C#11 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 C#11 — drop 2 voicings
C#11 is C#, G#, B, D# and F# — C#9 with the eleventh added, and the third usually dropped.
It sounds suspended rather than tense. The eleventh sits a semitone above the major third, so the third is usually dropped; some shapes here keep it anyway.
Dominant — but effectively a sus chord with a ninth.
C#11 notes and formula
| C# | G# | B | D# | F# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written C#9sus4 or C# dominant 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C#11
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.
C#11 has 24 of them, on the top four strings, the middle four strings and the bottom four strings, from open position up to the 11th — every inversion the chord has: C# in the bass, G# in the bass, B in the bass, D# in the bass and F# in the bass. The one to learn first is the F# shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
8 of them sit on the top 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.
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep D#, F# and B (they fix the quality). Let G# and C# go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
All 6 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x43422, 2nd fret, C#, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- x44464, 4th fret, C#, root position, top note G#, barred
- x44464, 4th fret, C#, root position, top note G#, barred
- 9-9-9-10-9-9, 9th fret, C#, root position, top note C#, barred
- 11-11-11-11-12-13, 11th fret, D#, 9th in the bass, top note F, barred
- x86677, 6th fret, F, top note B, all fretted
How to use C#11
C#11 is the V of F#, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into F#.
In a phrase:G#m7→C#11→F#maj7— the ii–V–I of F#.
Voice by voice, C#11 → F#. One voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In C#11 | Moves | In F# |
|---|---|---|
| C#, the root | stays where it is | C#, the fifth |
| G#, the fifth | falls a whole tone | F#, the root |
| B, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | A#, the major third |
| D#, the ninth | falls a whole tone | C#, the fifth |
| F#, the eleventh | stays where it is | F#, the root |
In which keys. Every note of C#11 belongs to C# minor (the i), Eb minor (the ♭VII), E major (the vi), F# major (the V), Ab minor (the iv) and B major (the ii).
What to play over C#11
Every note of C#11 is in C# mixolydian, C# dorian and C# natural minor.
Chords near C#11
Change one note of C#11 and you have C#sus2sus4 (drop the flat seventh), C#m9 (the eleventh becomes the minor third), C#m11 (add the minor third), C#7sus4 (drop the ninth) or C#9 (the eleventh becomes the major third).
C#11 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.