Minor 11th
m11
0 - 3 - 7 - 10 - 14 - 17Minor9 + perfect 11th
About Minor 11th
A minor eleventh chord is a minor ninth with the eleventh added — in C that is C, E♭, G, B♭, D and F, written Cm11. Unlike its major counterpart it has no internal conflict: over a minor third the eleventh is a whole tone away, and the chord is one of the smoothest large sonorities in music.
Notes and formula
The formula is 1 – ♭3 – 5 – ♭7 – 9 – 11, or 0 – 3 – 7 – 10 – 14 – 17 in semitones. Six notes, all of them compatible.
The eleventh is what a major chord cannot take. F stands a whole tone above E♭ rather than a semitone above E, and the interval that ruins Cmaj11 simply does not occur here.
The chords hidden inside it
The upper five notes — E♭, G, B♭, D, F — spell E♭maj9. So Cm11 is an E♭ major ninth chord over a C bass, and that is how arrangers voice it and how pianists think about it.
A smaller fragment is used just as often: G minor seventh over C gives the root, fifth, seventh, ninth and eleventh without the third, which is the open modal sound that makes the chord recognisable.
How to play it
On piano the reliable voicing is C alone in the left hand and E♭–G–B♭–D–F spread in the right, or the E♭maj9 shape moved bodily over the C.
On guitar all six notes are impractical. The compact shell is x–3–1–3–6–x, sounding C–E♭–B♭–F: root, third, seventh and eleventh, with the fifth and ninth left to the bass and the rest of the band.
Where you hear it
Modal jazz uses it as a chord to stay on. Pieces built on a single minor chord for sixteen bars at a time rely on the eleventh to keep a static harmony breathing — the famous stacked-fourths voicing of that repertoire is a close relative, spelling the same degrees without the fifth.
Neo-soul and gospel use it constantly on the ii chord, and house and downtempo producers reach for it whenever a pad needs to sound wide without sounding major or minor in an obvious way.
Minor eleventh or eleventh
C11 is a dominant: C, G, B♭, D, F with the third dropped because it would clash. Cm11 keeps its third, because a minor third and an eleventh coexist happily.
The two chords share four notes and differ in exactly the one that decides quality. In a chart the distinction is one letter, and in a mix it is the difference between a chord that wants to resolve and one that does not.
Scales that contain it
Dorian and Aeolian both fit, and the choice is again the sixth degree — raised in Dorian, lowered in Aeolian. Over a static minor eleventh, Dorian is the usual answer and the reason the sound reads as modal rather than sad.
Phrygian does not fit: its lowered second is the chord's ninth flattened, and the clash is direct.
Frequently asked questions
What notes are in a Cm11 chord?
C, E♭, G, B♭, D and F. On guitar the compact shell is x–3–1–3–6–x; on piano, an E♭maj9 voicing over a C bass.
Why does m11 work when maj11 does not?
The distance from the third to the eleventh. Over a major third the eleventh is a semitone away and clashes; over a minor third it is a whole tone away and does not.
Is Cm11 the same as B♭/C?
Not quite, though they overlap. B♭ major over a C bass gives the root, seventh, ninth and eleventh but no third. Cm11 includes the third, and that is what makes it minor rather than ambiguous.