B11 variation - blues/jazz/groove/reggae

[Pete Knapton]

Hello! I use a B11 variation, but in A. Lo-Hi A C# E G# B D.
It seems to work well for melodic jazz/blues/groove/reggae. The 2-5-1 progression is all there and only 2 frets apart. I guess if you've got the full chord there, single note playing is easy to visualize. I'm sure there's better chromatic tunings for faster single note playing, but this tuning with it's full chords works well for this genre. Most things are only 2 frets away and the chromatic notes in the middle.
I like it tuned a tone down to A as the C chord falls on the 3rd fret (not the 1st fret) and the E chord falls on the 5th and 12th fret.
I'm keen to know if other people use this tuning.

[Joe A. Roberts]

That is an interesting tuning with a lot of chords in it, I need to give it a try…

To answer your question:

Michael James plays the same tuning tuned up to C:
viewtopic.php?t=250653&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

F
D
B
G
E
C

——————

The late b0b used a very similar tuning, tuned to G. Same intervals as yours on the bottom 5 but the top string tuned up a whole step:
viewtopic.php?t=369220&sid=d68fa10fa447 ... 68baeb29f6

viewtopic.php?t=400120&sid=73660f083bcc ... f04e359b22

D
A
F#
D
B
G

——————

Andy Volk came up with an interesting variation. Same intervals as yours on the bottom 5 but the top string tuned up a half step::
viewtopic.php?p=2992175&sid=350183bfcc0 ... 590f39b246

C#
A
F#
D
B
G

[Pete Knapton]

Thank you very much Joe. I looked up the links and tried the other tunings, but came back to the one I'm using. It's the same intervals as a standard B11, but with the 3rd string raised a semitone. I understand that there's some very good players using B11, but I can't get my head around the advantage of a standard B11 over a Bmaj11.
For me, the minor7th chord in the middle is more useful than the diminished7th (in the B11 tuning). I know there's 'horses for courses' and I haven't included bar slants or chord inversions. Perhaps someone more experienced with B11 can help please...

Bmaj11 B11 (hi-lo)

E E
C# C#
A# A
F# F#
D# D#
B B

[Joe A. Roberts]

Another interesting variation worth trying, the D# down a step:

E
C#
A
F#
D
B

I like it a lot on 8 strings, the half step between the D and C# is really cool:

E
C#
A
F#
D
C#
A
B .068

[Allan Revich]

[tab]Bmaj11 B11 (hi-lo)

E E
C# C#
A# A
F# F#
D# D#
B B
[/tab]

I see utility in both, but the B11 makes more sense to me. On open strings you have B7 on the bottom 4, F#m7 on the top 4, D#m7b5 (D# half dim) in the middle, and A major on the top 3.

Of course, personally I always opt for simplicity over versatility, and stick to major chord tunings or simplified 6th tunings. Never needing to worry about more than 4 different notes under my bar. Those who’ve seen my posts know that I’ve kept pretty busy experimenting with just 4 notes at a time .