Chords in fourths - Quartal harmony - So

what chord
To enrich and modernize the harmonization of a piece it is common to use
fourth chords. They can replace some original chords to bring more melodic freedom
into improvisation and more tension in harmony. Since the late 1950s, harmony in
fourths has played a very important role in the development of modern jazz.
Musicians and composers have used a lot the quartal harmony. Among them, the great
American pianist McCoy Tyner, who is a master in the art of playing quartal chords.
Mike Stern, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Bill Evans and Kurt Rosewinkel have
also used this technique. In this lesson we will see how to build chords in fourths, how
to harmonize the major scale with and how to use them in comping.

How to built chords in fourths ?

Basically, chords are built by stacking thirds. If you don't master this fundamental
theoretical element, it is therefore preferable to go to see the lesson about how to
harmonize the major scale in thirds

What's a fourth interval ?

An interval is the distance between two notes. There are two kinds of fourth intervals :

A perfect fourth (4) is built with five semitones, it is either considered major or
minor. For example, D is 5 semitones away from G. This is a perfect fourth
interval.
An augmented fourth (aug4) is constructed with 6 semitones. Example with F
and B.

What's a fourth chord ?

A fourth chord, also called quartal chord, is a chord built with fourth intervals. There
can be three types of fourths chords :

Built by stacking 2 perfect fourths (4 + 4). This is the basic fourth chord.
Built by stacking 1 perfect fourth and an augmented fourth (4 + aug4).
Built by stacking an augmented fourth and a perfect fourth (aug4 + 4) .

Basic fourth chords - Voicings - Guitar positions and

inversions
Building a three-note chord built in fourths in its pure form is quite easy.
Starting from the fundamental, you just have to stack notes separated by intervals of
perfect fourths. Example with C.

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 C (the fundamental)
F (11) is the fourth of C (5 semitones away from C).
Bb (M7) is the fourth of F (5 semitones away from F).

By stacking these three notes, we obtain a three-note chord built in fourths C-F-Bb.

image: http://www.jazz-guitar-licks.com/medias/images/fourth-chord-three-notes-2.jpg

Here are the fourth chord voicings and their respective guitar diagrams with basses on
6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd strings.

Fourth chord (root position) 1 11 (4) b7

1st inversion 11 (4) b7 1
2nd inversion b7 1 11 (4)

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 6th string - Root in the bass

image: http://www.jazz-guitar-licks.com/medias/images/fourth-chord-bass-on-6-string-
.jpg

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 6th string - 4th in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 6th string - b7 in the bass

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Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 5th string - Root in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 5th string - 4th in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 5th string - b7 in the bass

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Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 4th string - Root in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 4th string - 4th in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 4th string - b7 in the bass

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Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 3rd string - Root in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 3rd string - 4th in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 3rd string - Root in the bass

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Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 3rd string - 4th in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - Bass on 3rd string - b7 in the bass

Harmonizing the major scale in diatonic fourths

All the chords from the harmonized major scale are made up of perfect fourths (4th +
4th). Except for the I and IV degrees, because of the harmonization, are respectively
built with 4th + aug4th and aug4th + 4th.

That implies 8 other fourth chord positions that all have two possible inversions:

Fourths chords made up of 4th + aug4th

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These four positions are related to the degree I of the major scale. They are built by
stacking a perfect fourth and an augmented fourth.

Fourth chord (perfect 4th + augmented 4th) 1 4 (11) 7

1st inversion 4 (11) 7 1
2nd inversion 7 1 4 (11)

image: http://www.jazz-guitar-licks.com/medias/images/fourth-chord-4-aug4.jpg

Fourth chord guitar diagram - 4th + aug4th - Bass on 6th string - Root in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - 4th + aug4th - Bass on 5th string - Root in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - 4th + aug4th - Bass on 4th string - Root in the bass

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Fourth chord guitar diagram - 4th + aug4th - Bass on 3rd string - Root in the bass

Fourths chords made up of aug4th + 4th

The four following guitar diagrams are related to the degree IV of the major scale. They
are built by stacking an augmented fourth and a perfect fourth.

