Quartal Voicings Explained: The So What Chord and Chords in Fourths (Free 12-Key PDF)
A quartal voicing is a chord built from fourths instead of thirds. The most useful one is the So What voicing: three perfect fourths with a major third on top. Learn that single shape and you have a modern, open sound for minor chords, sus chords and a whole ii–V–I. The free sheet below has it in every key.
Build it from fourths
Ordinary chords are stacked in thirds: D–F–A–C is Dm7. A quartal chord skips every other step and stacks fourths instead. Start on D, the D just above middle C, and build one fourth at a time.
D up a fourth is G. G up a fourth is C. C up a fourth is F. That is three perfect fourths, and on top you add a major third: A, in blue. The result is D–G–C–F–A, the So What voicing. The keyboard above each bar shows exactly the keys you play.
Check what is in it: D is the root, F the minor 3rd, A the 5th, C the minor 7th and G the 11th. It is a Dm11 chord, just arranged so that no two notes are closer than a third. On piano, play D–G with the left hand and C–F–A with the right. On guitar it will feel familiar: the shape has the same gaps as the five lowest open strings, E–A–D–G–B.
One shape, a whole key
Here is where fourths get interesting. Hold a Dm7 groove and move the shape along the white keys without changing the chord name.
On D. D–G–C–F–A, the shape you just built.
Every note in all three shapes belongs to the key, so they all sound good over Dm7. Pianists comp on modal tunes this way: the chord stays put while the shape moves by step underneath the melody. The same five notes also have other names. D–G–C–F–A works as G9sus or F6/9 as well as Dm11, which is part of why fourths sound so open.
ii–V–I in fourths
Now use it in a real progression. Start from the So What voicing on Dm7 and watch how little has to change.
So the whole ii–V–I is one shape, one moved note, and the same shape a step higher. That is about as economical as comping gets.
Four common mistakes
1. Playing it too low. Five notes spread over an octave and a half need room. Keep the bottom note around middle C. An octave lower the fourths turn to rumble.
2. Using it on a plain dominant chord. The So What shape has no 3rd for G7, which is perfect for a sus sound. When the band plays a straight G7, move C down to B as in the ii–V–I above.
3. Moving the exact shape by accident. Keep the exact So What gaps and build it on C, and you get C–F–B♭–E♭–G, two notes outside the key. That parallel sound can be great, but choose it on purpose. Let the shape bend to the scale, as in the picture above, when you want it to fit the key.
4. Doubling the bass player. If the bass is already playing D, you can leave out your bottom D and play G–C–F–A. The colour stays and the low end gets clearer.
How to practise it
Print the sheet. Each line is one key. The left half is the ii–V–I above: ii m11, V9 and Imaj13. The right half keeps the ii chord and slides the shape to three spots in the key. Play the bottom two notes with the left hand and the top three with the right, slowly, and listen for the one note that moves from ii to V.
On guitar, try the E shape first: it is the open strings 6 to 2, so you can hear the sound before you learn any fingering. On a horn, play each voicing as a five-note arpeggio from the bottom up; it is a great way to hear fourths in a solo line.
FAQ
Why is it called the So What chord?
Pianist Bill Evans used this voicing for the answering chords in Miles Davis’s “So What” (1959), and the name stuck. McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and many others made fourths part of their sound.
What chord is it, exactly?
Built on D it is Dm11: root, 11th, 7th, minor 3rd and 5th from the bottom up. Because it has no strong pull in one direction, the same notes can also be heard as G9sus or F6/9.
Can I use fourths on major chords?
Yes. The ii–V–I above already does: E–A–D–G–B over C is a Cmaj13 without the root. Let the bass take the C.
How is this different from shell and drop 2 voicings?
Shell voicings keep the three notes that define the chord. Drop 2 voicings spread a normal four-note chord. Quartal voicings change the building block itself, so they sound more open and modern. Learn them in that order.
Every example on this page was written in Band Session Note, the iPad notation app I make. The pictures are the app’s own screen.
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