Bmaj11 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 Bmaj11 — shell voicings
Bmaj11 is B, D#, F#, A#, C# and E — Bmaj9 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.
Bmaj11 notes and formula
| B | D# | F# | A# | C# | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Tonic, awkwardly — the eleventh sits a semitone above the third.
Also written BM11, BΔ11 or B major 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bmaj11
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.
Bmaj11 has 5 of them, on the middle four strings, strings 5-3-2-1, strings 6-4-3-2, the bottom four strings and the top four strings, from open position up to the 8th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the B shape at the nut.
Start with x21300 — no barre and 2 open strings. 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 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x21300 | open position | B, root position | E | 2 open strings |
| x22342 | 2nd fret | B, root position | F# | barred |
| 76xx56 | 5th fret | B, root position | A# | all fretted |
| 778877 | 7th fret | B, root position | B | barred |
| 778879 | 7th fret | B, root position | C# | barred |
| x-x-9-9-11-11 | 9th fret | B, root position | D# | all fretted |
| x-14-13-15-12-12 | 12th fret | B, root position | E | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 22 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bmaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (G#).
How to use Bmaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Bmaj11 is C#m7 to F#7 — the ii and the V of B — and F#7 shares its third and seventh with C#m7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Bmaj11 belongs to Ab minor (the ♭III) and B major (the I, the tonic).
What to play over Bmaj11
Every note of Bmaj11 is in B major.
Chords near Bmaj11
Change one note of Bmaj11 and you have Bmaj9 (drop the fourth), Bmaj13 (the fourth becomes a sixth) or BmMaj11 (the major third becomes a minor third).
Bmaj11 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Bmaj11’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.