Arpeggio quality

13

The dominant thirteenth is the fullest dominant sound: a seventh, a ninth and a thirteenth stacked over the major triad. The thirteenth is the sixth degree an octave up, so the chord gains a bright, horn-like crown while the tritone between the third and seventh keeps it driving toward the tonic. Big bands end phrases on it, jazz guitarists use it as a rich V chord, and it is one of the first places players learn to drop the fifth to make room. It implies the mixolydian sound with a natural sixth. Listen for the thirteenth singing above the tritone — beauty over tension.