Quartal and quintal comping
Build voicings from fourths and fifths to create open, less functionally explicit textures for modal and modern jazz.
Interactive listening
Hear the harmony in time
Compare the examples at one tempo.
Tertian versus quartal D minor
A conventional Dm11 gives way to D–G–C–F, a stack of fourths drawn from the same modal area.
Fourth and fifth spacing
E–A–D–G is compact on guitar; C–G–D–A opens the same interval class through inversion and register.
Watch it in context · Jazz Guitar Lessons
Jazz Guitar: Quartal Voicings - Part 1
See fourth-based shapes built on the middle strings and moved through their inversions across a major scale.
Open on YouTube (opens in a new tab)Change the intervallic grammar
Tertian chords are organised mainly in thirds. Quartal harmony stacks fourths; quintal harmony stacks fifths. Because fourths invert to fifths, the boundary between quartal and quintal identity depends on voicing order and register as much as pitch class.
These structures often sound less explicit about major or minor function because they may omit the third. Context still matters: D–G–C–F can support D minor or a Dorian vamp, while the same pitch collection over another bass can imply a different chord.
Why fourths fit the fretboard
Most adjacent guitar strings are tuned a perfect fourth apart, so quartal material can form repeated fret patterns. The major third between the G and B strings interrupts that symmetry; compensate by moving the B-string note one fret higher to preserve a perfect fourth.
Slide a compact quartal grip through the notes of a mode, but listen to the top line and bass rather than treating every parallel shape as automatically valid. Quintal voicings need more register, so use skipped strings or spread the notes between bass and upper strings.
- Use quartal shapes for mobile modal comping.
- Use quintal spacing when you want a wider, more resonant texture.
- