My Guitar Notes

Dm11 — D minor eleventh chord

A minor ninth chord with the eleventh added. Unlike the dominant eleventh there is no clash, because the eleventh lies a whole tone above the minor third.

Symbol
Dm11
Root
D
Quality
Minor eleventh
Family
extended
Notes
D E F G A C
Degree formula
1 9 b3 11 5 b7
Semitones from the root
0 2 3 5 7 10
Distinct pitch classes
6
Interval structure
Stacked from the root: 2 semitones, 1 semitones, 2 semitones, 2 semitones, 3 semitones
Notation
Written m11. Frequently voiced with the root, the seventh, the ninth and the eleventh, leaving the fifth out.
Key
D · D major / B minor key signature

Formula

The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.

DegreeNoteSemitonesInterval from the root
1D0Perfect unison
9E2Major second
b3F3Minor third
11G5Perfect fourth
5A7Perfect fifth
b7C10Minor seventh

Inversions

An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.

InversionBass noteDegree in the bassNotes above the bassSemitones above the bass
root positionD1D – E – F – G – A – C0 2 3 5 7 10
first inversionE9E – F – G – A – C – D0 1 3 5 8 10
second inversionFb3F – G – A – C – D – E0 2 4 7 9 11
third inversionG11G – A – C – D – E – F0 2 5 7 9 10
fourth inversionA5A – C – D – E – F – G0 3 5 7 8 10
fifth inversionCb7C – D – E – F – G – A0 2 4 5 7 9

Playable voicings

These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.

#Shape (low string first)NotesDegreesBassSpan (frets)Sounding strings
110-10-10-10-10-12D G C F A E1 11 b7 b3 5 9D26
210-7-7-10-8-8D E A F G C1 9 5 b3 11 b7D36
310-8-7-9-8-8D F A E G C1 b3 5 9 11 b7D36
410-10-7-9-6-8D G A E F C1 11 5 9 b3 b7D46
510-8-10-12-10-12D F C G A E1 b3 b7 11 5 9D46
610-12-10-10-8-12D A C F G E1 5 b7 b3 11 9D46

Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.

Related chords and scales

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