Guitar · eleventh
B11 Chord on Guitar
B Dominant 11th is B, D#, F#, A, C#, E — 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.
There is no open B11 shape on guitar — every version asks for a barre, which is exactly why this chord stops so many players. The one marked “A Shape Barre (2nd fret)” below is the friendliest grip, so start there.
Start here — A Shape Barre (2nd fret)
Barre at fret 2 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other eleventh chord.
Every way 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 (2nd fret) Way 1 of 2
A Shape Barre (2nd fret)
Easiest here· intermediate· the standard shape
Barre at fret 2 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other eleventh chord.
E Shape Barre (7th fret) Way 2 of 2
E Shape Barre (7th fret)
advanced
Barre at fret 7 — 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 (2nd fret) — barred at fret 2.
Listening: each shape above has its own play button, and each one plays the notes that shape actually produces — not a generic triad.
B11 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.
B11 on Guitar — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play B11 on guitar?
“A Shape Barre (2nd fret)” — which we rate intermediate — is the easiest B11 shape on guitar. Barre at fret 2 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other eleventh chord. There is no open B11 on guitar, so a barre is unavoidable; this is the least demanding one.
What notes are in the B Dominant 11th chord?
B Dominant 11th is B, D#, F#, A, C#, E — 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 B11 on guitar?
This page has 2 B11 voicings for guitar, ranked from easiest to hardest: A Shape Barre (2nd fret), E Shape Barre (7th fret). They all sound like B11; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of B11?
The nearest stand-ins on guitar that keep the same root are Bsus4, Bsus2, B. 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 B11 on other instruments?
Yes. B11 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 B11
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.
Barre Chords — The Wall Every Guitarist Climbs
This one asks for a barre. The article is the fix for the buzzing and the aching hand.
7 min read
Functional Harmony: Three Roles, One Engine
What a seventh chord is for — tension, resolution, and the seat it takes in the key.
6 min read
The 12-Bar Blues — Three Chords, A Century of Hits
Seventh chords are the whole sound of the blues. Twelve bars is where to hear it.
7 min read