Chord confusion.

[mysticguitar]

It seems to me that when Brad Carton plays and builds chords he keeps all the previous notes and adds what ever note he's building on next. For instance if he plays a C 13, then he plays C,E,G,Bb,D,A, he's keeping the 9th note, the D, when he adds the 13, the A.
But my chord dictionary and some truefire resources show me different. They show a C13 chord with the 9th note eliminated and the 13th note is simply added to the C dominate chord, so it's C,E,G,Bb,A. Howard Morgan demonstrates that if the 9 is added to the 13th chord then the chord is called C 13 add 9.
Is there some knowledgable person that can claify this for me?

[rjbasque]

In general chords are built by stacking thirds. Root-3rd-5th(3rd of the 3rd) gives the major chord. So in theory a 13th chord would include 1-3-5-7-9-11-13 of the parent root. And in many cases this is how they are played on piano. However on guitar we're limited to 6 strings and 4 fingers, so some compromises have to be made. So typically only the highest extension note (above the 7th) is played, which would technically be an 7 ADD 13 chord, but the essence of the sound is there. As has been noted in many lessons the 5th can easily be dropped as it doesn't add any "color" to the chord. So many will show a 13 chord as 1-3-7-13.

I'm not sure how to address the specific Howard Morgan question. Unless the 9th note he is adding is above the 13 note.

[Rgalvez]

What RJ said.
These cool lessons from Guitar Noise help clarifiy the idea of what notes should be kept or not in externded and altered chords:

http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/extended-chords/

http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/altered-states/

[mysticguitar]

In general chords are built by stacking thirds. Root-3rd-5th(3rd of the 3rd) gives the major chord. So in theory a 13th chord would include 1-3-5-7-9-11-13 of the parent root. And in many cases this is how they are played on piano. However on guitar we're limited to 6 strings and 4 fingers, so some compromises have to be made. So typically only the highest extension note (above the 7th) is played, which would technically be an 7 ADD 13 chord, but the essence of the sound is there. As has been noted in many lessons the 5th can easily be dropped as it doesn't add any "color" to the chord. So many will show a 13 chord as 1-3-7-13.

I'm not sure how to address the specific Howard Morgan question. Unless the 9th note he is adding is above the 13 note.

Thanks rjbasque,
I was having a real problem trying to play that 13th chord using 3-5-7-9-11 and 13,

[mysticguitar]

What RJ said.
These cool lessons from Guitar Noise help clarifiy the idea of what notes should be kept or not in externded and altered chords:

http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/extended-chords/

http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/altered-states/

Thanks Rgalvez,
I read it once and I'll read it as many times as it takes.