Ebmaj11 guitar chord
A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Ebmaj11 — drop 2 voicings
Ebmaj11 is Eb, G, Bb, D, F and Ab — Ebmaj9 with the eleventh added — the note that fights the major third.
It sounds unsettled, and grittier than the rest of the major family. Most players drop the third or raise the eleventh instead, which is how you arrive at a sus chord or at maj7♯11.
Tonic, awkwardly — the eleventh sits a semitone above the third.
Ebmaj11 notes and formula
| Eb | G | Bb | D | F | Ab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written EbM11, EbΔ11 or Eb major 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ebmaj11
Take the four notes stacked as close together as they go, then drop the second voice from the top an octave. The gap it opens is what makes the chord sound like a chord rather than a cluster.
It lands on four adjacent strings, which is why it is the workhorse voicing on guitar.
Ebmaj11 has 13 of them, on the top four strings, the middle four strings and the bottom four strings, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: Eb in the bass, G in the bass, D in the bass and Ab in the bass. The one to learn first is the Eb shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the top four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Six notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep G and D (they fix the quality) and Ab and F (what the symbol is about). 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.
Play Ebmaj11 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the 13 (C).
All 6 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- xx1133, 1st fret, Eb, root position, top note G, all fretted
- x65744, 4th fret, Eb, root position, top note Ab, all fretted
- x66786, 6th fret, Eb, root position, top note Bb, barred
- 11-10-x-x-9-10, 9th fret, Eb, root position, top note D, all fretted
- 11-11-12-12-11-11, 11th fret, Eb, root position, top note Eb, barred
- 11-11-12-12-11-13, 11th fret, Eb, root position, top note F, barred
How to use Ebmaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Ebmaj11 is Fm7 to Bb7 — the ii and the V of Eb — and Bb7 shares its third and seventh with Fm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Ebmaj11 belongs to C minor (the ♭III) and Eb major (the I, the tonic).
What to play over Ebmaj11
Every note of Ebmaj11 is in Eb major.
Chords near Ebmaj11
Change one note of Ebmaj11 and you have Ebmaj9 (drop the eleventh), Ebmaj13 (the eleventh becomes the thirteenth) or EbmMaj11 (the major third becomes the minor third).
Ebmaj11 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major 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.