Extended

Eleventh chords

A dominant 11th chord: R, (3), 5, b7, 9, 11. The major 3rd and the natural 11th are a minor 9th apart and clash harshly, so in practice the 3rd is omitted — leaving R-5-b7-9-11, which sounds like a suspended, gospel-tinged dominant. The 11 is the defining color and the reason the chord reads as 'unresolved tension wanting to fall to I'.

In every key

The same shape, moved. The symbols below are spelled the way the app spells them, which is the spelling the chord's own scale asks for rather than whichever accidental is easier to type.

  • C11
  • Db11
  • D11
  • Eb11
  • E11
  • F11
  • F#11
  • G11
  • Ab11
  • A11
  • Bb11
  • B11

Voicings

Written in C, because that is the key the encyclopedia authors them in; every one transposes unchanged.

Root Position (no 3rd)

C · G · Bb · D · F

intermediate

LH C anchors the root; RH G-Bb-D-F. Dropping the 3rd is intentional — it keeps the 11 from clashing.

Rootless(b7-9-11-5)

Bb · D · F · G

intermediate

Right hand 1-2-3-5 on Bb-D-F-G. A simple Gm7 shape that the bass turns into C11.

Quartal Voicing

F · Bb · D · G

advanced

Stack from F: 1-2-3-5. Keep it even and open — let the fourths ring rather than the thirds.

Where it turns up

Gospel and soul cadences, the big 'amen' suspended dominant, and as a V chord that delays its resolution. Common in McCoy Tyner and gospel-piano vocabulary, and as the climax dominant before a I chord.

Commonly swapped with

  • With the 3rd omitted, C11 is essentially Gm7/C
  • Interchangeable with C9sus4
  • Resolves to Cmaj7 or down a fifth to F