C13
- C1
- E3
- G5
- B♭♭7
- D2
- A6
C13 is C, E, G, B♭, D and A.
C13 has six notes, and the guitar has six strings to play them on. The rest of this page shows how a hand fits one to the other.
On the staff
On a treble staff, C13 is written C, E, G, B♭, D and A.
The staff shows the notes one after the other, then together. Written this way the chord is in close position, which means each note sits as near to the one below it as the spelling allows. A guitar almost never plays a chord in close position.
C13 under a hand
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds C, G, B♭, E, A and D, which are the degrees 1 5 ♭7 3 13 9 rather than the 1 3 5 ♭7 2 6 of the written chord. The root is the lowest note, so this grip is in root position and sounds the way the written chord suggests.
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds E, A, D, B♭, C and E, which are the degrees 3 13 9 ♭7 1 3 rather than the 1 3 5 ♭7 2 6 of the written chord. The lowest note is the 3 rather than the root, so this grip is in first inversion, written C13/E. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with E in the bass it sounds different. With E in the bass and six strings sounding six notes, the 3 appears more than once. The 5 is left out altogether. A seventh chord gives up its fifth first, because the fifth adds the least to the chord's sound.
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds G, C, G, B♭, E and A, which are the degrees 5 1 5 ♭7 3 13 rather than the 1 3 5 ♭7 2 6 of the written chord. The lowest note is the 5 rather than the root, so this grip is in second inversion, written C13/G. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with G in the bass it sounds different. With G in the bass and six strings sounding six notes, the 5 appears more than once. The 9 is left out altogether. A seventh chord gives up its fifth first, because the fifth adds the least to the chord's sound.
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds B♭, E, A, D, G and C, which are the degrees ♭7 3 13 9 5 1 rather than the 1 3 5 ♭7 2 6 of the written chord. The lowest note is the ♭7 rather than the root, so this grip is in third inversion, written C13/B♭. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with B♭ in the bass it sounds different.
Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds A, D, G, C, E and B♭, which are the degrees 13 9 5 1 3 ♭7 rather than the 1 3 5 ♭7 2 6 of the written chord. The lowest note is the 13 rather than the root, so this grip is in inversion 5, written C13/A. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with A in the bass it sounds different.
Five shapes for C13 on guitar: C13, C13/E, C13/G, C13/B♭ and C13/A.
Every grip here is C13, but no two of them sound alike. A chord with the root as its lowest note is in root position, and a chord with any other note at the bottom is an inversion. On a keyboard you choose the inversion you want, but on a neck the shape your hand can reach usually decides it for you. When a grip sounds a note more than once, the fretting hand decides which note that is, not the harmony.
C, E, G, B♭, D and A on the whole neck
This diagram marks every C, E, G, B♭, D and A on the first fifteen frets of the guitar.
Every grip above is a handful of the notes on this diagram, and none of them uses a note that is not shown here.
The words on this page were written with the help of AI and may contain a mistake. Its diagrams are drawn by Everyfret’s own software. How Everyfret is made