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Three notes · 1 2 5 · pure 8:9:12

The sus2 chord

A sus2 chord swaps the third for the second: a root, the note a whole step above it, and the fifth. With no third it's neither major nor minor, and it sounds open and airy.

How it's built

Take a major or minor chord and replace its third with the second: C, D and G. Sus is short for suspended. The name comes from the suspension, a note held over from the chord before and then moved to a chord tone, but a sus2 seldom works that way: in folk, pop and worship songs it usually stands as a sound of its own.

Its notes are a stack of fifths, rearranged: C to G is a fifth, and G to D is another. So C sus2 has the same notes as G sus4.

Singing it in tune

Tuned pure, it's 8:9:12. The fifth sits 2.0 cents (a cent is a hundredth of a semitone) above the piano's, and the second, 9:8, 3.9 cents above. Both moves are tiny because the chord is built from fifths: D is a pure fifth above G. With no third to place, a sus2 is one of the easier chords for a group to lock.

Sung close, the root and the second are only a whole step apart and rub gently. Spread out, with the second an octave higher, the chord sounds more like open fifths.

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Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up.
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Questions

What is the difference between sus2 and add9?

An add9 keeps the third and a sus2 leaves it out. C add9 is C, E, G and D; C sus2 is C, D and G.

Is a sus2 chord major or minor?

Neither: with no third, nothing in the chord says major or minor. The melody and the chords around it decide how you hear it.

Does a sus2 chord need to resolve?

Not in most modern styles, where it's used for its open sound. Older harmony has no sus2 chord as such: a note held over a ninth above the bass usually falls to the root.

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Ready to tell them apart by ear? Try chord ear trainingChord ear training · Major, minor or seventh: which?