Sus2 chords: open, airy, neither major nor minor

A sus2 chord is what you get when you take the one note that makes a chord happy or sad and swap it for something more ambiguous. The result floats: open, modern, a little unresolved. On the guitar sus2 chords are often easier than the chords they come from, since several of them are an open shape with a finger lifted, and they are the quickest way to make a simple progression shimmer.

What a sus2 chord is

A sus2 chord replaces the third with the second. The formula is 1, 2, 5: root, major second, perfect fifth.

With no third, the chord is neither major nor minor, and that is exactly why it is useful. Asus2 fits in a song in A major and in a song in A minor. The ear fills in the missing third from the surrounding chords and the melody.

One curiosity worth knowing: a sus2 chord and a sus4 chord can contain the same notes. Csus2 is C, D, G; Gsus4 is G, C, D. Dsus2 is D, E, A; Asus4 is A, D, E. The bass note decides which name fits. The sus4 chords page covers the other half of the family.

Sus2, sus4 and add9: what goes where

The shapes to learn

Start with the two that are easier than their major chords. Asus2 is an A major with the second string left open. Dsus2 is a D major with the first string left open. Then Esus2, Csus2 and Gsus2, which lean on open strings to ring wide, and Bsus2, a barre shape that moves anywhere.

Bsus2 is Asus2 moved up two frets with the first finger acting as the nut. Because it has no open strings, the fret of the root on the fifth string names the chord:

For F, there is a friendlier option than the barre: Fsus2 as x x 3 0 1 1, four strings with the third string open. If the barre itself is still a struggle, the barre chords guide shows how to make it ring.

How to use sus2 chords

The most natural use is as a moment of movement inside a chord. Play the major chord, lift or move one finger to the sus2, and come back. The chord name barely changes and the rhythm comes alive.

The third line is the classic one: the fingers on the first string walk up to the sus4 and down to the sus2 before the D comes back, all while the right hand keeps strumming. Practice it at a slow tempo with a steady strum; the online metronome at 60 BPM is a good place to start.

A sus2 can also stand in for a whole chord. Where a song has a long major or minor chord under a melody that avoids the third, the sus2 version keeps the space open and avoids choosing between major and minor. Let your ear judge whether the song wants that ambiguity.