A practical way to hear Eb11 is as held over the original root. The upper shape supplies the flat seventh, ninth, and : Eb, Bb, Db, F and Ab.
Because that upper shape omits the dominant’s major third, the chord remains suspended. This bass-plus-shape sound is used mainly as V.
Also written Eb9sus4 or Eb dominant 11.
Eb11 in 2nd inversion puts Bb in the bass instead of Eb, 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.
2 of Eb11’s 12 shapes do this:x111216x664x
Eb11 has the notes of the ii over the V’s root, so it can take the ii’s bar: Eb11, then Eb9, then Ab. The eleventh gives way to the third, and the V resolves as usual.
Listen for: The eleventh falls a half step to the third, then rises a half step into the root of the I.
In which keys. Every note of Eb11 belongs to C# major, Eb minor, F minor, F# major, Ab major and Bb minor.
Contains Eb11 and adds major third and thirteenth.
Contains Eb11 and adds minor third and flat thirteenth.
Contains Eb11 and adds minor third and thirteenth.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.
Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.