G Dominant 13th (G13)

Download MIDI
1+3+5+b7+9+11+13
GBDFACE
4 4

Notes in G Dominant 13th

G (root)BDFACE

Inversions

Same notes as G Dominant 13th, with a different chord tone as the lowest note. Useful for smoother movement between chords instead of jumping around the keyboard.

Root position

G in the bass

GBDFACE

1st inversion

B in the bass (G13/B)

BDFACEG

2nd inversion

D in the bass (G13/D)

DFACEGB

3rd inversion

F in the bass (G13/F)

FACEGBD

4th inversion

A in the bass (G13/A)

ACEGBDF

5th inversion

C in the bass (G13/C)

CEGBDFA

6th inversion

E in the bass (G13/E)

EGBDFAC

Open voicings

A close-position chord like G Dominant 13th can sound cluttered in the middle of the keyboard. Jazz players open it up by dropping one note down an octave, spreading the same notes wider without changing the chord.

Drop 2

G on the bottom

GBCDFAE

Drop 3

G on the bottom

GABDFCE

Play G, B, D, F, A, C and E together and you get G Dominant 13th.

The fullest dominant chord on the page, stacking every odd-numbered extension on top of a plain dominant seventh. Playing all seven notes at once gets muddy fast, so most pianists quietly drop the ninth and eleventh and voice just the root, third, seventh and thirteenth.

Difficulty: Advanced. Category: Extended chords. Click any highlighted key on the diagram above, or tab to it and press Enter, to hear that single note. Inversions mark the bass note with a contrasting outline.