Cmaj11 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
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Cmaj11 — shell voicings
Cmaj11 is C, E, G, B, D and F — Cmaj9 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.
Cmaj11 notes and formula
| C | E | G | B | D | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Tonic, awkwardly — the eleventh sits a semitone above the third.
Also written CM11, CΔ11 or C major 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Cmaj11
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.
Cmaj11 has 5 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1, the middle four strings, strings 6-4-3-2, the bottom four strings and the top four strings, from open position up to the 9th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the C shape at the nut.
Start with x33000 — no barre and 3 open strings. 2 of the 9 shapes here sit in open position. 3 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x32001 | open position | C, root position | F | 2 open strings |
| x33000 | open position | C, root position | E | 3 open strings |
| x32411 | 1st fret | C, root position | F | all fretted |
| x33453 | 3rd fret | C, root position | G | barred |
| 879060 | 6th fret | C, root position | F | 2 open strings |
| 87xx67 | 6th fret | C, root position | B | all fretted |
| 889988 | 8th fret | C, root position | C | barred |
| 8-8-9-9-8-10 | 8th fret | C, root position | D | barred |
| x-x-10-10-12-12 | 10th fret | C, root position | E | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 12 drop 2, 8 drop 3, 24 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Cmaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (A).
How to use Cmaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Cmaj11 is Dm7 to G7 — the ii and the V of C — and G7 shares its third and seventh with Dm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Cmaj11 belongs to C major (the I, the tonic) and A minor (the ♭III).
What to play over Cmaj11
Every note of Cmaj11 is in C major.
Chords near Cmaj11
Change one note of Cmaj11 and you have Cmaj9 (drop the fourth), Cmaj13 (the fourth becomes a sixth) or CmMaj11 (the major third becomes a minor third).
Cmaj11 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Cmaj11’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.