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Intervals - Maj 2nd ( sus 2 )

Mike Edwin 69 lessons

The Major 2nd - Sus 2 chord.

We are now up to the Major 2nd. When stacking intervals from the major scale, we don't always wind up with a Major chord. Here is the first example.

A harmonic interval of a Major second comes from combining the 1st and 2nd degrees of a Major scale.

When we stack these two notes along with our P5 and Maj7 like in the previous lesson, we wind up with a chord called a 'suspended second'.

This term 'suspended', also abbreviated as 'sus', is telling us that the Major 3rd is not present in the chord. Suspended 2nd is telling us that the 2nd has replaced the 3rd.

So to make life easy, if you ever encounter a chord chart that asks you to play a C sus2 or an F sus2 or any other sus2, simply play the respective major chord, but replace the 3rd with the 2nd.

The formula for this chord is: 1 2 5 or 1 2 5 7, depending on how you wish to play it.

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