Ebmaj11 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
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About Ebmaj11 — shell 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
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Ebmaj11 has 6 of them, on the top four strings, strings 5-3-2-1, the middle four strings, strings 6-4-3-2 and the bottom four strings, from open position up to the 10th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Eb shape at the nut.
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 13 drop 2, 9 drop 3, 26 rootless and 3 open string 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.