Gmaj13 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Gmaj13 — open string voicings
Gmaj13 is G, B, D, F#, A and E — Gmaj9 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.
Gmaj13 notes and formula
| G | B | D | F# | A | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 13 |
Tonic — the major sound with most of the scale showing.
Also written GM13, GΔ13 or G major 13. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Gmaj13
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
Gmaj13 has 6 of them, on strings 5-4-3-2-1, strings 6-5-4-3-2-1 and strings 6-5-4-3-2, from the 2nd fret up to the 4th — every inversion the chord has: B in the bass, F# in the bass, A in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x-10-9-9-7-7 — no barre. None of the shapes for Gmaj13 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 5 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 322232 | 2nd fret | G, root position | F# | barred |
| 334453 | 3rd fret | G, root position | G | barred |
| x75577 | 5th fret | E, 13th in the bass | B | barred |
| x-10-9-9-7-7 | 7th fret | G, root position | B | all fretted |
| x-10-7-9-7-7 | 7th fret | G, root position | B | barred |
| x-10-10-11-12-12 | 10th fret | G, root position | E | all fretted |
| 15-14-14-14-15-14 | 14th fret | G, root position | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 2 shell, 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 24 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Gmaj13, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (C#).
How to use Gmaj13
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Gmaj13 is Am7 to D7 — the ii and the V of G — and D7 shares its third and seventh with Am7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Gmaj13 belongs to D major (the IV, the subdominant), E minor (the ♭III), G major (the I, the tonic) and B minor (the ♭VI).
What to play over Gmaj13
Every note of Gmaj13 is in G major and G lydian.
Chords near Gmaj13
Change one note of Gmaj13 and you have Gmaj9 (drop the sixth), Gmaj11 (the sixth becomes a fourth), G69 (drop the major seventh) or G13 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh).
Gmaj13 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Gmaj13’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.