Guitar Triads Chart (Suspended 2)
PRACTICE
We're going to play some suspended 2 chords and practice all of the inversions. Suspended 2 chords are very similar to Suspended 4 chords. In fact, every Suspended 2 chord is an inversion of a suspended 4 chord.
We want to practice these chords both across the guitar neck and up and down the strings.
So here is the root position A sus2. It's A, B, E. First inversion is B, E, A, and second inversion is E, A, B, and back to root. So that's going down the strings, we can also go up the strings. So we've got A, B, E, then we can go up to B, E, A, and then up to E, A, B. So we want to practise these chords both across the guitar neck and up and down the strings and no just those, we want to do every string set.
For this page, we’ll use Asus2 as our example, containing the notes A, B, and E.
Suspended chords are created from major chords. Beginning with a major chord, such as A (A, C♯, E), we remove the 3rd from the chord (C♯) and replace it with the 2nd (B). Where does the 2nd come from? From the A major scale: A B C♯ D E F♯ F♯ A.
We’ll study all of the suspended 2 triad forms. We can study them both going up and down the same string set (for example, all shapes on a single string set, as presented below), or we can study them across string sets. (Root position on string set 654 moving to 1st inversion on string set 543).
Note: since Asus2 and Asus4 chords are inversions of each other, this lesson is similar to the lesson on sus4 chords.
Suspended 2nd Triads – Strings 6, 5, 4
Root Position
First Inversion
Second Inversion
Suspended 2nd Triads – Strings 5, 4, 3
Root Position
First Inversion
Second Inversion
Suspended 2nd Triads – Strings 4, 3, 2
Root Position
First Inversion
Second Inversion
Suspended 2nd Triads – Strings 3, 2, 1
Root Position
First Inversion
Second Inversion
Key Tasks
- Play through the chords and learn all of them.
- Practice the chords up and down one string set, as shown above (e.g., 654).
- Practice the chords across string sets, e.g., Root on 654, 1st inversion on 543, etc.
As the creator of Hub Guitar, Grey has compiled hundreds of guitar lessons, written several books, and filmed hundreds of video lessons. He teaches private lessons in his Boston studio, as well as via video chat through TakeLessons.