Ebmaj13 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 Ebmaj13 — shell voicings
Ebmaj13 is Eb, G, Bb, D, F and C — Ebmaj9 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.
Ebmaj13 notes and formula
| Eb | G | Bb | D | F | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 13 |
Tonic — the major sound with most of the scale showing.
Also written EbM13, EbΔ13 or Eb major 13. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ebmaj13
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.
Ebmaj13 has 3 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 3rd fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Eb shape at the 3rd fret.
Start with x3103x — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x31133 | 1st fret | C, 13th in the bass | G | barred |
| x3103x | open position | C, 13th in the bass | D | 1 open string |
| x65533 | 3rd fret | Eb, root position | G | all fretted |
| x63533 | 3rd fret | Eb, root position | G | barred |
| x66788 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | C | all fretted |
| 11-10-10-10-11-10 | 10th fret | Eb, root position | D | barred |
| 11-11-12-12-13-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 drop 2, 8 drop 3, 25 rootless and 1 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Ebmaj13, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (A).
How to use Ebmaj13
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Ebmaj13 is Fm7 to Bb7 — the ii and the V of Eb — and Bb7 shares its third and seventh with Fm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Ebmaj13 belongs to C minor (the ♭III), Eb major (the I, the tonic), G minor (the ♭VI) and Bb major (the IV, the subdominant).
What to play over Ebmaj13
Every note of Ebmaj13 is in Eb major and Eb lydian.
Chords near Ebmaj13
Change one note of Ebmaj13 and you have Ebmaj9 (drop the sixth), Ebmaj11 (the sixth becomes a fourth), Eb69 (drop the major seventh) or Eb13 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh).
Ebmaj13 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Ebmaj13’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.