D2 Guitar Chord Mystery Solved

Navigation:

• How to play the D2 guitar chord (video)
• Theory - What's a D2 chord?
• How to play a D2 (Dadd9) chord
• Dadd9 moveable chord form
• The easiest D2 chord voicing
• Related lessons & courses

    Many guitar teachers will agree that there is no such thing as a D2 guitar chord! The correct chord symbol is either Dadd9 or Dsus2. But you do see the D2 chord symbol appear in many songs, so let's learn about it:

    A Dadd9 refers to a D major chord with an added 2nd degree (which is an E). The problem with this simplified chord symbol is that in music theory there's a rule concerning chord degree spelling:

• ODD numbers represent chord tones (1-3-5-7-9, etc.)
• EVEN numbers represent scale steps between chord tones (1-2-3-4-5-6-7)

    Two numbers can refer to the same note, but with a different function. In this case, you get an E when you count 2 steps starting on D, but you also get an E when you count 9 steps:

    So the correct spelling for this chord should include a 9 and not a 2 because it's a chord tone and not a melodic scale step. But D9 doesn't work either because of another music theory rule:

• A number next to a chord implies that ALL chord tones UP TO that number are included

    This means that a D9 would include a 7th (1-3-5-7-9). But if we want to add that 9th degree without the 7th, we need to call it a Dadd9.

    There are many ways to play this chord (jump to the end for the easiest version), and most of them are a bit tricky to finger. Tough fingerings are necessary if you want to play all the notes in a Dadd9. Here's a popular choice that sounds very nice and is not too hard. Use the player below to hear how it sounds.

    The above Dadd9 chord voicing uses an open E string, so it cannot be transposed to other keys. Here's a barre chord version that can be moved everywhere. This one's a bit tougher.
    Note: If this is too hard for you, you can replace it with a sus2 barre chord, which is fully compatible and is just missing one note.

    To use moveable chords effectively, you need to locate the notes on the fretboard really fast. I highly recommend that you get Fretboard Memorization Toolbox. It's a free mini-course that includes fun drills and musical challenges that will help you master the fretboard very quickly.

    Guitar players love shortcuts (like we saw with the D2 chord spelling). A shortcut for quickly playing a D2, or a Dadd9 in any song, is to use a Dsus2 chord instead. The Dsus2 is missing a note compared to the Dadd9, but it still sounds great and will work fine anywhere a Dadd9 is required. Plus it's one of the easiest chords to play on the guitar! 

Btw, if you're wondering why the number 2 is used in this case instead of 9, then go to this lesson on the Dsus2 chord.

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