Banjo Bsus4 chord (Sawmill)B suspended 4th on the 5-string banjo: 4 4 4 4, and 3 more shapes

Bsus4 chord chart for 5-string banjo in Sawmill tuning: 4 4 4 4, first position, with the short 5th string marked
Bsus4 (B suspended 4th) on the 5-string banjo, Sawmill: 4 4 4 4, string 4 to string 1. Fingers are numbered on the dots; copper marks the root; the green ring on the left is the 5th string, solid when it’s in the chord.

Frets, string 4 to string 1: 4 4 4 4 (first position)

  1. String 4 (D): 4th fret, index finger (barre), F♯
  2. String 3 (G): 4th fret, index finger (barre), B
  3. String 2 (C): 4th fret, index finger (barre), E
  4. String 1 (D): 4th fret, index finger (barre), F♯
  5. String 5, the short g: open, G, not in the chord

Sounds: F♯ B E F♯  ·  Bsus4 is B, E, F♯ (1 · 4 · 5)

The 5th string: the short g rubs against the F♯ in this shape, a semitone away: some players let it ring, some skip it.

With a capo: on the 4th fret it’s 0 0 0 0 (frets counted from the capo), an open Gsus4 shape. Spike the 5th string at the 9th fret to keep it in tune with the capo.

Sawmill tuning: gDGCD, the short 5th string first, then strings 4 to 1.

Hear it in the app ›

The link can’t set the tuning: the app starts in open G. Choose Sawmill once in its Settings and it remembers.

More Bsus4 shapes

  1. 1234gEBEF♯2 4 4 4
    at the nut
  2. 6fr341gBEF♯9 9 6 x
    6fr
  3. 11fr3114gEF♯BE14 11 11 14
    11fr

Other B chords in Sawmill

BBmB7Bm7Bmaj7B6Bsus4Bsus2Bdim

Other suspended 4th chords

Gsus4Asus4Dsus4Csus4Bsus4Esus4Fsus4B♭sus4

Bsus4 in other tunings

Open GDouble COpen DC Tuning

All Sawmill banjo chords · Printable chart (PDF) · How to tune · The app