A11 I'm Lost.. i used to Motorways!

Hmmm...the opening chord of Hard Day's Night is, if I recall correctly, a G7sus: G C D F (1 4 5 m7).

A complete A11 is A C# E G B D (1 3 5 m7 9 11). The 5 is often dropped, and the 9 is optional. So, A11 is often A C# G B D (1 3 m7 9 11) or A C# G D (1 3 m7 11).

When you strum all the open strings, you get E G B D A (1 m3 5 m7 11), which is Em11.

When you strum all the open strings, you get E G B D A (1 m3 5 m7 11), which is Em11.

Yes, but you can also see it from the viewpoint of A:

E= 5
A= 1
D= 11 (4)
G= b7
B= 9 (2)
E=5

Seen as an A chord, there is no 3rd, neither major nor minor.

So it makes a (little) more sense as some sort of Em chord, albeit a rather dischordant one because of the 11th.

The consensus on the "Hard Day's Night" chord seems to be that the Beatles hit a G (G-B-F) and an F (F-A-C) chord at the same time.
What is an A11 made up of?

am i right thinking it's the I, II, IV, V and minor VII

Well, the 1, 3, 5, b7, 9 and 11, except that the 9 would almost always be dropped. The "11" by itself implies that the dominant 7th (b7) is included.

Arabic numerals (1,2,3 etc) are used for notes, Roman Numerals (I, ii, iii etc) for chords. Upper case for majors, lower case for minors.

Here's how you build some common chord types:

Chord Notes
major 1 3 5
6 1 3 5 6
7 1 3 5 b7
maj7 1 3 5 7
9 1 3 5 b7 9
maj9 1 3 5 7 9
11 1 3 5 b7 11
add11 1 3 5 11
13 1 3 5 b7 13
add9 1 3 5 9
sus2 1 2 5
sus4 1 4 5
5 1 5 (only 2 notes, so not a true chord)
minor 1 b3 5
min7 1 b3 5 b7
min9 1 b3 5 b7 9
dim 1 b3 b5
dim7 1 b3 b5 bb7 (6)
min7b5 1 b3 b5 b7
aug 1 3 #5
6/9 1 3 5 6 9

see that's where i was getting confused.. in the article there is a table like the one you have supplied hbriem, using that table it looked to me like strumming all the open strings would make up some sort of E chord. but in the article it said it was an A11....
oh well.. what you have both said makes sence so i guess thats a good thing!
thank you..

Personally, I think the "open chord" looks more like some sort of E than some sort of "A", not because it has E as the deepest note, but because with an A, there is no 3rd present, either major (C#) or minor (C).