Of course, any major or minor chord can be suspended, but you do have to know a little bit about scales and chord structure. A good guitar teacher (such as myself--ha!) would be happy to show you how to do this easily in your head.
There is also an animal called the suspended 2nd, made most famous by Steely Dan, which I will cover in a future video.
But in the meantime, give these "sus 4's" a shot--the tension they create in the music is wonderful, and keeps a song really rolling forward!
Happy Pickin'!
Video On Suspended Chords
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