C#13 guitar chord
A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About C#13 — drop 2 voicings
C#13 is C#, E#, G#, B, D# and A# — C#9 with the thirteenth added on top.
It sounds big and open. Six notes will not fit under four fingers: the fifth goes first, then the ninth, and the third, flat seventh and thirteenth stay.
C#13 notes and formula
| C# | E# | G# | B | D# | A# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 13 |
Dominant — the full V chord.
Also written C#dom13 or C# dominant 13. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C#13
Take the four notes stacked as close together as they go, then drop the second voice from the top an octave. The gap it opens is what makes the chord sound like a chord rather than a cluster.
It lands on four adjacent strings, which is why it is the workhorse voicing on guitar.
C#13 has 13 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and the bottom four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: C# in the bass, E# in the bass, B in the bass and A# in the bass. The one to learn first is the B shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the middle four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x43302 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 6 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 11th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x43302 | open position | C#, root position | Gb | 1 open string |
| x43466 | 3rd fret | C#, root position | A# | all fretted |
| x43446 | 3rd fret | C#, root position | A# | barred |
| 444466 | 4th fret | G#, 2nd inversion | A# | barred |
| 968667 | 6th fret | C#, root position | B | barred |
| 988897 | 7th fret | C#, root position | B | barred |
| 9-9-9-10-11-11 | 9th fret | C#, root position | D# | barred |
| 9-11-9-10-11-9 | 9th fret | C#, root position | C# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 2 shell, 9 drop 3, 25 rootless and 1 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of C#13, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (F##).
How to use C#13
C#13 is the V of F#, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into F#.
Voice by voice, C#13 → F#. 2 voices move by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In C#13 | Moves | In F# |
|---|---|---|
| C#, the root | stays where it is | C#, the fifth |
| E#, the major third | rises a semitone | F#, the root |
| G#, the fifth | falls a whole tone | F#, the root |
| B, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | A#, the major third |
| D#, the ninth | falls a whole tone | C#, the fifth |
| A#, the thirteenth | stays where it is | A#, the major third |
In which keys. Every note of C#13 belongs to Eb minor (the ♭VII) and F# major (the V, the dominant).
What to play over C#13
Every note of C#13 is in C# mixolydian and C# lydian dominant.
Chords near C#13
Change one note of C#13 and you have C#maj13 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), C#69 (drop the flat seventh), C#9 (drop the sixth) or C#9#11 (the sixth becomes a flat fifth).
C#13 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh chords on every root.
On C#13’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.