Bbjam11?

does anyone know how to play a Bbmaj11?

thanks!
liver

Hi

Your subject line puzzled me so much...... Right, it s Bbmaj11.

Now, I've never seen the notation. One possibility is the chord is simply "Bb 11" which implies a major chord and then "maj" is not usually added to the name. If it is "Bb chord with maj 11", that's new to me as well. The 11th can be major 11th, I presume but usually such is noted as "sharp 11" and the notation will be "Bb+11", and that's very strange since sharp11 = 3rd so it's redundant.

I give you the notes for Bb11 and you just play it and see which fits in your song

Bb11 = Bb D F Ab C E I suppose you play it as 3 2 0 1 (Bb D E Bb)

Or, 1 2 0 1 (Ab D E Bb)

Or, worst comes worst - Play Bb7 3 2 4 1 or 3 2 4 5 Or, play Bb 3 2 1 1

Let me know how it works
Chief

Hi, I just discovered this forum, as I'm a guitar player who is interested in picking up a ukelele for a new challenge. But this particular post is right up my alley. Complex jazz chords, yay.

The maj11 chord is a weird bird. Going by the way other maj chords are built, it should be 1 maj3 5 maj7 9 11. In Bb, that would be Bb D F A C Eb. There are several problems with this chord though. You've got two pairs of notes that are semitone intervals (Bb,A and Eb,D) and you've got a tritone between the A and the Eb. This is why maj11 chords are almost always altered somehow. Sometimes the 11th will be sharpened, sometimes the third will be omitted - which really makes it a sus4 instead of a major chord.

You could try playing one of these:
Bbmaj7 - 3 2 1 0 (Bb D F A)
Bbmaj7sus4 - 3 3 1 0 (Bb Eb F A) (3rd omitted)
or less likely:
Bbmaj7#11 - 3 2 0 0 (Bb D E A) (5th omitted, 11th sharpened)

My 2 cents Jazz knowledge says the sus4 is the way to go.

thanks! i'll try that.

Context is everything.

What song are you using it in, and where does this chord appear in that song?

JJ