Tip: The Major Chord With #11
We covered the major chord with a sharp 5 last time, and this time we’ll cover its “sister” chord, the #11. Where does the term #11 (pronounced “sharp eleven”) come from? Look at the notes in the G major scale. Yes, that’s not a typo: the G major, not the C major scale:
C D E F# G A B C D E F# …etc
Counting up from C to the second F#, you’ll see the F# is eleven. And since it has a # (sharp) after it, we get the name sharp 11 (#11). Making a major chord from this, we take every other note, starting with C:
C E G B D F#
That looks like a lot of notes for a chord, doesn’t it? We guitarists like 3 and 4 note chords, generally, as far as ease of playing goes. So we can eliminate some notes, being sure to hang onto the F#. We can play patterns like these:
|-2------|-5----| |-5------|-5----| |-4------|-5----| |-2------|-4----| |-3------|-3----| |--------|------|
The second one is better for strumming. And it has the 13 added, yet another extended chord “color.”
Where to use major chords with a #11? Try them in place of unaltered major chords. They won’t sound right in every situation, but they could add a fresh change of pace from the usual 1 3 5 major.
Thanks for reading.
Copyright © 2008 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News – September 15, 2006 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.