Bsus2sus4 guitar chord
The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bsus2sus4 — drop 3 voicings
Bsus2sus4 is B, C#, E and F# — Bsus4 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.
Bsus2sus4 notes and formula
| B | C# | E | F# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Also written Bsus2/4 or B suspended 2nd and 4th. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bsus2sus4
The same operation one voice further down: the third voice from the top falls an octave and becomes the bass.
That leaves a bigger hole under the top three notes, so a string gets skipped: the muted string in the middle is the shape, not a mistake.
Bsus2sus4 has 8 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 2nd fret up to the 11th — every inversion the chord has: B in the bass, C# in the bass, E in the bass and F# in the bass. The one to learn first is the C# shape at the 2nd fret.
4 of them sit on strings 5-3-2-1, 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 4 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x22422, 2nd fret, B, root position, top note F#, barred
- 7746xx, 4th fret, B, root position, top note C#, all fretted
- 779979, 7th fret, B, root position, top note C#, barred
- x-14-11-11-12-12, 11th fret, B, root position, top note E, all fretted
How to use Bsus2sus4
In which keys. Every note of Bsus2sus4 belongs to C# minor (the ♭VII), D major (the vi), E major (the V), F# minor (the iv), Ab minor (the ♭III), A major (the ii), B major (the I) and B minor (the i).
What to play over Bsus2sus4
Every note of Bsus2sus4 is in B major, B mixolydian, B dorian, B natural minor and B harmonic minor.
Chords near Bsus2sus4
Change one note of Bsus2sus4 and you have Bsus2 (drop the fourth), Bsus4 (drop the second), Badd9 (the fourth becomes the major third), Bmadd9 (the fourth becomes the minor third), B7sus4 (the second becomes the flat seventh) or B11 (add the flat seventh).
Bsus2sus4 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.