If you spend enough time listening to and studying jazz, you’ll eventually encounter quartal harmony. Quartal harmony sounds ambiguous, consonant, and more “open” because the constituent intervals within the chords are perfect fourths, not thirds, like in traditional tertiary harmony.
Jazz guitarists and pianists often use quartal harmony to infuse their chord progressions with ambiguity and openness. Piano players like McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Bill Evans frequently used quartal harmonies in their playing.
In this article, we’ll learn how to build quartal chords and explore why they sound the way they do. We’ll also check out how to easily find quartal voicings on guitar. By the end, you’ll be playing quartal voicings like Jim Hall!
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Table of Contents
Quartal Harmony vs Tertiary Harmony
When using quartal harmony, you build chords by stacking fourths instead of stacking thirds.
To understand what this looks like (and sounds like), we need to compare quartal and tertiary harmony. To do this, we’ll compare a C major scale harmonized in thirds to a C major scale harmonized in fourths.
Tertiary Harmony Explained
A C major scale is spelled C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. We can assign each scale degree a number. C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, etc.
- C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
- 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-1
Tertiary harmony is based on thirds, so if we want to build a chord using that type of harmony, we have to isolate the 1, 3, 5, and 7.
- C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
- 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-1
When we stack thirds from C, we get a Cmaj7 chord in close root position.
- Close position means each note is as sequentially close as possible to the next note (that is, one-third away from the next note in root position and no more than a fourth when inverted).
- Root position means the chord is not inverted—you have the root note on the bottom, followed by a third, then a fifth, then a seventh (however, these chord tones can be in any order—ask a guitarist).
- 7th – B
- 5th – G
- 3rd – E
- Rt – C
C to E is a major third, E to G is a minor third, and G to B is a major third.
When we stack thirds on all the other notes in the C major scale, we find all the chords in the major key of C, harmonized in close root position:
If you need a full refresher on how chords are built, check out this article on 7th chords.
Quartal Harmony Explained
Let’s follow the same process but change our basic interval from a third to a fourth. We’ll need two octaves of C because four stacked fourths go beyond the first octave.
- C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
- 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-1-2-3-4-5-6-7
We find an open root position Cmaj7sus4(no 5th), but that is obnoxious to read, so we’ll stick with Cmaj7.
- Open-position chords are chords with notes that span more than an octave.
Stacking fourths still gives us many of the same chord tones as a tertiary Cmaj7 chord. However, instead of a major third between the root C and E, we have a perfect fourth instead. The major third is still present in the chord; however, now it is the top voice:
- 3rd – E
- 7th – B
- 4th – F
- Rt – C
As you see, three notes out of four are still the same! We still have a root, a third, and a seventh, but we lose the fifth and replace it with a fourth.
In other words, the basic chord qualities (major and minor chords, i.e., dominant chords, minor seventh chords, and major seventh chords) are still intact. Still, the chord voicings are way more open-sounding and ambiguous when we swap the fifth for the fourth.
The only chord in the diatonic series that loses a bit of its identity is the viiø chord (B-7b5 in the key of C), because we never end of playing the fifth when using these particular quartal chords.
Here is the C major scale harmonized as “fourth chords:”
We are still using the basic 7th chord names for these quartal chords. In jazz, the choice to use a quartal chord over a tertiary chord isn’t always expressly written, and, as we just discussed, the core elements of the chord (rt, 3rd, and 7th) are still present.
You could choose to label them more accurately, i.e.:
- Cmaj7sus4(no5th) instead of Cmaj7
- D-7sus4(no5th) instead of D-7
But that quickly becomes impractical and horrendous to look at!
You could refer to the minor chords as min11 chords, but with these voicings, the 11 is technically a 4 because it’s within an octave of the root. Also, the min11 implies a natural 9, which isn’t diatonic for all minor chords in the key.
Simply put, it’s easier just to use quartal voicings but stick to the tertiary labels.
Comparing Tertiary and Quartal Chord Structures Side By Side
Below is a Cmaj7 in close root position next to an open quartal voicing for Cmaj7 that I’ve labeled “Cmaj7.”
The quartal chord contains all the notes that are relevant to a C major seventh chord—it contains the root note C, the major third E, and the major seventh B. It replaces the perfect fifth G with a perfect fourth F.
Because of the F, it has a more ambiguous sound than its close root position counterpart. Also, because this chord is built using perfect fourth intervals, it sounds more open than the chord built on thirds.
How To Convert Tertiary Chords to Quartal Chords (Quartal Harmony Hack)
Guitar players may notice that these quartal voicings are very close to common guitar chord voicings.
The guitar is tuned in fourths (except for that pesky G-B string relationship), so root position seventh chords voiced on adjacent strings stack with the root as the lowest voice, the fifth as the second lowest voice, the seventh as the second highest voice, and the third as the highest voice.
This is remarkably close to our quartal chord for Cmaj7. In fact, the only difference is that the standard guitar voicing has the G instead of the F. Whether you play a standard voicing or a quartal voicings depends on two notes!
