C#m11 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
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About C#m11 — drop 2 voicings
C#m11 is C#, E, G#, B, D# and F# — C#m9 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.
C#m11 notes and formula
| C# | E | G# | B | D# | F# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — it hangs rather than moves.
Also written C#min11, C#-11 or C# minor 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C#m11
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#m11 has 12 of them, on the bottom four strings, the top four strings and the middle four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 11th — every inversion the chord has: C# in the bass, E in the bass, B 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.
4 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-11-11-12-12 — no barre. None of the shapes for C#m11 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 6 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x42422 | 2nd fret | C#, root position | F# | barred |
| x42442 | 2nd fret | C#, root position | F# | barred |
| x44454 | 4th fret | C#, root position | G# | barred |
| 979877 | 7th fret | C#, root position | B | barred |
| 9x997x | 7th fret | C#, root position | F# | barred |
| 9-9-9-9-9-11 | 9th fret | C#, root position | D# | barred |
| x-x-11-11-12-12 | 11th fret | C#, root position | E | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 8 drop 3, 22 rootless and 3 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of C#m11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (A#).
How to use C#m11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on C#m11 is D#m7♭5 to G#7♭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 C#m11 belongs to C# minor (the i, the tonic), E major (the vi, the submediant), Ab minor (the iv, the subdominant) and B major (the ii, the supertonic).
What to play over C#m11
Every note of C#m11 is in C# dorian and C# natural minor.
Chords near C#m11
Change one note of C#m11 and you have C#m9 (drop the fourth) or C#mMaj11 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh).
C#m11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On C#m11’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.