GmMaj11 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.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About GmMaj11 — shell voicings
GmMaj11 is G, Bb, D, F#, A and C — GmMaj9 with the eleventh added on top.
It sounds dense and unresolved. The melodic minor tonic with most of the scale showing — more a texture than a chord to comp on.
Minor tonic — the melodic minor as far up as a guitar carries it.
GmMaj11 notes and formula
| G | Bb | D | F# | A | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written GmM11 or Gm(maj11). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play GmMaj11
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.
GmMaj11 has 5 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2, the bottom four strings, strings 5-3-2-1, the top four strings and the middle four strings, from open position up to the 8th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the G shape at the nut.
Six notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep Bb and F# (they fix the quality) and C and A (what the symbol is about). Let D and G go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play GmMaj11 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the 13 (E).
All 6 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 334335, 3rd fret, G, root position, top note A, barred
- xx5576, 5th fret, G, root position, top note Bb, all fretted
- x55576, 5th fret, D, 2nd inversion, top note Bb, barred
- x-10-8-11-10-8, 8th fret, G, root position, top note C, all fretted
- x-10-10-11-11-10, 10th fret, G, root position, top note D, barred
- x-10-10-12-12-10, 10th fret, G, root position, top note D, barred
How to use GmMaj11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on GmMaj11 is Am7♭5 to D7♭9: the ii and the V of G minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
What to play over GmMaj11
Every note of GmMaj11 is in G harmonic minor and G melodic minor.
Chords near GmMaj11
Change one note of GmMaj11 and you have Gmaj11 (the minor third becomes the major third), Gm11 (the major seventh becomes the flat seventh) or GmMaj9 (drop the eleventh).
GmMaj11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor 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.