C#mMaj11 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 C#mMaj11 — 2nd inversion
C#mMaj11 is C#, E, G#, B#, D# and F# — C#mMaj9 with the eleventh added on top.
It sounds dense and unresolved. The melodic minor tonic with most of the scale showing — more a texture than a chord to comp on.
Minor tonic — the melodic minor as far up as a guitar carries it.
C#mMaj11 notes and formula
| C# | E | G# | B# | D# | F# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written C#mM11 or C#m(maj11). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C#mMaj11
C#mMaj11 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 C#mMaj11’s 6 common shapes does this:x-11-11-11-13-12
Play C#mMaj11 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the 13 (A#).
All 6 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x42542, 2nd fret, C#, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- x44554, 4th fret, C#, root position, top note G#, barred
- x44664, 4th fret, C#, root position, top note G#, barred
- 9-9-10-9-9-11, 9th fret, C#, root position, top note D#, barred
- x-x-11-11-13-12, 11th fret, C#, root position, top note E, all fretted
- x-11-11-11-13-12, 11th fret, G#, 2nd inversion, top note E, barred
How to use C#mMaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on C#mMaj11 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.
What to play over C#mMaj11
Every note of C#mMaj11 is in C# harmonic minor and C# melodic minor.
Chords near C#mMaj11
Change one note of C#mMaj11 and you have C#maj11 (the minor third becomes the major third), C#m11 (the major seventh becomes the flat seventh) or C#mMaj9 (drop the eleventh).
C#mMaj11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor 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.