Bm11 guitar chord
A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bm11 — drop 2 voicings
Bm11 is B, D, F#, A, C# and E — Bm9 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.
Bm11 notes and formula
| B | D | F# | A | C# | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — it hangs rather than moves.
Also written Bmin11, B-11 or B minor 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bm11
Take the four notes stacked as close together as they go, then drop the second voice from the top an octave. The gap it opens is what makes the chord sound like a chord rather than a cluster.
It lands on four adjacent strings, which is why it is the workhorse voicing on guitar.
Bm11 has 15 of them, on the bottom four strings, the top four strings and the middle four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: B in the bass, D in the bass, A in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the bottom four strings, 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 x-x-9-9-10-10 — no barre. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 7 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x20220 | open position | B, root position | E | barred |
| 757655 | 5th fret | B, root position | A | barred |
| 7x775x | 5th fret | B, root position | E | barred |
| 777779 | 7th fret | B, root position | C# | barred |
| x-x-9-9-10-10 | 9th fret | B, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-14-12-14-12-12 | 12th fret | B, root position | E | barred |
| x-14-12-14-14-12 | 12th fret | B, root position | E | barred |
| x-14-14-14-15-14 | 14th fret | B, root position | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 9 shell, 10 drop 3, 24 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bm11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (G#).
How to use Bm11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Bm11 is C#m7♭5 to F#7♭9: the ii and the V of B minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Bm11 belongs to D major (the vi, the submediant), F# minor (the iv, the subdominant), A major (the ii, the supertonic) and B minor (the i, the tonic).
What to play over Bm11
Every note of Bm11 is in B dorian and B natural minor.
Chords near Bm11
Change one note of Bm11 and you have Bm9 (drop the fourth), BmMaj11 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or B11 (drop the minor third).
Bm11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Bm11’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.