EmMaj11 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 EmMaj11 — 2nd inversion
EmMaj11 is E, G, B, D#, F# and A — EmMaj9 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.
EmMaj11 notes and formula
| E | G | B | D# | F# | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Minor tonic — the melodic minor as far up as a guitar carries it.
Also written EmM11 or Em(maj11). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play EmMaj11
EmMaj11 in 2nd inversion puts B in the bass instead of E, 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 EmMaj11’s 7 common shapes does this: x22243.
Start with 001002 — no barre and 4 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 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001002 | open position | E, root position | F# | 4 open strings |
| xx2243 | 2nd fret | E, root position | G | all fretted |
| x22243 | 2nd fret | B, 2nd inversion | G | barred |
| x75875 | 5th fret | E, root position | A | all fretted |
| x77887 | 7th fret | E, root position | B | barred |
| x77997 | 7th fret | E, root position | B | barred |
| 12-12-13-12-12-14 | 12th fret | E, root position | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 13 drop 2, 8 drop 3, 24 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of EmMaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (C#).
How to use EmMaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on EmMaj11 is F#m7♭5 to B7♭9: the ii and the V of E minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
What to play over EmMaj11
Every note of EmMaj11 is in E harmonic minor and E melodic minor.
Chords near EmMaj11
Change one note of EmMaj11 and you have Emaj11 (the minor third becomes a major third), Em11 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh) or EmMaj9 (drop the fourth).
EmMaj11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On EmMaj11’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.