I know how to play an a7 but I just don’t understand the sus4 part. I know that sus means suspend and on the 4th note but what is that note and how do you play it?
Nobody’s answering you actual question. Let me try. Here is your A scale : A – B -C# – D -E – F# – G
Your a major chord is A C# E
Your A 7th is A C# D G
The suspend fourth comes from taking the third note, the C# and replacing it with the fourth note, the D, hence A D E G is your A7sus4. It’s called suspended because it basically hangs above the missing third note, the C#.
Now if you add the C# back into the chord it becomes this:
A C# E G D which is technically an 11th chord because the D is the 11th note in the continued scale, it can’t be in the fourth position because of the third already being there.
So if you see a chord chart that shows an C# in an A7sus4 it’s wrong.