My Guitar Notes

Ebsus2 — Eb suspended second chord

The third is replaced by the second. The chord is neither major nor minor because it contains no third.

Symbol
Ebsus2
Root
Eb
Quality
Suspended second
Family
suspended
Notes
Eb F Bb
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
Eb · Eb major / C minor key signature

Formula

The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.

DegreeNoteSemitonesInterval from the root
1Eb0Perfect unison
2F2Major second
5Bb7Perfect 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.

InversionBass noteDegree in the bassNotes above the bassSemitones above the bass
root positionEb1Eb – F – Bb0 2 7
first inversionF2F – Bb – Eb0 5 10
second inversionBb5Bb – Eb – F0 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)NotesDegreesBassSpan (frets)Sounding strings
111-8-8-8-11-11Eb F Bb Eb Bb Eb1 2 5 1 5 1Eb36
211-8-8-10-11-11Eb F Bb F Bb Eb1 2 5 2 5 1Eb36
311-13-13-10-11-11Eb Bb Eb F Bb Eb1 5 1 2 5 1Eb36
411-13-13-10-11-13Eb Bb Eb F Bb F1 5 1 2 5 2Eb36
511-13-13-15-11-13Eb Bb Eb Bb Bb F1 5 1 5 5 2Eb46
611-13-15-15-11-11Eb Bb F Bb Bb Eb1 5 2 5 5 1Eb46

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

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