C#sus2 — C# suspended second chord
The third is replaced by the second. The chord is neither major nor minor because it contains no third.
- 1 = C#
- 2 = D#
- 5 = G#
- Symbol
- C#sus2
- Root
- C#
- Quality
- Suspended second
- Family
- suspended
- Notes
- C# D# G#
- Degree formula
1 2 5- Semitones from the root
0 2 7- Distinct pitch classes
- 3
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 2 semitones, 5 semitones
- Notation
- Written sus2. Resolves down to the major triad, or up to the suspended fourth.
- Key
- C# · C# major / A# minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C# | 0 | Perfect unison |
| 2 | D# | 2 | Major second |
| 5 | G# | 7 | Perfect fifth |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | C# | 1 | C# – D# – G# | 0 2 7 |
| first inversion | D# | 2 | D# – G# – C# | 0 5 10 |
| second inversion | G# | 5 | G# – C# – D# | 0 5 7 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9-6-6-6-9-9 | C# D# G# C# G# C# | 1 2 5 1 5 1 | C# | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | 9-6-6-8-9-9 | C# D# G# D# G# C# | 1 2 5 2 5 1 | C# | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 9-11-11-8-9-9 | C# G# C# D# G# C# | 1 5 1 2 5 1 | C# | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 9-11-11-8-9-11 | C# G# C# D# G# D# | 1 5 1 2 5 2 | C# | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 9-11-11-13-9-11 | C# G# C# G# G# D# | 1 5 1 5 5 2 | C# | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | 9-11-13-13-9-9 | C# G# D# G# G# C# | 1 5 2 5 5 1 | C# | 4 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
Related
- KeyKey of C#
- ScaleC# major pentatonic
- ChordC#7sus4 — Dominant seventh suspended fourth
- ChordC#sus4 — Suspended fourth
- ChordC#11 — Dominant eleventh
- DegreesC# — degree map
- Neck mapC# — note map
- ScaleC# aeolian