Ok, I give up.... help!

In theory, a 13th chord contains 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13 (it's a dominant chord, you flat the 7th). In practice, that's more notes than you have strings - the really critical ones are 3rd, 7th, and 13th. Usually you'd include the root as well.

I wrote a couple of articles on more complex chords that might help:

Extended Chords
Altered States (about chord alterations like #9)

For the chord you show, the notes are C-F-B-E-A. Assuming one of those is the root, it could be:

C-E-(G)-B-(D)-F-A, 1-3-7-11-13, or Cmaj13
F-A-C-E-(G)-B, 1-3-5-7-#11, or Fmaj7+11
B-(D#)-F-A-C-E, 1-b5-b7-b9-11. This one's tricky - no third, but 11 (which is the same as 4)... makes for B7susb9b5
E-(G#)-B-(D)-F-A-C, 1-5-b9-11-b13. Really messy. Esus(b9b13)
A-C-E-(G)-B-(D)-F, 1-b3-5-9-b13. Another messy one - Am(add9b13)

Thanks for the response. So most simply Cmaj13th. I really like the sound of that chord. I am going to go read those articles and work on some chord construction. If I have any trouble, in the words of Arnie, I'll be back. You should add quizzes to those pages where we have to construct chords or figure out chord names ourselves and then can link to the answers page - just a thought. You learn so much faster by doing.

Tom, great response as always.

Interestingly, one of my chord charts has this listed as Cmaj13, but two others don't. I think the inconsistency results from the dropped 5th (G.)

After reading your article on extended chords, I was wondering when it was appropriate to drop the 5th, as opposed to the root as explained in the article. Is this another one of those things that only jazz musicians do? :D

Jazz guitarists probably drop roots more often than rock/blues guitarists... but not because 'that's what they do in jazz' - it's because they use 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths frequently, so they get to know the various possibilities. Guitarists in other styles seldome use those big chords so they're unfamiliar - and they'll tend to build up from the root when they need 'em.

When you drop a root, you're pretty much trusting that the guitar isn't going to be the bottom end of things - that the bass or piano will fill it in. Approached in those terms, rock/blues guitarists could probably drop the root more than anybody... we've all heard the typical 1-5-1-5 bass lines :)

When you play a chord, the root-fifth is a perfect interval. In four-part harmony, you try to avoid extended use of 'parallel fifths', because it sounds boring after a while. The root-fifth support each other, filling out the chord, but there's not a lot gained harmonically. So one or the other is really disposable when you figure out what notes are really needed to capture the sound.

Most folks would keep the root and drop the fifth - most chord dictionaries like to show chords with roots in them. It certainly makes it easier to work backwards and figure out what a chord is... but keeping the fifth and dropping the root leads to almost the same sound.

For instance, try these:

5-5
5-5
5-0
x-x
x-x
6-6

The notes are Bb-C/G-E-A, a C13 voicing. They sound different... but not so different you couldn't use either one.

OK...this is from a COMPLETE newbies perspective but forgive me anyway....My knowledge of theory is about 20 pages from The Idiot's Guide to Music Theory :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

If you drop the root doesn't that change the whole foundation of the chord? From what I gather the base of all chords is their root. If you eliminate it then shouldn't the chord belong to another "family" of chords?

Thanks

Taken in isolation, yes - a single chord will be different if you drop the root.

If you're in progression, though, the name of the chord is actually determined by where it fits in the harmony - that's why the notes C-E-G-A are sometimes called C6, and sometimes Am7.

So if you had notes B-D-F, you'd say that's Bº. But if you had a progression that went:

C-Em7-Am9-Dm7-Bº-C

and you looked at the root movement I-iii-vi-ii-vii-I, you'd probably see it's the natural harmonic progression - except for the vii chord. That one should be V (G7, G-B-D-F).

So you could say Bº is a substitution for G7, or you could just recognize the chord as G7 without the root being played.

If you're in ensemble, it's likely somebody else is playing G - so the band is playing G7 even if you're not - that's essentially how symphonic pieces can be worked out to four-part harmonies, even though nobody's playing chords.

I really liked those articles. They were short, easy to understand and functional. You hardly ever play extended chords with all of the notes in them so I liked that you included the notes that are usually dropped and easy ways to form the chords on your own. I also had the realization that a Cmaj13th chord contains all of the notes in the major scale. If I completely master the extended and altered chords (along with majors/minors etc) is that all of the chords in Western music??
So if you had notes B-D-F, you'd say that's Bº. But if you had a progression that went:

C-Em7-Am9-Dm7-Bº-C

and you looked at the root movement I-iii-vi-ii-vii-I, you'd probably see it's the natural harmonic progression - except for the vii chord. That one should be V (G7, G-B-D-F).

So you could say Bº is a substitution for G7, or you could just recognize the chord as G7 without the root being played.

If you're in ensemble, it's likely somebody else is playing G - so the band is playing G7 even if you're not - that's essentially how symphonic pieces can be worked out to four-part harmonies, even though nobody's playing chords.
I just had this realization about diminished chords. I recently found a melody I wrote when I was 10. It was really simple and I decided to sit down at my keyboard and put some accompiament to it. Well, I was playing an A diminished with an F in the lead part and realized I was really just playing an F7. More and more I think of music in terms of harmony.

If I completely master the extended and altered chords (along with majors/minors etc) is that all of the chords in Western music??

Yes. It's actually a pretty small number.

Western music is expanding, though - there are other ways to harmonizie than just traditional tertian harmony (built on thirds). In the last 100 years there have been a lot of additions to harmonic theory, of which quartal harmony - building chords by fourths - is probably the most useful. So once you've learned all the traditional stuff there's still plenty more to occupy your fingers :)