Cm11 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 Cm11 — drop 2 voicings
Cm11 is C, Eb, G, Bb, D and F — Cm9 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.
Cm11 notes and formula
| C | Eb | G | Bb | D | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — it hangs rather than moves.
Also written Cmin11, C-11 or C minor 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Cm11
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.
Cm11 has 14 of them, on the bottom four strings, the top four strings and the middle four strings, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: C in the bass, Eb in the bass, Bb in the bass and F in the bass. The one to learn first is the F shape at the nut, 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-10-10-11-11 — no barre. None of the shapes for Cm11 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 6 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x31331 | 1st fret | C, root position | F | barred |
| x33343 | 3rd fret | C, root position | G | barred |
| 868766 | 6th fret | C, root position | Bb | barred |
| 8x886x | 6th fret | C, root position | F | barred |
| 8-8-8-8-8-10 | 8th fret | C, root position | D | barred |
| x-x-10-10-11-11 | 10th fret | C, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| x-15-13-15-13-13 | 13th fret | C, root position | F | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 9 drop 3 and 24 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Cm11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (A).
How to use Cm11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Cm11 is Dm7♭5 to G7♭9: the ii and the V of C minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Cm11 belongs to C minor (the i, the tonic), Eb major (the vi, the submediant), G minor (the iv, the subdominant) and Bb major (the ii, the supertonic).
What to play over Cm11
Every note of Cm11 is in C dorian and C natural minor.
Chords near Cm11
Change one note of Cm11 and you have Cm9 (drop the fourth), CmMaj11 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or C11 (drop the minor third).
Cm11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Cm11’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.