A13 Chord on Guitar
A13 = A – C# – E – G – B – F# (Root, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, Minor 7th, Major 9th, Major 13th)
A chord is the same notes however you stack them, and which one sits at the bottom changes how it sounds. The chord builder puts each of A13's notes in the bass in turn, names the result, and plays it.
Hear every inversion of A13 →A13 is the largest extended dominant chord in this family, theoretically stacking a thirteenth on top of a full dominant ninth, but the guitar shape at the fifth-fret barre keeps things practical by dropping the ninth and eleventh entirely. What's left resembles A7 with the sixth string's sixth added on top — a compact way of implying the chord's full jazz color without physically fretting six different pitches.
Full theory gives A, C#, E, G, B, D, F# for A13, but the working voicing here leans on root, third, flat seventh, and thirteenth (F#), the same top note that makes A6 recognizable. That's not a coincidence — a dominant 13th chord is essentially a dominant seventh with a sixth-like note added above it, which is exactly why the two shapes are so closely related on the fretboard. As a V13 it resolves to D major with the same pull as A7, just dressed in a richer, more jazz-inflected color that's common in swing and bossa-influenced guitar parts.
Fingerings
Barre (5th fret)
How to Practice It
Compare this shape directly to A6, since the two voicings share a top note and much of their finger placement — the difference is mainly which string carries the flat seventh instead of a plain triad tone. Practicing the transition from A13 into D major slowly helps train the ear to hear that top F# resolving, even though it isn't moving by step the way a ninth typically would.
Common Progressions
- A13 – D (V13 – I, a jazz-colored dominant resolution)
- Gmaj7 – A13 – Dmaj7 (a ii-less turnaround using extended chords)
- Bm7 – A13 – D (a jazzier ii – V13 – I feel)
- D – A13 – D (I – V13 – I as a static vamp with color)
FAQ
- Why does the guitar voicing of A13 skip the ninth and eleventh?
- Fitting a root, third, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth across six strings isn't realistically playable, so guitarists keep the notes that most strongly define the chord's dominant-with-color character — root, third, seventh, and thirteenth — and let the rest go.
- How is A13 related to A6?
- Both put the sixth/thirteenth on top of the chord, and the shapes share much of their fingering; the real difference is that A13 keeps the flat seventh in place of one of A6's triad tones, giving it a dominant rather than plain major color.
- What key does A13 resolve to?
- D major, the same target as A7 or A9, since A13 is still fundamentally a dominant seventh chord with extra top-end color layered on.
- Is A13 mostly a jazz chord?
- It's most at home there, yes — the rich, layered dominant color is a staple of jazz and jazz-adjacent styles like bossa nova and swing, though it does turn up occasionally in more sophisticated pop and R&B writing.
- Why is A13 sometimes confused with A6 on a chart?
- Because both voicings put F# on top and share most of the shape, a player glancing quickly at the neck can mistake one for the other; the seventh (G) buried in the middle of the chord is the note that actually tells them apart.
- Does A13 need a preceding ii chord to sound right?
- Not strictly — it works fine resolving directly from a static vamp or from the tonic itself, but pairing it after a ii chord like Em7 or Bm7 gives it the classic ii-V jazz cadence feel that the extended color is often written to support.
- How difficult is A13 compared to a plain A barre chord?
- It asks for one or two extra fretted notes beyond the basic barre, similar in demand to A9, so it's a reasonable next step once the plain fifth-fret A-major barre is solid.
Related: how chords are built, chord finder.