B13 guitar chord

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About B13

B13 is a dominant stretched across six different notes: B, D#, F#, A, C# and G#. Its distant voices are and .

On guitar, keep the third and flat seventh, then make room by dropping the root or fifth. The upper voices can carry a jazz cadence around that shell.

Also written Bdom13 or B dominant 13.

B13 guitar chord diagram: B, D#, F#, A, C#, G#, played x21224
B13 guitar chord voicing: x-2-1-2-2-4.

How to use B13

1The V of an extended ii–V–I

V in E major

In a jazz ii–V–I all three chords usually carry tensions: F#m9, B13, Emaj9 rather than bare sevenths. The thirteenth is the ii’s ninth held over the barline, and it falls a step to the ninth of the I.

Listen for: The ii’s ninth holds as the V’s thirteenth, then falls a whole step to the ninth of the I. Underneath, the guide tones step down as usual.

In which keys. Every note of B13 belongs to C# minor and E major.

What to play over B13

Useful scales

Every scale

Chords near B13

Remove a note

Change one note

Dominant seventh chords on every root

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode