F#m11 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 F#m11 — rootless voicings
F#m11 is F#, A, C#, E, G# and B — F#m9 with the eleventh added on top.
It sounds spacious and slightly unresolved. The eleventh is a whole step above the minor third, so unlike its major counterpart it fits without a fight.
F#m11 notes and formula
| F# | A | C# | E | G# | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — it hangs rather than moves.
Also written F#min11, F#-11 or F# minor 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play F#m11
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.
F#m11 has 24 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass, C# in the bass, E in the bass, G# in the bass and B in the bass. The one to learn first is the A shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
8 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.
Start with 202100 — no barre and 3 open strings. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 6 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 202100 | open position | F#, root position | E | 3 open strings |
| 222224 | 2nd fret | F#, root position | G# | barred |
| xx4455 | 4th fret | F#, root position | A | all fretted |
| x97977 | 7th fret | F#, root position | B | barred |
| x97997 | 7th fret | F#, root position | B | barred |
| x-9-9-9-10-9 | 9th fret | F#, root position | C# | barred |
| 14-12-14-13-12-12 | 12th fret | F#, root position | E | barred |
| 14-x-14-14-12-x | 12th fret | F#, root position | B | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 8 shell, 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of F#m11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (D#).
How to use F#m11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on F#m11 is G#m7♭5 to C#7♭9: the ii and the V of F# minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of F#m11 belongs to C# minor (the iv, the subdominant), E major (the ii, the supertonic), F# minor (the i, the tonic) and A major (the vi, the submediant).
What to play over F#m11
Every note of F#m11 is in F# dorian and F# natural minor.
Chords near F#m11
Change one note of F#m11 and you have F#m9 (drop the fourth), F#mMaj11 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or F#11 (drop the minor third).
F#m11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On F#m11’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.