Stack notes in fourths instead of thirds and something strange happens: the chord stops sounding like a chord and starts sounding like a mood. This is the voicing that turned modal jazz from an experiment into a genre in 1959, and it’s the sound that put D’Angelo’s Voodoo album on every list of the best records of its decade. Once you hear it, you’ll hear it everywhere.
A quartal voicing is a chord built by stacking perfect 4th intervals instead of thirds.
Traditional (tertian) voicing of Cm11:
C – E♭ – G – B♭ – D – F (stacked thirds)
Quartal voicing of Cm11:
G – C – F – B♭ – E♭ (each interval is a perfect 4th)
Same chord — both voicings contain the notes of Cm11. Completely different character.
Thirds are stable. The ear hears major or minor immediately. A triad voiced in thirds sounds “resolved” — you know what key you’re in, what mood you’re in.
Fourths are ambiguous. A stack of perfect 4ths doesn’t spell any single chord. G – C – F could be interpreted as part of F, C, or B♭ — no single root asserts itself. Your ear hangs, waiting for context. In modal jazz (where you sit on one chord for 16 bars), quartal voicings keep things from sounding static — the chord floats instead of sitting.
In 1959, Miles Davis recorded “So What” with Bill Evans on piano. Evans needed a voicing for the Dm7 that would sustain across an entire 16-bar modal section without getting boring. He invented — or at least popularized — what’s now called the “So What” chord.
The voicing (bottom to top):
D – G – C – F – A
Four perfect fourths stacked (D to G, G to C, C to F), with the top note a major 3rd (F to A) for pitch variety. Contains: D (root), G (11th), C (♭7), F (♭3), A (5th) — a Dm11 voicing.
The So What chord became the default voicing for modal jazz and remained the foundation of mainstream jazz piano for decades. McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea — all built their styles on quartal voicings descended from this one. In neo-soul, the same voicing structure shows up in D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper. Three decades of lineage carrying the same four perfect fourths.
Cm11 contains: C, E♭, G, B♭, D, F.
Start on the 5th (G):
G → C → F → B♭ → E♭ = G – C – F – B♭ – E♭
Five perfect fourths. All the notes of Cm11 minus the 9th. Play it. It sounds like neo-soul.
Start on the 9th (D):
D → G → C → F = D – G – C – F
Four notes, four perfect fourths. Sparser. Even more floating. This is Hancock “Maiden Voyage” territory.
“Use quartal voicings for stability. Use tertian voicings for motion.”
Quartal voicings work best on minor chords, ii chords, and modal tonic chords. They sound worse on dominant chords because they obscure the tritone (3rd + ♭7) that defines dominant function. For dominants, use upper structures instead.
Quartal voicings became the defining sound of neo-soul in the late 1990s. The vocabulary was borrowed directly from modal jazz but applied in a completely different context: slow grooves, gospel-inflected vocals, hip-hop-influenced rhythm sections.
Em11 quartal → A13 (third-voiced)
Em11 in fourths: F♯ – B – E – A – D (9, 5, root, 11, ♭7 — 5 notes, 4 fourths)
A13 in thirds: C♯ – G – B – F♯ (3, ♭7, 9, 13 — rootless, tertian)
The contrast is the point. The Em11 floats (quartal stability), then the A13 moves (tertian direction). Then back to Em11 to float again. Loop this for four minutes and you’ve written a D’Angelo track.
Neo-soul is slow. A tertian voicing played that slowly starts to feel heavy — the chord’s “character” becomes over-stated. Quartal voicings, being ambiguous, wear better at slow tempos. They don’t demand resolution; they just sit in the pocket.
Quartals on major chords are rarer but not impossible. The key: start on the 9th, not the root or 3rd.
Cmaj9 quartal, starting on the 9th (D):
D – G – C – F – A (with root C in the LH)
The F (the 11th) is voiced more than an octave above the E (3rd in the LH), so the minor 9th clash is softened. Quartals on major chords require this kind of careful spacing; they’re less bulletproof than on minor chords.
In “Maiden Voyage,” the opening chord is a Dsus voiced in quartals:
E – A – D – G (four perfect fourths)
Played with D in the left hand as a pedal, the chord hangs in space — neither major nor minor, neither tonic nor dominant. Pure modal floating.
Week 1: The So What chord in all 12 keys. Dm11 quartal → Gm11 quartal → Cm11 quartal → Fm11 quartal → circle of fourths around. The shape never changes. Only the starting note moves.
Week 2: Alternating quartal and tertian on a ii-V vamp. Em11 quartal → A13 tertian → Em11 quartal → A13 tertian. Repeat for 4 minutes. Build the neo-soul feel.
Week 3: Quartal voicings across a jazz tune. "So What" (obviously). Or "Impressions" — same chord structure. Or "Maiden Voyage." Any modal tune that sits on one or two chords.
Week 4: Layering quartals. Play a quartal voicing in the right hand. In the left hand, play a single note — the root, or a pedal tone, or a bass line. The contrast between the spare bass and the floating upper voicing is the texture.
Using quartals on dominant chords.
They obscure the chord's function. Save quartals for minor chords, ii chords, and modal tonics. For dominants, use upper structures instead.
Stacking fourths too high.
Quartal voicings live best in the middle register — roughly C3 to C5. Stack them too high and they thin out; too low and they muddy up.
Ignoring the top-note melody.
Even though quartals are ambiguous, the top note is the melodic anchor. Choose it deliberately. Changing the top note changes the character of the whole voicing.
Treating quartals as "easier" than tertian voicings.
They're not easier — they're different. They require different ear training: you're not listening for a root chord; you're listening for a texture.
Continue learning