Cmaj7 or I Chord
Standard Guitar Chord Voicing for Cmaj7:
- 3rd – E
- 7th -B
- 5th – G
- Rt. – C
Quartal Voicing for Cmaj7:
- 3rd – E
- 7th – B
- 4th – F
- Rt. – C
To find quartal harmonies for major chords, minor chords, and other chords, take this guitar voicing and replace the chord’s 5th with its 4th. Let’s find the quartal chords for the other chords in the key of C.
D-7 or ii Chord
Standard Guitar Voicing for D-7:
- 3rd – F
- 7th – C
- 5th – A
- Rt. – D
Quartal Chord Voicing for D-7:
- 3rd – F
- 7th – C
- 4th – G
- Rt. – D
E-7 or iii Chord
Standard Guitar Voicing for E-7:
- 3rd – G
- 7th – D
- 5th – B
- Rt. – E
Quartal Chord Voicing for E-7:
- 3rd – G
- 7th – D
- 4th – A
- Rt. – E
Fmaj7 or IV Chord
Standard Guitar Voicing for Fmaj7:
- 3rd – A
- 7th – E
- 5th – C
- Rt. – F
Quartal Chord Voicing for Fmaj7:
- 3rd – A
- 7th – E
- +4th – B
- Rt. – F
Notice, we need to use an augmented fourth when harmonizing a IV chord to keep all the notes in the key signature. An augmented fourth from F is a B. A perfect fourth would be a Bb. This B natural helps identify this as the IV chord, which corresponds to the Lydian mode.
Check out this article for more on the Lydian mode specifically, or this one for more info on the seven musical modes.
BEFORE YOU CONTINUE...
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G7 or V Chord (Dominant Chord)
Standard Guitar Voicing for G7:
- 3rd – B
- 7th – F
- 5th – D
- Rt. – G
Quartal Chord Voicing for G7:
- 3rd – B
- 7th – F
- 4th – C
- Rt. – G
A-7 or vi Chord
Standard Guitar Voicing for A-7:
- 3rd – C
- 7th – G
- 5th – E
- Rt. – A
Quartal Chord Voicing for A-7:
- 3rd – C
- 7th – G
- 4th – D
- Rt. – A
B-7b5 or viiø Chord
Standard Guitar Voicing for B-7b5:
- 3rd – D
- 7th – A
- b5th – F
- Rt. – B
Quartal Chord Voicing for B-7b5 (with no 5!):
- 3rd – D
- 7th – A
- 4th – E
- Rt. – B
I can’t really justify calling this a “B-7b5” when there isn’t a 5th to be flattened. That’s why I used a more technically correct (if more laborious) name in the picture: B-7sus4(no5). But let’s not get hung up on the details!
For more jazz guitar chords, check out 20 essential jazz guitar chords. For piano players, check out 15 essential jazz piano chords.
Harmonizing Minor Scales With Quartal Harmony
You aren’t stuck with the major scale, you can also harmonize diatonic modes like the dorian scale, or even non-diatonic scales like the harmonic minor scale or melodic minor scale using quartal harmony. As long as you follow the scale degrees, you’ll be able to build quartal harmonies out of any scale!
Here is the C melodic minor scale harmonized using quartal harmony:
Notice the chord names are in quotes because these names aren’t technically correct, but, remember, it’s easier to think of them as quartal versions of these chords, where we replace the 5th with a 4th.
Using Quartal Harmony in A Chord Progression
You can use quartal harmony to bring that open, ambiguous quartal sound to any chord progression. This works really well when playing solo piano or guitar because you have more direct control over the harmonic environment.
However, in jazz, quartal harmony really shines on modal tunes. Comping over minor modal tunes using quartal harmony is satisfying and sounds great! Just ask Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, or Chick Corea!
A great example of this is the minor modal tune “Impressions” (which is harmonically identical to the Miles Davis tune “So What”). This tune is written in the Dorian mode.
The D-11 and Eb-11 chords already imply quartal harmony. However, since the tune is modal, you can pull from all the chords built from the Eb Dorian and D Dorian scale. To make it easier, you can simply think Db major and C major keys.
Instead of sitting on one chord, you can create harmonic interest and movement by playing through the quartal voicings in these modes.
In the image below, the overall harmony is a D-11, but we are going to choose quartal chords from the D Dorian to create movement and interest over the static tonality of D-11. We’re starting from the second A section so we can move right into Eb-11 after the first 8 bars.
Note the chord names written above the fretboard diagrams are to help you find the appropriate scale tone for each chord. The chord names do not perfectly reflect the quartal harmony present in the diagrams or the notation!
Let’s move to the Eb-11 section! The same deal goes for these next 8 bars. The chord names above the fretboard diagrams represent the scale tones in the Key of Db (Eb Dorian scale), not the actual quartal harmonies represented in the diagrams or present in the notation.
Let’s check out the whole thing in context!
Listen to the quartal harmonies used by McCoy Tyner in Impressions:
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