Fourth chord (augmented 4th + perfect 4th ) 1 #4 (#11) 7

1st inversion #4 (#11) 7 1
2nd inversion 7 1 #4 (#11)

Fourth chord guitar diagram - aug4th + 4th - Bass on 6th string - Root in the bass

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Fourth chord guitar diagram - aug4th + 4th - Bass on 5th string - Root in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - aug4th + 4th - Bass on 4th string - Root in the bass

Fourth chord guitar diagram - aug4th + 4th - Bass on 3rd string - Root in the bass

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Quartal harmony yields a somewhat harmonically ambiguous sound, because the
voices have a less direct relationship to the root of the chord. It is difficult to indentify
a tonal center with chords built in fourths. There can be more than one chord quality
for a fourth chord.

C major scale harmonized in fourths (3 notes)

Here are some examples that show you how to play the C major scale harmonized in
fourths on the guitar.

Example 1 : Quartal harmony of C major scale starting from the I degree.

Example 2 : Quartal harmony of C major scale on strings 6,5 and 4.

This example starts from the V degree of the major scale.

Example 3 : Quartal harmony of C major scale on strings 5,4 and 3.

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Example 4 : Quartal harmony of C major scale on strings 4, 3 and 2.

This one starts from the III degree.

Example 5 : Quartal harmony of C major scale on strings 3,2 and 1.

This example starts from the V degree.

Adding a supplementary fourth | Four-note chords in

fourths
Adding another fourth in addition to the three-note chords previously seen will help
you to create more interesting chords. The added tone forms an interval of a tenth
with the bass note. It can be considered as a redoubled third (We call a redoubled
interval, a simple interval carried in its octave). This note can be b10 or 10 (major or
minor third) depending on the harmonization.

Example 1 : Quartal harmonisation of the C major scale with four-note chords on

strings 6, 5, 4 and 3.

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Example 3 : Four-note chords on strings 5, 4, 3 and 2.

Example 4 : Chords on strings 4, 3, 2 and 1.

Adding a third - So what chord

The "so what chord" is a modern sounding voicing often used as an alternative to
quartal voicings. It consists of a fourth chord (in its pure form) and a major third
added on the top of the chord. In other words, three perfect fourths and a major third
are stacked. The origin of its name would be due to its use by Bill Evans in the head of
"So what" by Miles Davis.

Here is an illustration of the "so what" chord. This one can be named Em7add11.

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Em7add11 E A D G B
Intervals 1 11 (4) b7 b3 5

"So what" guitar chord diagram

Bar at the 7th fret with your first finger, put your second finger on the 2nd string at the
9th fret and you get the Em7add11 chord.

The "So what chord" is identical to the standard tuning of the five lowest strings of the
guitar. (E-A-D-G-B). Some teachers and music methods named this chord m11
but theoretically m11 chords must contain a 9. That is not the case here, so what chords
are made up of 1, 4, b7, b3 and 11. It is preferable to name them m7add11.

So What - Miles Davis - Guitar transcription

So what, by Miles Davis, from the best selling jazz album of all times (Kind of blue) is
surely one of the most popular modal jazz tunes. It is an AABA form centered around
the D dorian mode and modulating from Dm to Ebm. Chord progression consists of 16
bars of Dm7, 8 bars of Ebm7, and 8 bars of Dm7. It is fairly simple to play, to
understand because there are no harmonic progressions, this is the principle of modal
tunes.

First, the theme is played by the bass and then the two "So what chords" are played by
the pianist (Bill Evans). Once you have mastered this, you have to play the same lines
and chords a half-step up (Ebm). This way Em7add11 becomes Fm7add11 and
Dm7add11 becomes Ebm7add11.

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Impressions - John Coltrane -

McCoy Tyner piano comping arranged for guitar

There are other examples of "So what chords" in "Impressions" by John Coltrane.
McCoy Tyner was fond of this quartal harmonization. The chord progression is the
same as "So what" (16 bars of Dm7, 8 bars of Em7, and 8 bars of Dm7). There are
many ideas of comping to pick up, so listen carefully and try to transcribe them. For the
time, here are three examples using "So what chords" taking from "Impressions".

Example # 1 :

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Example # 2 : A Fmaj7 is added between Dm7add11 and Em7add11. You can visit this
page to see how to play major seventh chords on the guitar.

Example # 3 : Here are the chords of the B section.

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