Absus2 guitar chord
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Absus2 — inversions voicings
Absus2 is Ab, Bb and Eb — with the third replaced by the second.
It sounds open, and neither major nor minor. With no third it works over either quality, which is why strummed parts lean on it.
Suspended — it hangs until something moves.
Also written Ab2 or Ab suspended 2nd.
What an inversion is
How to use Absus2
Voice by voice, Absus2 → . No voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords. No voice has to move by a semitone, so this is a change of colour rather than a resolution.
| In Absus2 | Moves | In Ab |
|---|---|---|
| Ab, the root | stays where it is | Ab, the root |
| Bb, the second | falls a whole tone | Ab, the root |
| Eb, the fifth | stays where it is | Eb, the fifth |
In which keys. Every note of Absus2 belongs to C minor (the ♭VI), C# major (the V), Eb major (the IV), Eb minor (the iv), F minor (the ♭III), F# major (the ii), Ab major (the I), Ab minor (the i), Bb minor (the ♭VII) and B major (the vi).
What to play over Absus2
Every note of Absus2 is in Ab major pentatonic, Ab major, Ab natural minor, Ab dorian and Ab mixolydian.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where Absus2 sits in it. Every scale.
Chords near Absus2
Change one note of Absus2 and you have (the second becomes the major third), (the second becomes the minor third), (the second becomes the fourth), (add the fourth), (add the major third) or (add the minor third).
Absus2 is a suspended chord — root and fifth, with a second or fourth where the third would be — or nothing at all. Suspended and power chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.