Quartal Harmony

HEY GMC!

Welcome to my new lesson where we take a look at Quartal Harmony. A very colourful way of stacking diatonic 4ths to build chord shapes. These were made hugely popular by the jazz piano legend 'Bill Evans' when he joined Miles Davis on his epic modal jazz album 'Kind of Blue'

This approach to chord voicing is very colourful and can be used to add extended chord sounds over an otherwise static vamp. Like in this lesson where the harmony is a simple D minor (dorian) vamp these quartal voicings add colour and movement in what would otherwise be a very static sounding chord section.

Another great use for these is to create melodic movements with them, the top note is what listeners gravitate to but the overall chord effect can also be very reminiscent of block chord horn parts.

This system for building chords is great for composing but even more fun to add into your improvisation repertoire so have fun with them.

KEY: D DORIAN
TIME: 4/4
TEMPO: 130BPM

GEAR;

YAMAHA AEX 500
BIAS AMP - CLEAN ROLAND JAZZ CHORUS STYLE AMP

ENJOY!