Esus2sus4 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 Esus2sus4 — drop 2 voicings
Esus2sus4 is E, F#, A and B — Esus4 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.
Esus2sus4 notes and formula
| E | F# | A | B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Texture more than function — still no third.
Also written Esus2/4 or E suspended 2nd and 4th. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Esus2sus4
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.
Esus2sus4 has 14 of them, on the top four strings, the bottom four strings and the middle four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: E in the bass, F# in the bass, A in the bass and B in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the top 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 x74455 — no barre and low, at the 4th fret. 2 of the 6 shapes here sit in open position. 4 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 002202 | open position | E, root position | F# | barred |
| 022202 | open position | E, root position | F# | barred |
| x74455 | 4th fret | E, root position | A | all fretted |
| x77977 | 7th fret | E, root position | B | barred |
| 12-12-9-11-x-x | 9th fret | E, root position | F# | all fretted |
| 12-12-14-14-12-14 | 12th fret | E, root position | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 9 drop 3 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
How to use Esus2sus4
In which keys. Every note of Esus2sus4 belongs to C# minor (the ♭III), D major (the ii), E major (the I), E minor (the i), F# minor (the ♭VII), G major (the vi), A major (the V) and B minor (the iv).
What to play over Esus2sus4
Every note of Esus2sus4 is in E major, E mixolydian, E dorian, E natural minor and E harmonic minor.
Chords near Esus2sus4
Change one note of Esus2sus4 and you have Esus2 (drop the fourth), Esus4 (drop the ninth), Eadd9 (the fourth becomes a major third), E7sus4 (the ninth becomes a flat seventh), E11 (add the flat seventh) or E/F# (the fourth becomes a major third).
Esus2sus4 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 Esus2sus4’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.