AmMaj11 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About AmMaj11 — shell voicings
AmMaj11 is A, C, E, G#, B and D — AmMaj9 with the eleventh added on top.
It sounds dense and unresolved. Something is always omitted; the ♭3 and the natural 7 are what must not be.
AmMaj11 notes and formula
| A | C | E | G# | B | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Minor tonic — the melodic minor as far up as a guitar carries it.
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
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
AmMaj11 has 6 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2, the middle four strings, the bottom four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and the top four strings, from the 3rd fret up to the 10th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 3rd fret.
Start with x00110 — no barre and 3 open strings. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x00110 | open position | A, root position | E | 3 open strings |
| 556557 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
| x07798 | 7th fret | A, root position | C | 1 open string |
| xx7798 | 7th fret | A, root position | C | all fretted |
| x77798 | 7th fret | E, 2nd inversion | C | barred |
| x-12-10-13-12-10 | 10th fret | A, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-12-12-13-13-12 | 12th fret | A, root position | E | barred |
| x-12-12-14-14-12 | 12th fret | A, root position | E | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 drop 2, 8 drop 3, 25 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of AmMaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (F#).
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 a major third), Am11 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh) or AmMaj9 (drop the fourth).
AmMaj11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On AmMaj11’s sound and use this page follows Ted Pease & Ken Pullig, Modern Jazz Voicings (Berklee Press, 2001). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.