Bbm11 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 Bbm11 — drop 2 voicings
Bbm11 is Bb, Db, F, Ab, C and Eb — Bbm9 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.
Bbm11 notes and formula
| Bb | Db | F | Ab | C | Eb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — it hangs rather than moves.
Also written Bbmin11, Bb-11 or Bb minor 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bbm11
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.
Bbm11 has 13 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and the bottom four strings, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: Bb in the bass, Db in the bass, Ab in the bass and Eb in the bass. The one to learn first is the Bb shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the middle 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 xx8899 — no barre. None of the shapes for Bbm11 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 4th fret. 6 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 4th fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 646544 | 4th fret | Bb, root position | Ab | barred |
| 6x664x | 4th fret | Bb, root position | Eb | barred |
| 666668 | 6th fret | Bb, root position | C | barred |
| xx8899 | 8th fret | Bb, root position | Db | all fretted |
| x-13-11-13-11-11 | 11th fret | Bb, root position | Eb | barred |
| x-13-11-13-13-11 | 11th fret | Bb, root position | Eb | barred |
| x-13-13-13-14-13 | 13th fret | Bb, root position | F | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 6 shell, 8 drop 3 and 25 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bbm11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (G).
How to use Bbm11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Bbm11 is Cm7♭5 to F7♭9: the ii and the V of Bb minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Bbm11 belongs to C# major (the vi, the submediant), F minor (the iv, the subdominant), Ab major (the ii, the supertonic) and Bb minor (the i, the tonic).
What to play over Bbm11
Every note of Bbm11 is in Bb dorian and Bb natural minor.
Chords near Bbm11
Change one note of Bbm11 and you have Bbm9 (drop the fourth), BbmMaj11 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or Bb11 (drop the minor third).
Bbm11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Bbm11’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.