Ab9#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 Ab9#11 — open string voicings
Ab9#11 is Ab, C, Eb, Gb, Bb and D — Ab9 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.
Ab9#11 notes and formula
| Ab | C | Eb | Gb | Bb | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | ♯11 |
Dominant — the lydian dominant sound.
Also written Ab9(#11), Ab9+11 or Ab9♯11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ab9#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.
Ab9#11 has 1 of them, only on strings 5-4-3-2-1, all of them at the 3rd fret — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the C shape at the 3rd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with 4x453x — no barre and low, at the 3rd fret. None of the shapes for Ab9#11 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 3rd fret. 3 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 3rd fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 434334 | 3rd fret | Ab, root position | Ab | barred |
| 4x453x | 3rd fret | Ab, root position | D | all fretted |
| 454544 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | barred |
| xx6778 | 6th fret | Ab, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-11-10-11-11-10 | 10th fret | Ab, root position | D | barred |
| x-11-12-11-13-x | 11th fret | Ab, root position | C | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 8 shell and 14 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Ab9#11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b13 (Fb) and the 13 (F).
How to use Ab9#11
Ab9#11 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at Db — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
What to play over Ab9#11
Every note of Ab9#11 is in Ab lydian dominant.
Chords near Ab9#11
Change one note of Ab9#11 and you have Ab9 (drop the flat fifth), Ab9b5 (drop the fifth) or Ab13 (the flat fifth becomes a sixth).
Ab9#11 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Ab9#11’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.