About Absus2sus4 — drop 2 voicings
Absus2sus4 is Ab, Bb, Db and Eb — Absus4 with the second added underneath the fourth.
It sounds ringing and deliberately ambiguous. Read another way it is a stack of fourths, which is why it works as a pad rather than as a chord that resolves.
Texture more than function — still no third.
Absus2sus4 notes and formula
| Ab | Bb | Db | Eb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Also written Absus2/4 or Ab suspended 2nd and 4th. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Absus2sus4
Take the four notes stacked as close together as they go, then drop the second voice from the top an octave. The gap it opens is what makes the chord sound like a chord rather than a cluster.
It lands on four adjacent strings, which is why it is the workhorse voicing on guitar.
Absus2sus4 has 13 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and the bottom four strings, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: Ab in the bass, Bb in the bass, Db 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.
5 of them sit on the middle 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.
All 6 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 4413xx, 1st fret, Ab, root position, top note Bb, all fretted
- 446646, 4th fret, Ab, root position, top note Bb, barred
- 446646, 4th fret, Ab, root position, top note Bb, barred
- x-11-8-8-9-9, 8th fret, Ab, root position, top note Db, all fretted
- x-11-11-13-11-11, 11th fret, Ab, root position, top note Eb, barred
- x-11-11-13-11-11, 11th fret, Ab, root position, top note Eb, barred
How to use Absus2sus4
In which keys. Every note of Absus2sus4 belongs to C# major (the V), 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 Absus2sus4
Every note of Absus2sus4 is in Ab major, Ab mixolydian, Ab dorian, Ab natural minor and Ab harmonic minor.
Chords near Absus2sus4
Change one note of Absus2sus4 and you have Absus2 (drop the fourth), Absus4 (drop the second), Abadd9 (the fourth becomes the major third), Abmadd9 (the fourth becomes the minor third), Ab7sus4 (the second becomes the flat seventh) or Ab11 (add the flat seventh).
Absus2sus4 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.