CmMaj11 guitar chord
The standard grips this chord is usually shown with.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About CmMaj11 — 2nd inversion
CmMaj11 is C, Eb, G, B, D and F — CmMaj9 with the eleventh added on top.
It sounds dense and unresolved. Something is always omitted; the ♭3 and the natural 7 are what must not be.
CmMaj11 notes and formula
| C | Eb | G | B | D | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Minor tonic — the melodic minor as far up as a guitar carries it.
Also written CmM11 or Cm(maj11). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play CmMaj11
CmMaj11 in 2nd inversion puts G in the bass instead of C, the 5th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
One of CmMaj11’s 7 common shapes does this: x-10-10-10-12-11.
Start with x31001 — no barre and 2 open strings. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x31001 | open position | C, root position | F | 2 open strings |
| x33443 | 3rd fret | C, root position | G | barred |
| x31431 | 1st fret | C, root position | F | all fretted |
| x33553 | 3rd fret | C, root position | G | barred |
| 8-8-9-8-8-10 | 8th fret | C, root position | D | barred |
| x-x-10-10-12-11 | 10th fret | C, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| x-10-10-10-12-11 | 10th fret | G, 2nd inversion | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 5 shell, 12 drop 2, 8 drop 3 and 24 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of CmMaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (A).
How to use CmMaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on CmMaj11 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.
What to play over CmMaj11
Every note of CmMaj11 is in C harmonic minor and C melodic minor.
Chords near CmMaj11
Change one note of CmMaj11 and you have Cmaj11 (the minor third becomes a major third), Cm11 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh) or CmMaj9 (drop the fourth).
CmMaj11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On CmMaj11’s sound and use this page follows Ted Pease & Ken Pullig, Modern Jazz Voicings (Berklee Press, 2001). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.