Dominant Thirteenth Sharp Eleventh Chord

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Last updated on: 2009-08-19 2:11 PM

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A dominant thirteenth sharp eleventh chord is composed using a root/1^st, major 3^rd, perfect 5^th, minor 7^th, major 9^th, augmented 11^th and major 13^th (or R/1-3-5-7-9-11-13) intervals played simultaneously. Generally written as C¹³⁽¹¹⁾ or Cdom¹³⁽¹¹⁾, it is good practice to simply use an uppercase C followed by a superscripted ¹³⁽¹¹⁾ to represent it in writing (ie: C¹³⁽¹¹⁾).

A dominant thirteenth sharp eleventh chord is formed due to the dissonance created between the major third and perfect eleventh (perfect fourth) intervals in a dominant thirteenth chord voiced with an eleventh interval included. Normally, we omit the eleventh from major and dominant thirteenth voicings due to this dissonance, and limitation of six notes on a six string guitar, alternatively we can sharpen the eleventh and remove the fifth or ninth intervals, the dominant thirteenth sharp eleventh chord is a result of this latter process.

Dominant Thirteenth Sharp Eleventh Chord Profile

Intervals	root/1^st, major 3^rd, perfect 5^th, minor 7^th, major 9^th, augmented 11^th, major 13^th or R/1-3-5-7-9-11-13)
Stability	Dissonant / Unresolved
Grouping Class	Heptad (commonly played as a Hexad or Tetrad on guitar)
Common Names (examples in C)	C¹³⁽¹¹⁾, Cdom¹³⁽¹¹⁾

Dominant Thirteenth Sharp Eleventh Chord Voicings

The chord voicings below are not shown in any particular key, they are shapes which can be moved around the guitar neck freely using the root note (circled dot) as your navigator. See example below.

How to use
As an example, let's say you require a D major chord
After playing all the chord voicings, you decide on voicing #2
Voicing #2 has it's root on the 5^th string so you need to find the D note on this string
Click the notes on the neck chart tab and find the D note on the 5^th fret (5^th string)
Now play D major using voicing #2 on the 5^th fret
Use the Octave chart tab to help you remember which notes are where
Use the Chord chart help tab if your a beginner at reading chord boxes

Dominant thirteenth sharp eleventh chord voicings

Notes on the guitar neck chart (lite version)

Using octaves to learn notes on the guitar neck

First determine which chord you require, let's use a B major chord in this example.
We know the root note is B, (if it were an A major chord the root note would be A and for Cma⁷ it would be C, etc etc)
Using the notes on the guitar neck chart, find the B note on the 6^th string, 7^th fret.
Now using the major chord voicings chart, look for voicing #4 which has it's root note on the 6^th string and play it, your done!
Remember, learning and memorizing notes, chord voicings and scales in this way will improve your playing skills, theoretical knowledge and desirability as a band member.

Dominant Thirteenth Sharp Eleventh Chord Audio Sample(s)

To download audio sample(s) for later listening, right click on the MP3 link, then from the context menu that appears select Save Target As (Internet Explorer) or Save Link As (Firefox).

Audio Sample Name	Flash	MP3
C Dominant Thirteenth Sharp Eleventh Chord voicing #4		c-dominant-thirteenth-sharp-eleventh-chord-voicing-4.mp3

Related Lessons & Resources

Guitar Lessons
- How to read chord diagrams
Music Theory
- Altered scale
- Harmonizing a major scale (triads)

External Resources

Thirteenth chord at Wikipedia.org