Amaj13 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Amaj13 — shell voicings
Amaj13 is A, C#, E, G#, B and F# — Amaj9 with the thirteenth on top, and the eleventh left out.
It sounds full and wide open. Six notes into four fingers means something goes: keep the third, the seventh and the thirteenth.
Amaj13 notes and formula
| A | C# | E | G# | B | F# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 13 |
Tonic — the major sound with most of the scale showing.
Also written AM13, AΔ13 or A major 13. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Amaj13
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Amaj13 has 4 of them, on the middle four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 12th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 6th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x06677 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 5 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x02122 | open position | A, root position | F# | barred |
| 544454 | 4th fret | A, root position | G# | barred |
| 556675 | 5th fret | A, root position | A | barred |
| x06677 | 6th fret | A, root position | B | 1 open string |
| x97799 | 7th fret | F#, 13th in the bass | C# | barred |
| x-12-11-11-9-9 | 9th fret | A, root position | C# | all fretted |
| x-12-9-11-9-9 | 9th fret | A, root position | C# | barred |
| x-12-12-13-14-14 | 12th fret | A, root position | F# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 12 drop 2, 9 drop 3, 26 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Amaj13, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (D#).
How to use Amaj13
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Amaj13 is Bm7 to E7 — the ii and the V of A — and E7 shares its third and seventh with Bm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Amaj13 belongs to C# minor (the ♭VI), E major (the IV, the subdominant), F# minor (the ♭III) and A major (the I, the tonic).
What to play over Amaj13
Every note of Amaj13 is in A major and A lydian.
Chords near Amaj13
Change one note of Amaj13 and you have Amaj9 (drop the sixth), Amaj11 (the sixth becomes a fourth), A69 (drop the major seventh) or A13 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh).
Amaj13 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Amaj13’s sound and use this page follows Ted Pease & Ken Pullig, Modern Jazz Voicings (Berklee Press, 2001). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.