Guitar · eleventh
A11 Chord on Guitar
A Dominant 11th is A, C#, E, G, B, D — the 1-3-5-b7-9-11 pattern of a eleventh chord. There are 2 ways to play it on guitar, ranked below from easiest to hardest.
Good news: A11 has an open shape on guitar, so you can play it without barring anything. Start there and work up the neck later.
Start here — A Shape Barre ( fret)
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
Easier ways to play it — 2 shapes, easiest first
Same chord in all of them. What changes is how much your hand has to do and where on the neck it sits.
A Shape Barre ( fret) Way 1 of 2
A Shape Barre ( fret)
Easiest here· intermediate· the standard shape
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
E Shape Barre (5th fret) Way 2 of 2
E Shape Barre (5th fret)
advanced
Barre at fret 5 — the same movable idea, further up the neck: brighter, more compact, and easier to reach if you are already playing up there.
What beginners get wrong
Moving in and out of it
The shape above: A Shape Barre ( fret) — open position, so several strings ring unfretted.
Listening: each shape above has its own play button, and each one plays the notes that shape actually produces — not a generic triad.
A11 on other instruments
Same notes, different hands. Every link below is a real page with diagrams and audio.
Chords next door
Same root, different colour — and all of them playable on guitar.
A11 on Guitar — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play A11 on guitar?
“A Shape Barre ( fret)” — which we rate intermediate — is the easiest A11 shape on guitar. Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
What notes are in the A Dominant 11th chord?
A Dominant 11th is A, C#, E, G, B, D — the 1-3-5-b7-9-11 interval pattern of a eleventh chord. Every voicing on this page uses those notes and nothing else; they just appear in a different order and octave.
How many ways can you play A11 on guitar?
This page has 2 A11 voicings for guitar, ranked from easiest to hardest: A Shape Barre ( fret), E Shape Barre (5th fret). They all sound like A11; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of A11?
The nearest stand-ins on guitar that keep the same root are Asus4, Asus2, A. They keep the root and the fifth and only change what sits in the middle, so most songs still work — but check the swap against the melody, because the note you removed may be the one the tune is singing.
Can I play A11 on other instruments?
Yes. A11 is the same set of notes everywhere; only the fingering changes. This site has diagrams and audio for it on piano.
Learn the theory behind A11
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.