Ebmaj11 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 Ebmaj11 — open string 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.
Ebmaj11 notes and formula
| Eb | G | Bb | D | F | Ab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Tonic, awkwardly — the eleventh sits a semitone above the third.
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
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.
Ebmaj11 has 3 of them, on the top four strings, the bottom four strings and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 3rd fret up to the 4th — every inversion the chord has: D in the bass and Ab in the bass. The one to learn first is the Ab shape at the 3rd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx1133 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Ebmaj11 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 3 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx1133 | 1st fret | Eb, root position | G | all fretted |
| x65744 | 4th fret | Eb, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x66786 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | Bb | barred |
| 11-10-x-x-9-10 | 9th fret | Eb, root position | D | all fretted |
| 11-11-12-12-11-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
| 11-11-12-12-11-13 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | F | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 6 shell, 13 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 26 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Ebmaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (C).
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 fourth), Ebmaj13 (the fourth becomes a sixth) or EbmMaj11 (the major third becomes a minor third).
Ebmaj11 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Ebmaj11’s sound and use this page follows Barrie Nettles & Richard Graf, The Chord Scale Theory and Jazz Harmony (Advance Music, 1997). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.