I’m betting I don’t get many takers here, and I’m not sure how many jazz players there are on the boards, but it’s worth a shot. This might well be the most esoteric question ever asked on the dope. Here’s looking at you, QED.
Actually, i’m hoping one of the theory dopers, like GorillaMan or Musicat might be able to shed some light.
First off, I’m a pretty comfortable and confident jazz soloist, with most of my familiarity in bop, west coast and gypsy styles. I’m very comfortable with the upper extensions in triadic harmony, diminished and altered scales, and the common ‘jazz scales’ - modal theory, the ‘bebop’ scale, Lydian Dominant etc.
What I’m having trouble understanding is how to apply fourths harmonies to various chords in an improvisational context.
Man, i see this is gonna be tough to explain without staff paper, but I’ll give it a shot.
In C Major, from the root the quartal voicings would be:
1.) C F B E
2.) D G C F
3.) E A D G
4.) F B E A
5.) G C F B
6.) A D G C
7.) B E A D
I know these sounds, and on the guitar they make wonderful little clusters that are easy to move and grab on the spur of the moment. I even understand it with my ears - I know the sounds of this harmony.
But I can’t figure out for the life of me how to approach this intellectually and utilize these for effective voice leading. Are they treated as altered voicings? Upper extensions? Grandiose sus chords? Funky 11ths?
Help! I feel like I’m really close to grabbing this whole concept, but one big piece of the puzzle hasn’t clicked. It’s in my ears, and in my fingers, but I don’t know how to approach these little bastards knowledge wise - I don’t know why I’m using the chord, I just know that i can use it ‘kinda like an +11’ or ‘kinda like a m6’ and so on, depending which scale tone I’m harmonizing at the time.
Extra credit: Anybody got any good tips on how to integrate chord soloing with these and dim, -7b5 or alt. clusters? Again, it comes down to voice leading, but I can’t make these buggers fit together without scalar lines connecting them - I can’t seem to comp chord to chord directly without things getting really funky.
Like I said, I doubt I’ll get any takers, but I figured it’s worth a shot.
And to whichever wiseass that is gonna pop in and say, ‘It’s jazz, dude, just play what you feel’, here’s a pre-emptive :wally
Thanks!