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Minor 13 (m13) Guitar Chord Diagrams and Voicing Charts

This guitar lesson explores minor 13 chords, a rich, colorful sound often used in jazz, R&B, and soul.

These chords build on a simple minor 7 shape but add extra tones that make your playing sound fuller and more sophisticated. 

Construction

A minor 13 chord is an extended chord that builds on a minor 7th chord by adding extra color tones.

Here’s how it’s constructed:

  • Root (1) – the starting note
  • Minor 3rd (♭3) – defines the chord as minor
  • Perfect 5th (5) – stabilizes the chord (sometimes omitted in voicings)
  • Minor 7th (♭7) – makes it a minor 7 chord
  • 9th (9) – adds brightness and openness
  • 11th (11) – often implied, sometimes omitted in jazz voicings
  • 13th (13) – the key extension, giving the chord its name

So the full spelling is:
1 – ♭3 – 5 – ♭7 – 9 – 11 – 13

Example: C minor 13 (C–E♭–G–B♭–D–F–A)

  • Root: C
  • ♭3: E♭
  • 5: G
  • ♭7: B♭
  • 9: D
  • 11: F
  • 13: A

But in practice, jazz musicians rarely play all the notes at once (it would sound muddy).

Instead, they choose the most important tones (often root, ♭3, ♭7, 9, and 13).

C Minor 13th chord C E G B D F A
Chord tones 1 b3 5 b7 9  11 13

 

You can think of a minor 13 chord as :

Function:

Minor 13 chords are commonly used in jazz, R&B, soul, and funk.

They often replace a plain minor 7 chord to add more richness.

For example, instead of Am7, a player might use Am13 for a fuller sound.

Notation and Chord Symbols

Minor 13 chords can be written m13, min13 or -13

Guitar Chord Shapes

Because of the number of notes it is physically impossible to play all of them on the guitar.

As shown in the guitar diagrams below, some of them are voluntarily excluded.

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Last edited: 2025-09-14

Comments

  • suruj saikia

    1 suruj saikia On 2019-05-16

    Thanks for sharing your expert guidance
    jazz-guitar-licks

    jazz-guitar-licks On 2019-05-17

    Thanks ;)

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