Amaj11 guitar chord
The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped.
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About Amaj11 — drop 3 voicings
Amaj11 is A, C#, E, G#, B and D — Amaj9 with the eleventh added — the note that fights the major third.
It sounds unsettled, and grittier than the rest of the major family. Most players drop the third or raise the eleventh instead, which is how you arrive at a sus chord or at maj7♯11.
Amaj11 notes and formula
| A | C# | E | G# | B | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Tonic, awkwardly — the eleventh sits a semitone above the third.
Also written AM11, AΔ11 or A major 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Amaj11
The same operation one voice further down: the third voice from the top falls an octave and becomes the bass.
That leaves a bigger hole under the top three notes, so a string gets skipped: the muted string in the middle is the shape, not a mistake.
Amaj11 has 8 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 2nd fret up to the 10th — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass, C# in the bass, G# in the bass and D in the bass. The one to learn first is the C# shape at the 2nd fret.
4 of them sit on strings 5-3-2-1, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x00120 — no barre and 3 open strings. 2 of the 9 shapes here sit in open position. 4 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x00120 | open position | A, root position | E | 3 open strings |
| x00224 | open position | A, root position | G# | 2 open strings |
| 54xx34 | 3rd fret | A, root position | G# | all fretted |
| 556655 | 5th fret | A, root position | A | barred |
| 556657 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
| xx7799 | 7th fret | A, root position | C# | all fretted |
| 10-0-9-9-9-9 | 9th fret | D, 11th in the bass | C# | barred |
| x-12-11-13-10-10 | 10th fret | A, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-12-12-13-14-12 | 12th fret | A, root position | E | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 6 shell, 13 drop 2, 25 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Amaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (F#).
How to use Amaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Amaj11 is Bm7 to E7 — the ii and the V of A — and E7 shares its third and seventh with Bm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Amaj11 belongs to F# minor (the ♭III) and A major (the I, the tonic).
What to play over Amaj11
Every note of Amaj11 is in A major.
Chords near Amaj11
Change one note of Amaj11 and you have Amaj9 (drop the fourth), Amaj13 (the fourth becomes a sixth) or AmMaj11 (the major third becomes a minor third).
Amaj11 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Amaj11’s sound and use this page follows Barrie Nettles & Richard Graf, The Chord Scale Theory and Jazz Harmony (Advance Music, 1997). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.