A9#11 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About A9#11 — open string voicings
A9#11 is A, C#, E, G, B and D# — A9 with the raised eleventh added on top.
It sounds wide and glassy, bright rather than tense. The ♯11 clears the major third by a whole step, so it adds height without the collision a natural eleventh makes.
Dominant — the lydian dominant sound.
A9#11 notes and formula
| A | C# | E | G | B | D# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | ♯11 |
Also written A9(#11), A9+11 or A9♯11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play A9#11
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
A9#11 has 3 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 6-5-4-3-2 and strings 5-4-3-2-1, all of them at the 4th fret — every inversion the chord has: C# in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Six notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep C# and G (they fix the quality) and D# and B (what the symbol is about). Let E and A go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play A9#11 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the b13 (F) or the 13 (F#).
All 7 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x01020, open position, A, root position, top note E, 3 open strings
- 545445, 4th fret, A, root position, top note A, barred
- 5x564x, 4th fret, A, root position, top note D#, all fretted
- 565655, 5th fret, A, root position, top note A, barred
- xx7889, 7th fret, A, root position, top note C#, all fretted
- x-12-11-12-12-11, 11th fret, A, root position, top note D#, barred
- x-12-13-12-14-x, 12th fret, A, root position, top note C#, all fretted
How to use A9#11
A9#11 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at D — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
In a phrase:Em7→A9#11→Dmaj7— the ii–V–I of D.
Voice by voice, A9#11 → D. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In A9#11 | Moves | In D |
|---|---|---|
| A, the root | stays where it is | A, the fifth |
| C#, the major third | rises a semitone | D, the root |
| E, the fifth | falls a whole tone | D, the root |
| G, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | F#, the major third |
| B, the ninth | falls a whole tone | A, the fifth |
| D#, the sharp eleventh | falls a semitone | D, the root |
What to play over A9#11
Every note of A9#11 is in A lydian dominant.
Chords near A9#11
Change one note of A9#11 and you have A9 (drop the sharp eleventh), A9b5 (drop the fifth) or A13 (the sharp eleventh becomes the thirteenth).
A9#11 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.