Bsus4 Chord on Ukulele
Bsus4 = B – E – F# (Root, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th)
Where sus2 lowers B major's third, sus4 pushes it the other way, swapping D# for E, a perfect fourth above the root. E happens to land at the fourth fret of the C string here, which puts it one fret above the higher barre already needed for Bb's equivalent shape shifted up a whole step — the fretting hand covers the E and A strings at the second fret with one finger and the G and C strings at the fourth fret with another, leaving a visible two-fret gap between the pair rather than the tighter spacing some of the other B-family shapes use.
A fourth hanging just above the major third behaves like a held breath — it wants out, and that urge to drop back down is what separates sus4's insistence from sus2's more shrugging ambiguity. As a suspended stand-in for the V chord in the key of E, Bsus4 gets held for a beat before falling to plain B and then resolving onward to the tonic, and it works equally well as a suspended I chord inside B's own key. Sitting at the fourth and second frets rather than lower on the neck gives this particular sus4 a tighter, more clipped attack than an open-string sus4 would have, so when it finally releases into B major, the drop reads as a genuine settling rather than a subtle shift. Its higher position on the neck also means the whole chord sits a touch brighter in pitch than the equivalent shape built around Bb, which is a small but audible side effect of simply being a whole step higher.
Fingerings
Open Position
How to Practice It
Rehearse the two barres apart before asking them to cooperate: hold just the lower one, across the E and A strings at the second fret, and strum only those two strings, then switch to holding just the higher one, across the G and C strings at the fourth fret. Anyone already comfortable with Bb's sus4 shape has a head start, since the finger spacing here is identical, only relocated a whole step up the neck. For the actual release, drop the higher barre down a single fret, from four to three, while keeping the lower barre planted exactly where it already sits — that one-fret drop is the entire sus4-to-major resolution. Practicing this release slowly, on its own, without any surrounding strum pattern, makes it much easier to feel exactly how far the barre needs to travel before trying to time it against a beat.
Common Progressions
- Vsus4 – V – I, a suspended dominant resolving in the key of E (Bsus4 – B – E)
- Isus4 – I, in the key of B itself (Bsus4 – B)
- IVsus4 – IV, in the key of F# (Bsus4 – B, functioning as IV)
- vi – Isus4 – I, in the key of B (G#m – Bsus4 – B)
FAQ
- Why does Bsus4 need two barres at different frets?
- Its four notes split into two pairs at two different frets, mirroring the same double-barre pattern found in Bb's sus4 shape, just shifted up a whole step to sit at frets two and four instead of one and three.
- How does Bsus4 differ in feel from Bsus2?
- Sus2 leaves the chord genuinely ambiguous by removing the third outright, while sus4 keeps a strong directional pull, since the fourth sits so close above the major third that it practically insists on dropping back down.
- What's the actual resolution move from Bsus4 to B major?
- Drop the higher barre down one fret, from the fourth fret to the third, while the lower barre across the E and A strings at the second fret stays exactly where it is.
- Does practicing Bb's sus4 shape help with this one?
- Yes — the two shapes share the identical double-barre spacing, just positioned a whole step apart on the neck, so comfort with one transfers directly to the other.
- Why does Bsus4 sound slightly brighter than Bbsus4 even though the shapes are identical?
- Simply because it sits a whole step higher on the neck — the same finger pattern produces higher-pitched notes, and higher pitch alone tends to read as brighter regardless of the underlying harmonic function.
- How long should a player expect to hold Bsus4 before it resolves in a typical song?
- Usually just a beat or two — holding it much longer starts to make the suspension itself feel like the destination rather than a brief moment of anticipation before the harmony settles.
Bsus4 on other instruments: Bsus4 on Guitar, Bsus4 on Piano. Related: how chords are built, chord finder.