Cm11 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.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Cm11 — shell 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
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.
Cm11 has 7 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1, strings 6-4-3-2, the bottom four strings, the middle 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 C shape at the nut.
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 14 drop 2, 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.