Gmaj11 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 Gmaj11 — shell voicings
Gmaj11 is G, B, D, F#, A and C — Gmaj9 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.
Gmaj11 notes and formula
| G | B | D | F# | A | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Tonic, awkwardly — the eleventh sits a semitone above the third.
Also written GM11, GΔ11 or G major 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Gmaj11
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.
Gmaj11 has 5 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2, the bottom four strings, the top four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and the middle four strings, from open position up to the 9th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the G shape at the nut.
Start with 32xx12 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Gmaj11 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 3 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32xx12 | 1st fret | G, root position | F# | all fretted |
| 334433 | 3rd fret | G, root position | G | barred |
| 334435 | 3rd fret | G, root position | A | barred |
| xx5577 | 5th fret | G, root position | B | all fretted |
| xx9078 | 7th fret | B, 1st inversion | C | 1 open string |
| x-10-9-11-8-8 | 8th fret | G, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-10-10-11-12-10 | 10th fret | G, root position | D | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 12 drop 2, 9 drop 3, 24 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Gmaj11, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 13 (E).
How to use Gmaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Gmaj11 is Am7 to D7 — the ii and the V of G — and D7 shares its third and seventh with Am7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Gmaj11 belongs to E minor (the ♭III) and G major (the I, the tonic).
What to play over Gmaj11
Every note of Gmaj11 is in G major.
Chords near Gmaj11
Change one note of Gmaj11 and you have Gmaj9 (drop the fourth), Gmaj13 (the fourth becomes a sixth) or GmMaj11 (the major third becomes a minor third).
Gmaj11 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Gmaj11’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.