Chord Of The Week 22/11/14 - moveable 11th chords

bigjon

The formula for an 11th chord is 1 (3) 5 b7 9 11 - the 3rd is usually omitted as it clashes sonically with the 11th, and the 5th is often omitted as something needs to be sacrificed to play a 5-note chord with 4 fingers!

So C11 is C (no E) G Bb D F, or 8(7)5331.

Very common in R&B & soul, for instance "Harvest for the world" by the Isley Brothers.

I'll do the CAGED shapes in a moment, but pride of place has to go to the A-shape which in open-position is the one chord you can ALL play on the guitar :-)

A11/E: 000000

Here are the 5 CAGED shapes for 11th(no 3rd) chords - 

Db11 (C-shape): x4x442 (or x46442 if you include the 5th)

Bb11 (A-shape): x11111

Ab11 (G-shape): 4x432x or 4x4322 or 4x4324 (can use thumb on 6th string)

F11 (E-shape): 1xx343 or 1x534x

Eb11 (D-shape) xx1121

I would say the G-shape and C-shape versions are most common and most useable, because they are voiced in ascending order across the fretboard so give the clearest definition of the essence of the chord. "Flowers For Zoe" by Lenny Kravitz is built around an A11 5x5430 which descends chromatically down to F#11 2x2100, keeping the open E string ringing all the time.

bigjon

Chord Of The Week Index updated with 68 discussions (Moveable chords and famous chords are in the second post) at http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/598/chord-of-the-week-index

viz

Reminds me of 000202. Is that right?

bluechargeboy

I often wondered why the TC Electronic Polytune required you to play a complex jazz chord just to tune your guitar.