Csus2 — 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
- Csus2
- 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 | 8-5-5-5-8-8 | C D G C G C | 1 2 5 1 5 1 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | 8-5-5-7-8-8 | C D G D G C | 1 2 5 2 5 1 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 8-10-10-7-8-8 | C G C D G C | 1 5 1 2 5 1 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 8-10-10-7-8-10 | C G C D G D | 1 5 1 2 5 2 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 8-10-10-12-8-10 | C G C G G D | 1 5 1 5 5 2 | C | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | 8-10-12-12-8-8 | 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
- ChordC7sus4 — Dominant seventh suspended fourth
- ChordCsus4 — Suspended fourth
- ChordC11 — Dominant eleventh
- DegreesC — degree map
- Neck mapC — note map
- ScaleC aeolian