Eb11 guitar chord
Playable, correctly spelled, and not how the chord is normally voiced. Right now this is the shapes that put a ninth, eleventh or thirteenth below the root.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Eb11 — uncommon voicings
Eb11 is Eb, Bb, Db, F and Ab — Eb9 with the eleventh added, and the third usually dropped.
It sounds suspended rather than tense. The eleventh sits a semitone above the major third, so the third is usually dropped; some shapes here keep it anyway.
Dominant — but effectively a sus chord with a ninth.
Eb11 notes and formula
| Eb | Bb | Db | F | Ab |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written Eb9sus4 or Eb dominant 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eb11
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep F, Ab and Db (they fix the quality). Let Bb and Eb go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
All 5 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 111123, 1st fret, F, 9th in the bass, top note G, barred
- x65644, 4th fret, Eb, root position, top note Ab, all fretted
- x66686, 6th fret, Eb, root position, top note Bb, barred
- x-10-8-8-9-9, 8th fret, G, top note Db, all fretted
- 11-11-11-12-11-11, 11th fret, Eb, root position, top note Eb, barred
How to use Eb11
Eb11 is the V of Ab, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into Ab.
In a phrase:Bbm7→Eb11→Abmaj7— the ii–V–I of Ab.
Voice by voice, Eb11 → Ab. One voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In Eb11 | Moves | In Ab |
|---|---|---|
| Eb, the root | stays where it is | Eb, the fifth |
| Bb, the fifth | falls a whole tone | Ab, the root |
| Db, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | C, the major third |
| F, the ninth | falls a whole tone | Eb, the fifth |
| Ab, the eleventh | stays where it is | Ab, the root |
In which keys. Every note of Eb11 belongs to C# major (the ii), Eb minor (the i), F minor (the ♭VII), F# major (the vi), Ab major (the V) and Bb minor (the iv).
What to play over Eb11
Every note of Eb11 is in Eb natural minor, Eb dorian and Eb mixolydian.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where Eb11 sits in it. Every scale.
Chords near Eb11
Change one note of Eb11 and you have Ebsus2sus4 (drop the flat seventh), Ebm9 (the eleventh becomes the minor third), Ebm11 (add the minor third), Eb7sus4 (drop the ninth) or Eb9 (the eleventh becomes the major third).
Eb11 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh 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.