Dominant 13th #11
13#11
0 - 4 - 7 - 10 - 14 - 18 - 21Dom13 + augmented 11th
About Dominant 13th #11
A dominant thirteenth sharp eleven chord is the complete Lydian dominant — in C that is C, E, G, B♭, D, F♯ and A, written C13♯11. Seven notes: every degree of the scale it comes from, stacked in thirds, with nothing left out at all.
Notes and formula
The formula is 1 – 3 – 5 – ♭7 – 9 – ♯11 – 13, or 0 – 4 – 7 – 10 – 14 – 18 – 21 in semitones. It is the only chord in the catalogue that contains an entire seven-note scale.
That completeness is why it is never played as written. Every voicing is a selection, and the symbol is an instruction about which scale to draw from rather than which notes to hold.
What is actually played
Four notes, usually: the third, the seventh, the raised eleventh and the thirteenth — E, B♭, F♯ and A over a C bass. The root goes to the bass player, the fifth and the ninth to whoever has room.
That four-note core is the sound. Adding the missing notes makes the chord heavier without making it clearer, which is the general rule for anything above a ninth.
How to play it
On guitar even the four-note core is a squeeze, so players state three of it and leave the fourth to someone else: x–3–2–3–x–2 gives C–E–B♭–F♯ and drops the thirteenth, while 8–x–8–9–10–x gives C–B♭–E–A and drops the raised eleventh. Which note goes depends on what the rest of the band is holding.
On piano the standard voicing is C low, then E–A–D–F♯, which gives third, thirteenth, ninth and raised eleventh in a spread the hand can hold.
Where you hear it
Fusion and modern big-band writing treat it as an ordinary dominant. Film scoring uses it wherever a dominant needs to sound expansive rather than urgent.
In arranging it is the natural chord for the flattened seventh degree of a major key, where every one of its altered notes is diatonic to the key it came from.
Against C13 and C9♯11
C13 has a natural eleventh implied and simply omits it. C9♯11 has the raised eleventh but no thirteenth. This chord has both, which is why it is the fullest dominant in ordinary use.
All three resolve identically. The choice is texture and how much of the scale the arranger wants stated.
Scales that contain it
Lydian dominant, note for note — the chord is that scale and nothing else.
This is the cleanest chord-scale correspondence in the catalogue: there is no note in the scale that is not in the chord, and no choice for a soloist to make beyond phrasing.
Frequently asked questions
What notes are in a C13♯11 chord?
C, E, G, B♭, D, F♯ and A — all seven. In practice players hold four: the third, seventh, raised eleventh and thirteenth.
Can a guitar play it?
Not in full. Six strings cannot state seven notes, so guitarists play the four-note core and leave the rest to the bass and the rest of the band.
Which scale goes with it?
Lydian dominant, exactly. The chord contains every note of that scale, which makes it the only chord here with no scale choice at all.