Abm11 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 Abm11 — drop 3 voicings
Abm11 is Ab, Cb, Eb, Gb, Bb and Db — Abm9 with the eleventh added on top.
It sounds spacious and slightly unresolved. The eleventh is a whole step above the minor third, so unlike its major counterpart it fits without a fight.
Abm11 notes and formula
| Ab | Cb | Eb | Gb | Bb | Db |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — it hangs rather than moves.
Also written Abmin11, Ab-11 or Ab minor 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Abm11
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.
Abm11 has 9 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: Ab in the bass, Cb in the bass, Gb in the bass and Db in the bass. The one to learn first is the Cb shape at the nut.
5 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 xx6677 — no barre. None of the shapes for Abm11 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 6 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 424322 | 2nd fret | Ab, root position | Gb | barred |
| 4x442x | 2nd fret | Ab, root position | Db | barred |
| 444446 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Bb | barred |
| xx6677 | 6th fret | Ab, root position | Cb | all fretted |
| x-11-9-11-9-9 | 9th fret | Ab, root position | Db | barred |
| x-11-9-11-11-9 | 9th fret | Ab, root position | Db | barred |
| x-11-11-11-12-11 | 11th fret | Ab, root position | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 6 shell, 12 drop 2 and 24 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Abm11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (F).
How to use Abm11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Abm11 is Bbm7♭5 to Eb7♭9: the ii and the V of Ab minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Abm11 belongs to Eb minor (the iv, the subdominant), F# major (the ii, the supertonic), Ab minor (the i, the tonic) and B major (the vi, the submediant).
What to play over Abm11
Every note of Abm11 is in Ab dorian and Ab natural minor.
Chords near Abm11
Change one note of Abm11 and you have Abm9 (drop the fourth), AbmMaj11 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or Ab11 (drop the minor third).
Abm11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Abm11’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.