Easily Learn this Jazzy minor 11 Chord Progression

Start with any minor chord.  To keep it simple, start out playing it in root position.

A minor chord in root position consists of the root, minor 3rd and 5th tones in that order.  We’ll look at a C minor triad as an example.Play this C minor chord in your left hand.

The rest of this minor 11th chord voicing will consist of a Major chord played in your right hand. Simply locate the tone that’s a whole step below the root of the minor chord played in your left hand.

In this example, it’s B flat.On this B flat tone, build a Major chord which is B flat Major.  A Major chord consists of the root, 3rd and 5th tones.The result of these two triads is this minor 11th chord voicing.

Now take a minute to discern the structure of this chord. By breaking it down, you can see that it’s two triads stacked on top of one another. One is Major and the other is minor.This is referred to as an upper structure triad. The upper structure concept is simply a way of defining the upper notes of an extended chord that are those of a Major or minor triad.

Now onto the minor 11th chord progression. It’s not necessarily in any particular key and you’ll find that some chords move through the circle of 5ths. But keep in mind that a chord progression such as this one can move anywhere because they all sound neutral due to the 11th tone.

We’ll start out with the Cm11 chord that we covered earlier. Remember to think of them as two triads stacked on top of one another.

We’ll then progress to F minor 11. (E flat over F minor)Notice that the two triads the F minor 11 chord is composed of are not in root position like the two chords that compose the Cm11 chord. They’re both in 2nd inversion.

It’s very necessary to be familiar with chord inversions. Without them, each chord in this minor 11 chord progression would be in root position and sound exactly the same. Inversions give the same chords a variety of sounds.

Now on to E flat minor 11. (D flat Major over E flat minor)A flat minor 11. (G flat Major over A flat minor)B minor 11 (A Major over B minor)

E minor 11 (D Major over E minor)A minor 11 (G Major over A minor)