Csus2sus4 guitar chord
A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Csus2sus4 — drop 2 voicings
Csus2sus4 is C, D, F and G — Csus4 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.
Csus2sus4 notes and formula
| C | D | F | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Texture more than function — still no third.
Also written Csus2/4 or C suspended 2nd and 4th. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Csus2sus4
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.
Csus2sus4 has 15 of them, on the bottom four strings, the top four strings and the middle four strings, from open position up to the 12th — every inversion the chord has: C in the bass, D in the bass, F in the bass and G in the bass. The one to learn first is the F shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
5 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 x30011 — no barre and 2 open strings. 2 of the 6 shapes here sit in open position. 3 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x33033 | open position | C, root position | G | barred |
| x30011 | open position | C, root position | F | 2 open strings |
| x33533 | 3rd fret | C, root position | G | barred |
| 8857xx | 5th fret | C, root position | D | all fretted |
| 8-8-10-10-8-10 | 8th fret | C, root position | D | barred |
| x-15-12-12-13-13 | 12th fret | C, root position | F | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 10 drop 3 and 2 open string voicings, each on its own page.
How to use Csus2sus4
In which keys. Every note of Csus2sus4 belongs to C major (the I), C minor (the i), D minor (the ♭VII), Eb major (the vi), F major (the V), G minor (the iv), A minor (the ♭III) and Bb major (the ii).
What to play over Csus2sus4
Every note of Csus2sus4 is in C major, C mixolydian, C dorian, C natural minor and C harmonic minor.
Chords near Csus2sus4
Change one note of Csus2sus4 and you have Csus2 (drop the fourth), Csus4 (drop the ninth), Cadd9 (the fourth becomes a major third), Cmadd9 (the fourth becomes a minor third), C7sus4 (the ninth becomes a flat seventh) or C11 (add the flat seventh).
Csus2sus4 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 Csus2sus4’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.