Ab11

Ab11 is Ab, Eb, Gb, Bb and Db, a dominant eleventh. The shape this page opens on is written x31122, lowest string first.

Note by note. Ab is the root, Eb is the fifth, Gb is the flat seventh, Bb is the ninth and Db is the eleventh.

Also written Ab9sus4 or Ab dominant 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.

There are 5 common shapes for Ab11 on the guitar, and 55 derived voicings in 3 families.

One note away. Change a single note of Ab11 and you have Abm9 (with one note moved), Abm11 (with one note added), Ab7sus4 (with one note taken away) or Ab9 (with one note moved).

In which keys. Every note of Ab11 belongs to C# major (the V), Eb minor (the iv), F# major (the ii), Ab minor (the i), Bb minor (the ♭VII) and B major (the vi).

The common shapes, written lowest string first: x31122, 444544, 666678, x-11-10-11-9-9, x-11-11-11-13-11.

Under the hand. None of the shapes for Ab11 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 3 of the 5 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.

Where it goes. Ab11 is the V of Db, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into Db.

Drop 2. A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings. Ab11 has xx1122, xx4324, 4443xx, 4646xx, xx4644, xx6676, x6667x, x-x-11-11-9-11.

Drop 3. The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped. Ab11 has x1x122, x4x142, 2x112x, 4x432x, x4x374, 4x464x, x6x674, 6x667x.

Rootless. The root left to the bass player. Frees a finger for a tension. Ab11 has xx1322, x4434x, xx4646, x6867x, xx8879, x-x-11-11-11-11, x-x-13-15-14-14, x4x342.

What kind of chord this is. Ab11 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. dominant seventh chords on every root, and what they are for.

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.