Triskaidekaphilia! 13th Chords everywhere.

©2011 Milton Mermikides

A 13th chord is an extremely rich and useful chord voicing. This section explains the 13th chord,
and includes a study to greatly expand fretboard harmony. There is some disagreement of
how a 13th chord should be interpreted so let's quickly survey the various approaches.

13th Chord Construction

This 7 note chord is often found as an arpeggio, but is
Traditionally, the 13th chord is rare as a chord - due mainly to the functional confusion, and
constructed by progressively adding minor 9th clash, of the 3rd and the 11th together.
3rds to form a 7 note chord. For that reason the 11th is often omitted - or replaced with a #11
G13
œœ w ˙ # ˙˙˙˙
min 9th & G13 G13(#11)
œœœ w
G7 G9 G11 G13

œ œœ œœ w
w
4-3 confusion
˙˙
& œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ w
w
w ˙˙˙ ˙˙˙

The #11 implies a particular mode (lydian dominant)
so should be specified in the chord symbol - so
we'll leave the 11th out altogether
(unless its a minor 13th chord
which can tolerate all 7 notes)
A 13th chord generally implies that there is a 9th
- the inclusion of which is discretionary.
However any desired alterations of the 9th (or 13th)
should be indicated.
Here are some examples that should
make the point clear.

G13 G‹13 G13 G13 G13(b9) G13(#9) G7(b13) G9(b13) G7[áÆ] G7[äÆ]
w w
w œ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ
w w œœœ b œœœ # œœœ œœ n œœœ b œœœ # œœœ
(no 9th)

w bw œœœ
& w
w
w w
w
w œœ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
Dominant 13th Minor 13th
(R,3,5,b7,9,13) (R,b3,5,b7,9,11,13) Dominant 13th chords with variations of
Omits 11th All 7 notes of the dorian mode 9th and 13th intervals

13th Chord Voicings

With only 6 strings on a standard guitar, and up to 5 fingers on a standard human hand, some
editing of 13th chords is needed to make the voicings possible. Luckily not all notes are needed,
the 5th is fairly neutral and may be omitted, and even the root may be abandoned, particularly
in an ensemble context. Here are some useful E- shape voicings with some representative variants.
All the 13th voicings listed can be similarly modified.

E shape
G13 G7(b13) G13 G13(#9) G13(b9) G7[áÆ]
2fr

œ bœœ nœœœ # œœ b œœ bbœœ

& œœ œ œ œœ œœ œœ
œ œ
No 9th No Root
2

13th Chord St
There are many possible voicings - some more practical than others - but the following
exercise represents many of the most useful all within a circular study that requires a good harmonic
understanding to play at a steady tempo.
This study explores various C13 and C9 voicings up the fretboard, and descends with G13 voicings.
(You can adopt a similar approach with any pair of 13th chords)
Remember also that any of the 13th voicings may be altered in terms of the 9th and 13th - and where possible,
major 3rds may be lowered to minor 3rds to create minor 3rd variants.

C13 C13 C9 C13 C9 C13 C9 C13

5fr 5fr 7fr 6fr

œ
& ™™ œœœ
œ œ œ œœ œ
œœ
œœ bœœœ œœ
œœ b œœ
œ œœœ œœ œœ
œ
bœ œ (no 5th) (no 5th)
(no 9th) (no 5th) (no 5th)

(no 5th) (optional root)

(no root)
C13 C13 C13 C13
C13 C13 C9 13fr 13fr
10fr 13fr
8fr 8fr 10fr

˙
œœ
œ
œœ
œœ b œœœ œœ
œ œœ œœ b ˙˙˙
& bœ
œ œ bœœ œœ ˙
(no 5th) (no 5th) (no 9th) (no 9th)
(optional root)

(no root) (no 5th)

G13 G13 G13 G9 G9 G13 G13 G9

15fr 14fr 14fr 12fr 12fr 9fr 9fr
15fr

œ œœ œ
n œœœ œœ œ
œœ œœ
œ œœœ
œ
œœœ
œ
œœ œœ
œ
& œ œ œœ œœ
(no 9th) (no 5th) (no root)

(no root) (no 5th) (optional root)

(no 5th)

G13 G13 G9 G13 G13 G13 G13

10fr 10fr 6fr 7fr

œœ œœ
™™
œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ ˙˙
& œœ œœ œ œœ œœ ˙
˙
(no root) (no 9th) (no 9th) (no root)

(no 5th) (no root) (no 5th)

One last point to consider: C13 can be used as a substitute for many chords including:
Gm13 (Dorian), Bbmaj9(#11) (Lydian) , Amin11(b9) (Phrygian) and Dmin11b13(Aeolian),
which means these voicings can be readily used in many different modal contexts.