Quartal Harmony (Chords in Fourths)
Quartal Harmony for Guitar
Useful chords for modal situations
Most chords are built in thirds. This is the way that diatonic harmony works.
But if you'd like to be adventurous, there are other ways to construct chords.
One useful chord voicing involves using fourths to build chords.
The resulting chords sound airy and unresolved. They are particularly useful in modal music.
Constructed in this fashion, chords in fourths tend to work against the conventions of harmony. Rather than creating movement that we associate with typical chords, they tend to have a floating and ambiguous sound.
These chords are also useful for creating large harmonies from an entire scale system.
For instance, if you're playing a groove in a D Dorian mode, you can likely use any of these voicings over the entire vamp.
What will be presented here
We'll take a look at chords built in fourths using the strings 123, which would be quite useful for decorating improvisational riffs and commanding attention. We'll also look at the same voicings on strings 234, which would be quite nice for an accompaniment. And 345, which may also work for an accompaniment. We'll exclude strings 456, as in this register the chords may sound muddy and have little practical use.
Diatonic Voicings for C Major and Its Modes
Strings 1, 2 and 3
Useful for improvisation.
Strings 2, 3 and 4
Useful for accompaniment, also sometimes in improvisation.
Strings 3, 4 and 5
Useful for accompaniment.
Key Tasks
- Learn the quartal chords above in C.
- Apply the chords to vamps in other C-related modes, such as D Dorian or E Phrygian.
