E9#11 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
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About E9#11 — open string voicings
E9#11 is E, G#, B, D, F# and A# — E9 with the raised eleventh added on top.
It sounds wide and glassy, bright rather than tense. The ♯11 clears the major third by a whole step, so it adds height without the collision a natural eleventh makes.
E9#11 notes and formula
| E | G# | B | D | F# | A# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | ♯11 |
Dominant — the lydian dominant sound.
Also written E9(#11), E9+11 or E9♯11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play E9#11
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
E9#11 has 1 of them, only on strings 6-4-3-2-1, all of them at the 3rd fret — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 3rd fret.
Start with 010100 — no barre and 4 open strings. 2 of the 8 shapes here sit in open position. 3 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 010100 | open position | E, root position | E | 4 open strings |
| xx2334 | 2nd fret | E, root position | G# | all fretted |
| 050354 | open position | E, root position | G# | 2 open strings |
| x76776 | 6th fret | E, root position | A# | barred |
| x7879x | 7th fret | E, root position | G# | all fretted |
| 12-11-12-11-11-12 | 11th fret | E, root position | E | barred |
| 12-x-12-13-11-x | 11th fret | E, root position | A# | all fretted |
| 12-13-12-13-12-12 | 12th fret | E, root position | E | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 10 shell and 13 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of E9#11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b13 (C) and the 13 (C#).
How to use E9#11
E9#11 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at A — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
Voice by voice, E9#11 → A. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In E9#11 | Moves | In A |
|---|---|---|
| E, the root | stays where it is | E, the fifth |
| G#, the major third | rises a semitone | A, the root |
| B, the fifth | falls a whole tone | A, the root |
| D, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | C#, the major third |
| F#, the ninth | falls a whole tone | E, the fifth |
| A#, the sharp eleventh | falls a semitone | A, the root |
What to play over E9#11
Every note of E9#11 is in E lydian dominant.
Chords near E9#11
Change one note of E9#11 and you have E9 (drop the flat fifth), E9b5 (drop the fifth) or E13 (the flat fifth becomes a sixth).
E9#11 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On E9#11’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.