How to Play Esus2 Chord on Guitar
In today's lesson, we'll go over 3 distinct ways to play the E suspended second chord, or Esus2 for short.
We'll discover common positions, voicings, and recommend finger placements, each with its chord diagram. Later in this article, we'll also discuss chord theory, how it gets its name, and how to use it.
Esus2 Chord Voicing 1: Open Position
Place your:
- First finger on the fifth string, second fret
- Third finger on fourth string, fourth fret
Don't strum all six strings but just from the 6th string down to the fourth string.
Esus2 Chord Voicing 2
These next two finger positions are going to be barre chords but with practice you'll be able to play them with ease.
Place your:
- Index finger on the fifth string, 7th fret
- Ring finger on the fourth string, 9th fret
- Pinky finger on the third string, 9th fret
- Barre using your index finger across strings 1-5 while you strum from the 5th string down
Esus2 Chord Voicing 3
This last voicing isn't as common however, as you can see from the chord diagrams I have added in the notes that make up the chord. This way you can start to better understand your guitar fretboard.
To play, place your:
- First finger on the fourth string, second fret
- Ring finger on the third string, fourth fret
- Fourth finger on the second string, fifth fret.
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Esus2 Guitar Chord Theory
Now, let’s break down the theory of the Esus2 chord so you can better understand how to use it.
The E suspended second chord is built from the E major scale: E F# G# A B C# D#
To understand the chord formula, you need to understand "scale degrees," which is simply numbering the notes of a scale starting with the root note.
Often, music teachers reference piano note names due to the simplicity of the layout of a piano for scales, but I think the illustration below will do:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
E F# G A B C# D#
The Esus2 is Neither A Major Nor A Minor Chord
In music theory, the 3rd scale degree determines if a chord is major or minor, and because the 3rd scale degree is not part of this chord's formula, it's simply not a major nor minor chord!
If you've read my breakdown of the E major you'd know that an E major chord uses notes E G# B which are the 1 3 5 notes of the scale. For an E suspended second chord, the second degree essentially replaces the third as we use the 1 2 5 notes of the scale which would be notes E F# B.
Side note: I don't want to get too deep into the theory, but sometimes you'll hear the 2 referred to as a major second in reference to the intervals. This is getting a little too deep into music theory and would require a whole other article, so we'll skip this for now.
How To Use E Suspended Second Chord
As already mentioned, a suspended second chord is neither major nor minor - it's almost like it's "SUSPENDED" and doesn't know where to go.
It's used to get a bit more mileage out of the chord before there is movement. This means that you can bounce around on the chord before you move to another chord. For example, you can play a Em to Esus2 or E major to Esus2 to keep the listener entertained a little longer before you move to another chord in the key.
Using the Esus2 Chord in Chord Progressions:
You can also use these guitar chords for voice leading to help the music flow a bit more naturally. For example, if you played a chord progression using B major and E. This would flow well because E major uses notes E G# B, and B major uses B D# F#. The D# already wants to move to the E note and they both share a common tone (the B note). But when you play Esus2, now there is a second common tone (the F#) which makes it flow even smoother.
Now you know a few ways to play the Esus2 chord and understand some Esus2 chord theory!
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