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Guitar Tutorial

Quartal Harmony

Instructor: Tom Quayle
Topic: Chords
Style: Fusion
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  • Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Fusion

    Excerpt: Hey there Guys! Welcome to this month's tutorial. This time we'll be looking at a form of harmony known as Quartal Harmony. Before we get into that though lets have a look at what normal harmony is in a Western context. In the western world we build harmony (chords and chord progressions) to sound functional. This, in basic terms, means that our chord pro...

    Media Length: 3:17

  • Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Fusion

    Excerpt: In this video I'll try to show you the difference in sound between tertiary harmony (the chords you already know) and quartal harmony. Remember that we're not dealing with functional harmony anymore so we can play any of the quartal chords from the key and their function is only changed by what the bass player plays. Therefore you'll hear me play many more ...

    Media Length: 1:56

  • Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Fusion

    Excerpt: Okay, so here we'll start to learn the construction of these quartal shapes. In the video I outline each shape for you using note names on the fretboard. If you don't know your note names don't fear! The shapes are all represented in the TAB below so just use that. There are 7 shapes here starting on the note C on the A string with a doubled 8th chords whic...

    Media Length: 4:16

  • Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Fusion

    Excerpt: Here's the shapes for C dorian on the top 4 strings. Work through them in the same way without worrying about the Roman numerals over each shape. Remember all of these shapes are basically a C dorian scale harmonised in 4th's. These shapes start from the 3rd fret on the D string which is the note F. However, they still outline a C Dorian scale for our purpo...

    Media Length: 2:44

  • Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Fusion

    Excerpt: Right - now the important bit! You've learnt the shapes but how do you use them? Well, you'll have noticed that each quartal voicing or shape has a Roman Numeral above it. These refer to one of the seven modes built from a major scale. The modes run in the following sequence:- I = Major (Ionian) II = Dorian III = Phrygian IV = Lydian V = Mixolydian V...

    Media Length: 2:33

  • Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Fusion

    Excerpt: Here's two grooves for you, both played over a static C bass pedal. The first groove starts with the IV chord on the note C. I play all the other quartal voicings in relation to this one using the sequence outlined in the tutorial giving me a C lydian groove. On the second groove I play the II chord from C giving me a C dorian sound again. You can distincly...

    Media Length: 1:28

  • Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Intermediate Topic: Chords Style: Fusion

    Excerpt: Here's the backing track for the tutorial. It's a C pedal which you can use to play any set of quartal chords to outline a particular mode as I did in my examples video. Try making C dorian by starting on the II chord at the note C, C Phrygian by starting on the III chord at the note C, C Lydian by starting on the IV chord at the note C, C Mixolydian by ...

    Media Length: 3:30