F11 guitar chord
The root left to the bass player. Frees a finger for a tension.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About F11 — rootless voicings
F11 is F, C, Eb, G and Bb — F9 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.
F11 notes and formula
| F | C | Eb | G | Bb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written F9sus4 or F dominant 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play F11
Leave the root to the bass player. In a band nobody misses it, and the ear supplies it from the guide tones anyway.
The finger it frees goes to a tension, which is why these sound richer than the shape they came from rather than thinner.
F11 has 14 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: C in the bass, Eb in the bass, G in the bass and Bb in the bass. The one to learn first is the Bb shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the middle 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.
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep G, Bb and Eb (they fix the quality). Let C and F 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.
- 111211, 1st fret, F, root position, top note F, barred
- 333345, 3rd fret, G, 9th in the bass, top note A, barred
- x87866, 6th fret, F, root position, top note Bb, all fretted
- x-8-8-8-10-8, 8th fret, F, root position, top note C, barred
- x-12-10-10-11-11, 10th fret, A, top note Eb, all fretted
How to use F11
F11 is the V of Bb, 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 Bb.
In a phrase:Cm7→F11→Bbmaj7— the ii–V–I of Bb.
Voice by voice, F11 → Bb. One voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In F11 | Moves | In Bb |
|---|---|---|
| F, the root | stays where it is | F, the fifth |
| C, the fifth | falls a whole tone | Bb, the root |
| Eb, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | D, the major third |
| G, the ninth | falls a whole tone | F, the fifth |
| Bb, the eleventh | stays where it is | Bb, the root |
In which keys. Every note of F11 belongs to C minor (the iv), Eb major (the ii), F minor (the i), G minor (the ♭VII), Ab major (the vi) and Bb major (the V).
What to play over F11
Every note of F11 is in F mixolydian, F dorian and F natural minor.
Chords near F11
Change one note of F11 and you have Fsus2sus4 (drop the flat seventh), Fm9 (the eleventh becomes the minor third), Fm11 (add the minor third), F7sus4 (drop the ninth) or F9 (the eleventh becomes the major third).
F11 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.