A practical way to hear C11 is as held over the original root. The upper shape supplies the flat seventh, ninth, and : C, G, Bb, D and F.
Because that upper shape omits the dominant’s major third, the chord remains suspended. This bass-plus-shape sound is used mainly as V.
Also written C9sus4 or C dominant 11.
An open string adds a note without a finger: a tension on top or a pedal below. These belong to their key and cannot be moved up the neck.
C11 has the notes of the ii over the V’s root, so it can take the ii’s bar: C11, then C9, then F. The eleventh gives way to the third, and the V resolves as usual.
Listen for: The eleventh falls a half step to the third, then rises a half step into the root of the I.
In which keys. Every note of C11 belongs to C minor, D minor, Eb major, F major, G minor and Bb major.
Contains C11 and adds major third and thirteenth.
Contains C11 and adds minor third and flat thirteenth.
Contains C11 and adds minor third and thirteenth.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.
Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.