Cm13 — C 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 = C
- b3 = Eb
- 5 = G
- b7 = Bb
- 9 = D
- 13 = A
- Symbol
- Cm13
- Root
- C
- Quality
- Minor thirteenth
- Family
- extended
- Notes
- C Eb G Bb D A
- 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
- C · C major / A 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 | C | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | Eb | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | G | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| b7 | Bb | 10 | Minor seventh |
| 9 | D | 2 | Major second |
| 13 | A | 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 | C | 1 | C – Eb – G – Bb – D – A | 0 3 7 10 2 9 |
| first inversion | Eb | b3 | Eb – G – Bb – D – A – C | 0 4 7 11 6 9 |
| second inversion | G | 5 | G – Bb – D – A – C – Eb | 0 3 7 2 5 8 |
| third inversion | Bb | b7 | Bb – D – A – C – Eb – G | 0 4 11 2 5 9 |
| fourth inversion | D | 9 | D – A – C – Eb – G – Bb | 0 7 10 1 5 8 |
| fifth inversion | A | 13 | A – C – Eb – G – Bb – D | 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 | 8-6-7-7-8-6 | C D# A D G A# | 1 b3 13 9 5 b7 | C | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 8-10-8-8-10-10 | C G A# D# A D | 1 5 b7 b3 13 9 | C | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 8-5-7-8-8-6 | C D A D# G A# | 1 9 13 b3 5 b7 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 8-5-8-8-8-5 | C D A# D# G A | 1 9 b7 b3 5 13 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 8-6-8-7-8-5 | C D# A# D G A | 1 b3 b7 9 5 13 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 8-10-7-7-11-11 | C G A D A# D# | 1 5 13 9 b7 b3 | C | 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 C
- ScaleC dorian
- ChordCm11
- ChordCm
- ChordCm7
Related
- KeyKey of C
- ScaleC dorian
- ChordCm11 — Minor eleventh
- ChordCm — Minor
- ChordCm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordC11 — Dominant eleventh
- ChordC13 — Dominant thirteenth
- ChordC9 — Dominant ninth