Stealth Quartal Colors
BY ANDY ELLIS
CHOPS: Intermediate
THEORY: Advanced
LESSON OVERVIEW:
• Learn how to convert tertian
chords into quartal voicings
• Find ways to use quartal voicings in traditional progressions
• Juggle consonance and
dissonance
Fig. 1
E7
7fr
E11
For two months now, we’ve been inves- tigating quartal harmony and learning
how to use fourths as building blocks for
our chord voicings, rather than the traditional thirds. We’ve looked at three-, four-,
and five-note quartal forms across various
string sets and test-driven more than a
dozen grips up and down the fretboard.
In this lesson, we’ll conclude our exploration by looking at ways to integrate
quartal and tertian (third-based) harmony.
If you missed the previous lessons or want
to review the concepts we’ll be using in this
month’s installment, visit premierguitar.com
and look for “Exploring Quartal Harmony”
and “Crazy Quartal Comping” in the April
and May 2011 issues, respectively.
If you’ve played through the examples
in the last two lessons, you know that
quartal voicings have an edgy, restless
sound. They’re neither major nor minor,
and when played in a sequence, they don’t
suggest the kinds of tension and resolution
we’re used to hearing in, say, blues with
its;I-IV-V;progressions;or;mainstream;jazz
with;its;ii-V-I;cadences.;Because;of;this,
quartal voicings offer a degree of harmonic
freedom, and they’re particularly handy
when you want to accompany melodic
improvisation without having to follow
common chord patterns.
7fr
Fig. 2
1314
1114
™ ™
4
4
Em11
let ring
oe
oe
A
&
##
oeoe
oe
oe
oe
oe
oe
oe
oe
B‹ 7
B‹ 11
oe
¿
let ring
oeoe
™™
¿
1312
1112
™
™
0
2
8
0
2
3
7
2
5fr
A‹ 7
5fr
A‹ 11
˙
7
2
™
™
7
7
0
0
1311
1111
Fig. 3
A7
A11
™ ™
4
4
Bm11
oeoe
A/E
E
&
###
oe
oe
˙
oe
oe
oe
oe
oeoe
oe
™™
1113
1123
C9
C11
˙
™
™
let ring
¿
let ring
oe
¿ let ring oe
¿
7
6
7
7
9
9
™
™
7
7
11
11
7
0
0
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