Bb11 guitar chord
The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bb11 — drop 3 voicings
Bb11 is Bb, F, Ab, C and Eb — Bb9 with the eleventh added, and the third usually dropped.
It sounds suspended rather than tense. The eleventh sits a semitone above the major third, so the third is usually dropped; some shapes here keep it anyway.
Dominant — but effectively a sus chord with a ninth.
Bb11 notes and formula
| Bb | F | Ab | C | Eb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written Bb9sus4 or Bb dominant 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bb11
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.
Bb11 has 16 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 11th — every inversion the chord has: Bb in the bass, F in the bass, Ab in the bass, C in the bass and Eb in the bass. The one to learn first is the Ab shape at the nut.
8 of them sit on strings 6-4-3-2, 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.
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep C, Eb and Ab (they fix the quality). Let F and Bb go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
All 7 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x11131, 1st fret, Bb, root position, top note F, barred
- x53344, 3rd fret, D, top note Ab, all fretted
- 650544, open position, Bb, root position, top note Ab, 1 open string
- 666766, 6th fret, Bb, root position, top note Bb, barred
- 8-8-8-8-9-10, 8th fret, C, 9th in the bass, top note D, barred
- x-13-12-13-11-11, 11th fret, Bb, root position, top note Eb, all fretted
- x-13-13-13-15-13, 13th fret, Bb, root position, top note F, barred
How to use Bb11
Bb11 is the V of Eb, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into Eb.
In a phrase:Fm7→Bb11→Ebmaj7— the ii–V–I of Eb.
Voice by voice, Bb11 → Eb. One voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In Bb11 | Moves | In Eb |
|---|---|---|
| Bb, the root | stays where it is | Bb, the fifth |
| F, the fifth | falls a whole tone | Eb, the root |
| Ab, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | G, the major third |
| C, the ninth | falls a whole tone | Bb, the fifth |
| Eb, the eleventh | stays where it is | Eb, the root |
In which keys. Every note of Bb11 belongs to C minor (the ♭VII), C# major (the vi), Eb major (the V), F minor (the iv), Ab major (the ii) and Bb minor (the i).
What to play over Bb11
Every note of Bb11 is in Bb mixolydian, Bb dorian and Bb natural minor.
Chords near Bb11
Change one note of Bb11 and you have Bbsus2sus4 (drop the flat seventh), Bbm9 (the eleventh becomes the minor third), Bbm11 (add the minor third), Bb7sus4 (drop the ninth) or Bb9 (the eleventh becomes the major third).
Bb11 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.