The Chord That Defined ’90s Rock

There’s a certain guitar sound that instantly feels like ’90s alternative rock – big, open and heavy, but with more colour than a standard power chord. A huge part of that sound comes from the sus2 chord.

In this lesson, we’ll look at how the sus2 chord works and how you can use it to get that distinctive ’90s guitar sound. You’ll hear this type of open, suspended sound throughout alternative rock in bands like Deftones, Foo Fighters, Hum and many others.

One of the easiest ways to understand the sound is to start with a familiar power chord. By changing or adding just one note, you can turn that basic power chord into a sus2 voicing. The result still has the weight of a power chord, but with a much bigger and more open sound.

Because a sus2 chord doesn’t contain the major or minor 3rd, it has an ambiguous quality that works especially well with distortion. It can sound heavy without sounding too dark, and melodic without becoming overly bright.

We’ll look at several ways to play these chords on the guitar and how you can move the shapes around the fretboard. Once you’re comfortable with them, try replacing regular power chords in some of your own riffs and progressions with sus2 shapes and listen to how much the character changes.

Another important part of this sound is allowing notes to ring together. Open strings and suspended notes can make a simple chord progression sound much wider and more atmospheric, especially when you add distortion or heavier guitar tones.

The goal is to start thinking beyond regular major, minor and power chords and add another sound to your rhythm guitar vocabulary. Download the PDF below to follow along with the sus2 chord shapes and examples from the complete video lesson.

Download the Sus2 Chord PDF