A suspended second, or sus2, chord sounds very open and a bit dreamy. Mainly because it does not have a third, which makes it either more fixated, or "happy" and "sad". Usually the (major) third comes in the next chord.
TIP: Scroll down below to transpose this chord in any key!
Usage
The sus2 chord is very versatile, is used a lot in pop, folk, country, classical and many other styles, mainly in major keys. Unlike the sus4 chord, which is quite similar, it has less tendency to move the 2nd up to a third. Although it is still quite common.
A good and proven way to use it is by first playing the sus2 and resolve it to a major chord. In any other case, use it instead of a major chord, or play around with sus2 major and sus4 in any possible combination!
Examples
- John Mayer - Stop this train: An awesome way of using the chord can be found in the first (and many other) bar(s) of this song. In this case John goes to use a maj13 chord in the next bar to create a lovely melody on top of his chord-picking.
