D13 or just plain ol' D?

I would say it's just a D. Unless I've miscounted, which is very possible, you need a "B" for an add13, don't you? And your chord is still D, F#, and A, right?

It's a plain old D in a different voicing. The 13th in D is actually a B note:

D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A-B

For a Dadd13 you'd want something like this:

2-2-0-2-3-2

or

2-0-0-2-0-2

D13 requires a b7, as you noted, which is C. Since full 13th chords have seven notes in them, and you've only got 6 strings, you need to drop one or more notes from the chord.... which gives you lots of possible voicings, especially for chords like D that can incorporate open strings.

The reason I asked was, I was working out the intro to "Substitute" by the Who.......I used the D with the extra A note, then plain D, A, G and back to D - wasn't sure how to write it down - as you say, seems like a different voicing to me........but how would I wrrite it down to differentiate between the two voicings.......

Townshend's a master at alternate voicings for chords.

Yeah, it sometimes gets annoying even when learning songs, you know how to play the chord in the a song but you cant figure the voicing out to get the tone. I remember i had trouble with that a while ago. Good luck.

You don't differentiate between chord voicings by the chord name - a D is a D, and it's left up to the performer to choose which one to apply.

If you want the music with voicings to be accuarately reproduced, you'd use either standard notation or TAB. Chord progressions are just that - chord progressions - and leave lots of room for interpretation.

Thanks Noteboat, Tim - oh and it was my mistake, I miscounted!!!

Vic, you must have really big hands. I can barely play the regular D with F# in the bass (thumb) and I use the baseball bat grip and that. Doesn't feel good on my SG's neck I can only play the regular D with the A on the 1st string if I use alternate fingering (index=3rd string, middle=2nd string, pinky=1st string). Even if I got a guitar with a small neck your original chord would never be done with my hand. So you have a really small neck on that guitar? I just experimented with those chords and they aren't “Dennis friendly.”

I do have large hands (I'd look silly with little ones as I'm 6'5" in my socks) - if I put my little finger on the nut, my thumb will stretch to almost the 9th fret. That pesky thumb keeps wandering a round to the top of the neck all the time...might as well put it to use! I also use it on some barre chords, especially F and Bb - I find it easier for quick changes.

As far as i can tell it's a pretty standard neck....Encore EA255.

As my grandad used to say, I'd have been a big lad if they hadn't turned up so much for feet.........

At 6'2" you'd figure I'd be able to use the thumb. Not in the cards for me. I think that would be nice to have the hands to be able to use the thumb on root-6 barre chords. That way the index finger only barres 2 strings which means a great deal less hand strength needed. Hey, maybe I could do it on a mandolin! Hmm, those things have wicked string tension so maybe a banjo…