Bm13 — B minor thirteenth chord
A minor seventh chord with the ninth and the thirteenth added. The eleventh is normally left out, as on the dominant thirteenth.
- 1 = B
- b3 = D
- 5 = F#
- b7 = A
- 9 = C#
- 13 = G#
- Symbol
- Bm13
- Root
- B
- Quality
- Minor thirteenth
- Family
- extended
- Notes
- B D F# A C# G#
- Degree formula
1 b3 5 b7 9 13- Semitones from the root
0 2 3 7 9 10- Distinct pitch classes
- 6
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 7 semitones
- Notation
- Written m13. A tonic or subdominant colour in jazz and soul.
- Key
- B · B major / G# minor key signature
Fingering charts
The library holds 5 fingerings of this chord and all of them are shown, in the library’s own order. Several fingerings of one chord is normal: the same notes can be stopped at different positions and on different strings.
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | D | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | F# | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| b7 | A | 10 | Minor seventh |
| 9 | C# | 2 | Major second |
| 13 | G# | 9 | Major sixth |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | B | 1 | B – D – F# – A – C# – G# | 0 3 7 10 2 9 |
| first inversion | D | b3 | D – F# – A – C# – G# – B | 0 4 7 11 6 9 |
| second inversion | F# | 5 | F# – A – C# – G# – B – D | 0 3 7 2 5 8 |
| third inversion | A | b7 | A – C# – G# – B – D – F# | 0 4 11 2 5 9 |
| fourth inversion | C# | 9 | C# – G# – B – D – F# – A | 0 7 10 1 5 8 |
| fifth inversion | G# | 13 | G# – B – D – F# – A – C# | 0 3 6 10 1 5 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7-5-6-6-7-5 | B D G# C# F# A | 1 b3 13 9 5 b7 | B | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 7-9-7-7-9-9 | B F# A D G# C# | 1 5 b7 b3 13 9 | B | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 7-4-6-7-7-5 | B C# G# D F# A | 1 9 13 b3 5 b7 | B | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 7-4-7-7-7-4 | B C# A D F# G# | 1 9 b7 b3 5 13 | B | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 7-5-7-6-7-4 | B D A C# F# G# | 1 b3 b7 9 5 13 | B | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 7-9-6-6-10-10 | B F# G# C# A D | 1 5 13 9 b7 b3 | B | 4 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in B
- ScaleB dorian
- ChordBm11
- ChordBm
- ChordBm7
Related
- KeyKey of B
- ScaleB dorian
- ChordBm11 — Minor eleventh
- ChordBm — Minor
- ChordBm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordB11 — Dominant eleventh
- ChordB13 — Dominant thirteenth
- ChordB9 — Dominant ninth