Ukulele · suspended second
B♭sus2 Chord on Ukulele
Bb Suspended 2nd is Bb, C, F — the 1-2-5 pattern of a suspended second chord. There are 2 ways to play it on ukulele, ranked below from easiest to hardest.
Good news: Bbsus2 has an open shape on ukulele, so you can play it without barring anything. Start there and work up the neck later.
Start here — Bsus2 Shape (movable) (1st fret)
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
Easier ways to play it — 2 shapes, easiest first
Same chord in all of them. What changes is how much your hand has to do and where on the neck it sits.
Bsus2 Shape (movable) (1st fret) Way 1 of 2
Bsus2 Shape (movable) (1st fret)
Easiest here· intermediate· the standard shape
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
Gsus2 Shape (movable) (3rd fret) Way 2 of 2
Gsus2 Shape (movable) (3rd fret)
intermediate
Barre at fret 3 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other suspended second chord.
What beginners get wrong
Moving in and out of it
The shape above: Bsus2 Shape (movable) (1st fret) — open position, so several strings ring unfretted.
Listening: each shape above has its own play button, and each one plays the notes that shape actually produces — not a generic triad.
Bbsus2 on other instruments
Same notes, different hands. Every link below is a real page with diagrams and audio.
Chords next door
Same root, different colour — and all of them playable on ukulele.
Bbsus2 on Ukulele — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play Bbsus2 on ukulele?
“Bsus2 Shape (movable) (1st fret)” — which we rate intermediate — is the easiest Bbsus2 shape on ukulele. Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
What notes are in the Bb Suspended 2nd chord?
Bb Suspended 2nd is Bb, C, F — the 1-2-5 interval pattern of a suspended second chord. Every voicing on this page uses those notes and nothing else; they just appear in a different order and octave.
How many ways can you play Bbsus2 on ukulele?
This page has 2 Bbsus2 voicings for ukulele, ranked from easiest to hardest: Bsus2 Shape (movable) (1st fret), Gsus2 Shape (movable) (3rd fret). They all sound like Bbsus2; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of Bbsus2?
The nearest stand-ins on ukulele that keep the same root are Bb5, Bbsus4, Bb. They keep the root and the fifth and only change what sits in the middle, so most songs still work — but check the swap against the melody, because the note you removed may be the one the tune is singing.
Can I play Bbsus2 on other instruments?
Yes. Bbsus2 is the same set of notes everywhere; only the fingering changes. This site has diagrams and audio for it on guitar, piano, bass, mandolin, banjo.
Learn the theory behind Bbsus2
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.
Barre Chords — The Wall Every Guitarist Climbs
This one asks for a barre. The article is the fix for the buzzing and the aching hand.
7 min read
Chord Inversions and Slash Chords — Same Notes, Different Attitude
Suspending or adding a tone is a voicing decision, the same kind as an inversion or a slash chord.
5 min read
Chord Progressions Explained
These chords earn their keep inside a progression, leaning on the plain chord that follows.
7 min read