F Dominant 7#11 (F7#11)

1+3+5+b7+#11
FACBEb
4 4
Download MIDI

Notes in F Dominant 7#11

F (root)ACEbB

Inversions

Same notes as F Dominant 7#11, with a different chord tone as the lowest note. Useful for smoother movement between chords instead of jumping around the keyboard.

Root position

F in the bass

FACBEb

1st inversion

A in the bass

ACBFEb

2nd inversion

C in the bass

CBFAEb

3rd inversion

Eb in the bass

BFACEb

4th inversion

B in the bass

BFACEb

Open voicings

A close-position chord like F Dominant 7#11 can sound cluttered in the middle of the keyboard. Jazz players open it up by dropping one note down an octave, spreading the same notes wider without changing the chord.

Drop 2

Eb on the bottom

FACBEb

Drop 3

C on the bottom

CFABEb

Press F, A, C, Eb and B together on the keyboard and you're playing F Dominant 7#11.

A dominant seventh with a sharpened eleventh on top. Jazz players call this the Lydian dominant sound: the raised eleventh takes the edge off a plain dominant chord and leaves something brighter and more floating. It turns up over dominant chords that resolve down a half step, and over static vamps that never resolve at all.

Difficulty: Advanced. Category: Extended chords. Click any highlighted key on the diagram above, or tab to it and press Enter, to hear that single note. Inversions mark the bass note with a contrasting outline.