LESSONS > RHYTHM & GROOVES
Crazy Quartal Comping
BY ANDY ELLIS
IMPROVE YOUR:
• Grasp of quartal harmony
• Skill with 3-, 4-, and
5-note voicings
• Ability to use quartal voicings
in the keys of E and A
We began investigating quartal har- mony—voicings constructed from
stacked fourths, rather than thirds—in
last month’s column (“Exploring Quartal
Harmony,” April 2011 PG). It was the first
of a three-part series, and this month we’ll
be building on what we covered previously. If you missed that introduction or want
a quick refresher, check out the lesson at
premierguitar.com.
So far, we’ve played three-note quartal
voicings on string sets 3–2– 1 and 4–3– 2. In
this lesson, we’ll map out three-note forms on
the lower string sets and then test-drive larger
four- and five-note quartal voicings. Ready?
In Fig. 1, we harmonize E Mixolydian
(E–F#–G#–A–B–C#–D) in fourths along
string set 5–4– 3. For starters, slowly play the
middle note in each voicing by itself, ascend-
ing on the 4th string from E, 2nd fret, to
E on the 14th fret. This one-octave crawl
establishes E Mixolydian as our parent tonal-
ity, which you can think of as a note pool or
construction kit for our quartal voicings.
Fig. 1
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Fig. 2
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Fig. 3
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Click here to hear sound clips
of these examples
70 PREMIER GUITAR MAY 2011
premierguitar.com
