In this advanced jazz guitar class, 4-part-4th, or quartal-based, chords and harmonies will be examined in detail.  This interesting sound, which draws on harmonies explored by early twentieth century classical composers such as Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky, was introduced to the jazz world in the 1960s by such musicians as Miles Davis, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, and McCoy Tyner, and has ever since been an important part of the vocabulary of modern jazz players.  A new generation of jazz musicians including guitarists such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Monder, Jonathan Kreisberg, Lage Lund, and many others, have begun to explore even more of the possibilities with these exciting sounds and are creating a new harmonic vocabulary with the 4-part-4th chords as a central component.

The 4-part-4th sound was touched upon briefly in part 3 of my Modern Jazz Guitar series, but now we will delve into that sound in detail, leaving no stone unturned (or chord un-played).  This new class provides a logical, systematic step-by-step approach for finding the 4-part-4th harmonies derived from the major and melodic minor scales using guitar-friendly drop 2 and drop 3 voicings.  Numerous musical examples are demonstrated on the video as well as written out in traditional notation and chord grid form, but the material has been designed to be open-ended enough that you will be encouraged to find your own path and work toward developing your unique musical voice.

Advanced Jazz Guitar Harmony, 4-part-4ths, covers:

• explanation of the difference between tertian and quartal harmony, and discussion of the modal approach versus the functional approach to harmony
• explanation and exploration of 3-part-4th chords, usually called suspended triads, including harmonization of the major scale with “sus chords.”
• brief review of major and melodic minor scale seventh chord harmony, with example voicings in close root position
• explanation of the term 4-part-4th and its relation to suspended seventh chords, with examples applied to the major and melodic minor scales with close position voicings
• brief review of the terms “drop 2” and “drop 3” with example chord voicings using traditional seventh chords
• the “chord scale exercise” which is a logical and musical presentation of drop 2 and drop 3 voicings by inversion and string set, using the 4-part-4th chords diatonic to both the major scale and the melodic minor scale, with subtitles on the video that match each exercise to the written example
• additional methods for developing mastery of the above voicings including inversions and diatonic cycles (including a brief review of the diatonic cycle concept)
• examples of using 4-part-4ths for comping on II V I chord progressions, including varying degrees of “in” and “out” sounds, and melodic minor scale harmonies
• etude/chord-melody harmonization combining all of the 4-part-4th concepts in a musical context, using the standard tune “Invitation”
• running time: 128 minutes
• includes 22 pages of written examples and exercises