D#sus2 Chord on Ukulele
D#sus2 = D# – F – A# (Root, Major 2nd, Perfect 5th)
D sharp suspended second combines a small barre with two lower individual fingers: the G and C strings share a barre at the third fret, covering the fifth and the root, while the E and A strings each take a separate finger at the first fret for the suspended second, doubled across both. It's a shape with the barre positioned above two lower notes rather than below them, an arrangement that feels a little backwards compared to most of the instrument's other barre chords.
Take away D# major's third and drop in the second scale degree instead, and the chord lands in that same neither-bright-nor-dark limbo every sus2 shares, waiting on some later chord to settle it. Respelled as Ebsus2, it's a quick, airy stand-in for plain Eb major, the kind of brief ambiguous color folk and singer-songwriter styles reach for before letting the tonic resolve. With two of its four notes stating the identical suspended second an octave apart, this particular voicing rings with more open chime than a version that stated the note only once would.
Fingerings
Open Position
How to Practice It
Get the G-C barre settled at the third fret first, since it locks down two of the four strings at once, then bring in the E and A strings' first-fret notes as two separate lower fingers rather than reaching for a second barre — they sit a full two frets below the first one and need their own placement. Lifting those same two fingers and reforming them into plain D# major's shape is the whole resolution, and it's worth running slowly enough to hear which notes are actually doing the suspending.
Common Progressions
- Fm - Ebsus2 - Eb, using the suspended color as a brief detour on the way home
- I(sus2) - IV - V - I in the key of D# (D#sus2 - G# - A# - D#)
- Ebsus2 - Bb, a bright two-chord vamp in flat notation
- vi - IV - I(sus2), landing on the unresolved color.
FAQ
- Why does D#sus2's barre sit above its other two notes rather than below?
- The specific pitches happen to fall that way on the GCEA strings for this particular root — the fifth and root cluster at the third fret on two strings, while the suspended second sits a fret lower on the other two.
- What's the more familiar spelling for this chord?
- Ebsus2, the spelling used in folk and singer-songwriter arrangements that favor its open, ambiguous color.
- How does D#sus2 resolve into plain D# major?
- By lifting the E and A string fingers and reforming them into D# major's own barre-and-single-finger shape, a real change in hand position rather than a small adjustment.
- Why is the suspended second doubled in this voicing?
- Both the E and A strings land on the same pitch at the first fret, which happens to be a byproduct of where those two strings' open tunings sit relative to this chord's notes, not a deliberate choice to emphasize that note.
- Is D#sus2 commonly used as a standalone color?
- Occasionally, in arrangements that favor its open ambiguity as a texture worth holding, though it's more often a brief decorative move before or after plain D# major.
- Which note does D#sus2 replace, and which takes its place?
- It drops the major third, G, entirely, and replaces it with the second scale degree, F, the same substitution every sus2 chord makes relative to its parent triad.
- Why does this particular sus2 voicing double a note rather than stating all three tones once each?
- With four strings available for only three required pitches, one has to repeat somewhere — here it happens to be the suspended second itself, purely because of where that note falls relative to the E and A strings' open tunings.
- Is D#sus2 harder or easier than D#sus4?
- Easier overall — sus2 relies on one barre plus two lower individual fingers, while sus4 spreads four separate fretted notes across a wider stretch with no barre shortcut at all.
- Would this chord be a reasonable choice for a beginner working through the D# family of shapes?
- It's one of the friendlier D#-rooted color chords, since the barre and the two lower fingers all sit within a compact three-fret span rather than spreading across a wide, awkward stretch.
D#sus2 on other instruments: D#sus2 on Guitar, D#sus2 on Piano. Related: how chords are built, chord finder.