E♭13 on bass

E♭, G, B♭, D♭, F and C · dominant 13th · 2 shapes

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 13 · Sevenths.

E♭13

  1. E♭1
  2. G3
  3. B♭5
  4. D♭♭7
  5. F2
  6. C6

E♭13 is E♭, G, B♭, D♭, F and C.

E♭13 has six notes, and the bass has four strings to play them on. The rest of this page shows how a hand fits one to the other.

On the staff

E♭GB♭D♭FC

On a bass staff, E♭13 is written E♭, G, B♭, D♭, F and C.

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.

E♭13 under a hand

E♭13/D♭third inversionposition 8
8fr♭73131EADG
313♭71C2C3C4

Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds D♭, G, C and E♭, which are the degrees ♭7 3 13 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 E♭13/D♭. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with D♭ in the bass it sounds different. The 5 and 9 is left out altogether. A seventh chord gives up its fifth first, because the fifth adds the least to the chord's sound.

Between the strings you sound: TTP4m3

E♭13/Cinversion 5position 5
5fr1313♭7EADG
1331♭7C2C3C4

Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds C, E♭, G and D♭, which are the degrees 13 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 E♭13/C. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with C in the bass it sounds different. The 5 and 9 is left out altogether. A seventh chord gives up its fifth first, because the fifth adds the least to the chord's sound.

Between the strings you sound: m3M3TT

Two shapes for E♭13 on bass: E♭13/D♭ and E♭13/C.

E♭13 has no root-position shape on bass, because there is no way to put the root below the other notes and still reach the whole chord. A chord with a note other than the root at the bottom is called an inversion, and every way of playing E♭13 here is one. That comes from how this instrument is tuned, not from the chord itself.

E♭, G, B♭, D♭, F and C on the whole neck

EADG1234567891011121314152356♭712356♭71235612356♭712356♭71235

This diagram marks every E♭, G, B♭, D♭, F and C on the first fifteen frets of the bass.

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