This paper proposes a 2D spectral analysis method based on damped Capon (dCAPON) and damped APES (dAPES) for structural modal parameter identification. The frequency and damping are estimated from the 2D dCAPON energy spectrum first, and then the amplitude (to construct the modal shape) corresponding to the frequency-damping point is calculated by the dAPES. The raw evenly-spaced computing grid is optimized into a banded hierarchically-refined one, greatly improving the computational efficiency. The performance of the proposed method is studied and it is investigated through the numerical and experimental data of a benchmark structure. The proposed method provides a simple and direct approach to estimating structural modal parameters, particularly for frequency and damping ratio. •A novel method for modal parameter identification is proposed.•It provides a direct inspection of modal parameters by domain transformation.•Efficient implementation based on banded hierarchically-refined computing grid.•The method is validated through a benchmark structure.