Abmaj11 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.
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About Abmaj11 — shell voicings
Abmaj11 is Ab, C, Eb, G, Bb and Db — Abmaj9 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.
Abmaj11 notes and formula
| Ab | C | Eb | G | Bb | Db |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Tonic, awkwardly — the eleventh sits a semitone above the third.
Also written AbM11, AbΔ11 or Ab major 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Abmaj11
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.
Abmaj11 has 5 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2, the bottom four strings, the top four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and the middle four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 10th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Ab shape at the 2nd fret.
Start with 43102x — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 3 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43102x | open position | Ab, root position | Db | 1 open string |
| 43xx23 | 2nd fret | Ab, root position | G | all fretted |
| 445544 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | barred |
| 445546 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Bb | barred |
| xx6688 | 6th fret | Ab, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-11-10-12-9-9 | 9th fret | Ab, root position | Db | all fretted |
| x-11-11-12-13-11 | 11th fret | Ab, root position | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 12 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 24 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Abmaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (F).
How to use Abmaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Abmaj11 is Bbm7 to Eb7 — the ii and the V of Ab — and Eb7 shares its third and seventh with Bbm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Abmaj11 belongs to F minor (the ♭III) and Ab major (the I, the tonic).
What to play over Abmaj11
Every note of Abmaj11 is in Ab major.
Chords near Abmaj11
Change one note of Abmaj11 and you have Abmaj9 (drop the fourth), Abmaj13 (the fourth becomes a sixth) or AbmMaj11 (the major third becomes a minor third).
Abmaj11 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Abmaj11’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.