Sus, Add and Power Chords
Three families that all do something to the third. Sus replaces it, add leaves it alone and puts a note on top, and power chords remove it entirely. Compare them once and you will never mix them up again.
- 3 families
- around the third
- no seventh needed
which styles use it
- Rock & folk
- Worship
- Pop
- Metal
In short
Sus chords take the third out and put the second or fourth in its place, which leaves the chord neither major nor minor. Add chords keep the third and add an extra note without a seventh underneath it. Power chords drop the third and keep only the root and the fifth. All three are ways of dealing with one note.
The third is the most opinionated note in a chord. These three families are what you reach for when you want that opinion delayed, decorated or withheld.
How to build it
- Sus: swap the third out
Move it down to the second or up to the fourth. Sus4 leans and wants to resolve back. Sus2 is calmer and can simply stay.
- Add: keep the third, put a note on top
Cadd9 is C, E, G and D. The D is a ninth above the root but there is no seventh in the chord, which is exactly what add means. That gap is why it sparkles instead of sounding jazzy.
- Power: keep only the root and fifth
No third at all. The chord commits to nothing and survives distortion, which is why rock guitar is built on it.
Where you run into this
- On guitar, where all three are easier to play than the full chord.
- In worship and gospel, where sus4 into major is a standard move.
- In rock and metal, where power chords carry entire songs.
The three side by side
Same root, four chords:
- C, the plain major triad
- Csus4, the third replaced and leaning
- Cadd9, the third kept and a sparkle on top
- C5, the third gone and nothing to interpret