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Suspended

Dominant seventh, suspended second chords

Dominant 7th with the 2nd (9) replacing the 3rd, leaving no third (R-2/9-5-b7). The absent 3rd makes it tonally ambiguous and open; it reads as a suspended dominant or a quartal/pentatonic color. Common in modal and gospel-influenced playing where the 3rd is deliberately withheld.

In every key

The same shape, moved. The symbols below are spelled the way the app spells them, which is the spelling the chord's own scale asks for rather than whichever accidental is easier to type.

  • C7sus2
  • Db7sus2
  • D7sus2
  • Eb7sus2
  • E7sus2
  • F7sus2
  • F#7sus2
  • G7sus2
  • Ab7sus2
  • A7sus2
  • Bb7sus2
  • B7sus2

Voicings

Written in C, because that is the key the encyclopedia authors them in; every one transposes unchanged.

Root Position sus2 (R-9-5-b7)

C · D · G · Bb

beginner

RH 1-2-4-5 on C-D-G-Bb; keep the C-D second relaxed so it shimmers rather than clashes.

Spread sus2 (R-5-9-b7)

C · G · D · Bb

intermediate

LH 5-1 on C-G; RH 1-4 on D-Bb. Let the open fifth ground the airy upper pair.

Where it turns up

Static modal vamp chord and gospel/neo-soul color. The sus2 dominant floats without resolving, used by Herbie Hancock and Robert Glasper for open, airy dominant textures. Often alternates with a full 7 or 7sus4.

Commonly swapped with

  • C7sus4
  • Gm7/C
  • C9sus
  • Bb6/C