About Absus2 — triad voicings
Absus2 is Ab, Bb and Eb — Ab 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.
Absus2 notes and formula
| Ab | Bb | Eb |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 5 |
Suspended — it hangs until something moves.
Also written Ab2 or Ab suspended 2nd. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Absus2
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
Absus2 has 47 of them, on the low-middle three, the top three strings, the bottom three strings, the bottom four strings, the high-middle three, the middle four strings, the top four strings, strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: Ab in the bass, Bb in the bass and Eb in the bass. The one to learn first is the Bb shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
6 of them sit on the bottom four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with 41134x — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Absus2 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 4 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41134x | 1st fret | Ab, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| 4xx344 | 3rd fret | Ab, root position | Ab | barred |
| x11144 | 1st fret | Bb, 2nd in the bass | Ab | barred |
| 466x46 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Bb | barred |
| xx6896 | 6th fret | Ab, root position | Bb | all fretted |
| x-11-8-8-9-11 | 8th fret | Ab, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| x-x-8-8-9-11 | 8th fret | Bb, 2nd in the bass | Eb | all fretted |
| x-11-13-13-11-11 | 11th fret | Ab, root position | Eb | barred |
How to use Absus2
Voice by voice, Absus2 → Ab. No voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| 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 lydian, Ab mixolydian and Ab dorian.
Chords near Absus2
Change one note of Absus2 and you have Ab (the ninth becomes a major third), Abm (the ninth becomes a minor third), Absus4 (the ninth becomes a fourth), Abadd9 (add the major third), Abmadd9 (add the minor third) or Ab5 (drop the ninth).
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.
On Absus2’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.