G#maj7#11 — G# major seventh sharp eleventh chord
A major seventh chord with the eleventh raised. The sharp eleventh is a tritone above the root, so the chord carries the lydian sound rather than the plain major one.
- 1 = G#
- 3 = B#
- 5 = D#
- 7 = F##
- #11 = C##
- Symbol
- G#maj7#11
- Root
- G#
- Quality
- Major seventh sharp eleventh
- Family
- altered
- Notes
- G# B# D# F## C##
- Degree formula
1 3 5 7 #11- Semitones from the root
0 4 6 7 11- Distinct pitch classes
- 5
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 4 semitones, 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 7 semitones
- Notation
- Written maj7#11. The tonic chord of the lydian mode, common in jazz and in impressionist harmony.
- Key
- G# · Ab major / F minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G# | 0 | Perfect unison |
| 3 | B# | 4 | Major third |
| 5 | D# | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| 7 | F## | 11 | Major seventh |
| #11 | C## | 6 | Tritone |
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.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | G# | 1 | G# – B# – D# – F## – C## | 0 4 7 11 6 |
| first inversion | B# | 3 | B# – D# – F## – C## – G# | 0 3 7 2 8 |
| second inversion | D# | 5 | D# – F## – C## – G# – B# | 0 4 11 5 9 |
| third inversion | F## | 7 | F## – C## – G# – B# – D# | 0 7 1 5 8 |
| fourth inversion | C## | #11 | C## – G# – B# – D# – F## | 0 6 10 1 5 |
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) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4-5-5-5-4-4 | G# D G C D# G# | 1 #11 7 3 5 1 | G# | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 4-5-5-5-4-3 | G# D G C D# G | 1 #11 7 3 5 7 | G# | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 4-3-1-1-3-3 | G# C D# G# D G | 1 3 5 1 #11 7 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 4-6-5-5-3-3 | G# D# G C D G | 1 5 7 3 #11 7 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 4-5-6-5-4-3 | G# D G# C D# G | 1 #11 1 3 5 7 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 4-6-5-5-3-4 | G# D# G C D G# | 1 5 7 3 #11 1 | G# | 3 | 6 |
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
- KeyEverything in G#
- ScaleG# lydian
- ChordG#maj7
- ChordG#
- ChordG#7
Related