Deciphering Guitar Theory.

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Using Theory to Enhance your Guitar Playing

Quartal Harmony
Quartal harmony consists of chords built of stacked fourth intervals rather than the more
typical stacked thirds of tertian harmony.

Just like tertian harmony, however, quartal harmony can be triadic (containing only
three notes), or can include extensions, creating chords with four or more notes

It can also be diatonic constructed using notes taken from a single key or mode or
chromatic constructed using a combination of fourth intervals not found in any single
key or mode.

As with diatonic thirds used in tertian harmony, which can be either major or minor
depending on the intervals of the scale or mode used to construct the chords, the fourth
intervals of diatonic quartal harmony can be perfect, diminished or augmented
depending on the scale or mode from which they are taken.

In the following example, a quartal chord built on the tonic of B flat major contains 2
perfect fourth intervals and an augmented fourth between the notes E flat and A, the
tritone of the key.

And in this example, a quartal chord is constructed on the subdominant of the A

melodic minor scale. The resulting chord contains 2 augmented fourth intervals and a
diminished fourth

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When constructing chromatic quartal chords, the type of fourth intervals used is entirely
at the composers discretion. For example, here, the resulting quartal chord contains
notes not found in any single diatonic key or mode

Creating Diatonic Quartal Chords

As with diatonic tertian chords, diatonic quartal chords can be formed by harmonising a
scale or mode

The following chord shapes have their root notes on the A string and are built on each
degree of a B flat major scale.

Because quartal chords lack the common tertian structure of much harmony there is
some ambiguity in their sound. This means that each of these chords potentially has four
different root notes depending on the context in which its used.

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For example, if the B flat note of the first quartal shape is taken as the chords root note,
it produces a B flat major 11 sound

and if the E flat note is taken as the root note, it produces an E flat major 7 sus 4 sound.

Often, however, the root note is not contained in the quartal chord shape and is instead
contained in another part, perhaps played by another instrument. In these instances, the
notes of the quartal chord will typically form extensions.

In this example, the first B flat major quartal chord shape is used over an F root note
producing an F13 sound.

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The harmonic ambiguity of quartal chords means composers typically use them either
as a decoration of tradition tertian chord progressions or as the sole basis for a pieces
harmonic palette.

Decorating Tertian Progressions:

The following I IV V I progression in B flat major uses familiar seventh chord

shapes

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and here, the progression has been embellished using some of the quartal chords from
the harmonised B flat major scale, shown earlier.

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As we saw previously, because of the harmonic ambiguity of quartal harmony, this
shape

can be used over both chord I and chord V; the notes of this shape produce the 9th and
13th extensions of both chords.

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Quartal Harmony as a Works Basis:

The following excerpt is based on four different quartal chords

which substitute for two tertian chords: F7 and E flat 7.

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Rather than using the 2nd and 4th quartal chord shapes as indicated, however,

the top notes of the 1st and 3rd chords are repeated while the 2nd and 4th chords are
played.

The repeated top notes of the 1st and 3rd chords, double notes already present in the 2nd
and 4th chords.

The combined notes of the quartal chords produce 11th and 13th extensions over both
dominant seventh chords

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