AmMaj11 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 AmMaj11 — open string voicings
AmMaj11 is A, C, E, G#, B and D — AmMaj9 with the eleventh added on top.
It sounds dense and unresolved. The melodic minor tonic with most of the scale showing — more a texture than a chord to comp on.
Minor tonic — the melodic minor as far up as a guitar carries it.
AmMaj11 notes and formula
| A | C | E | G# | B | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written AmM11 or Am(maj11). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play AmMaj11
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.
AmMaj11 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 5-4-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2-1, from the 2nd fret up to the 5th — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass, E in the bass and G# in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 3rd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
3 of them sit on strings 6-4-3-2-1, 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.
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 AmMaj11 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the 13 (F#).
All 8 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x00110, open position, A, root position, top note E, 3 open strings
- 556557, 5th fret, A, root position, top note B, barred
- x07798, 7th fret, A, root position, top note C, 1 open string
- xx7798, 7th fret, A, root position, top note C, all fretted
- x77798, 7th fret, E, 2nd inversion, top note C, barred
- x-12-10-13-12-10, 10th fret, A, root position, top note D, all fretted
- x-12-12-13-13-12, 12th fret, A, root position, top note E, barred
- x-12-12-14-14-12, 12th fret, A, root position, top note E, barred
How to use AmMaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on AmMaj11 is Bm7♭5 to E7♭9: the ii and the V of A minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
What to play over AmMaj11
Every note of AmMaj11 is in A harmonic minor and A melodic minor.
Chords near AmMaj11
Change one note of AmMaj11 and you have Amaj11 (the minor third becomes the major third), Am11 (the major seventh becomes the flat seventh) or AmMaj9 (drop the eleventh).
AmMaj11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor 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.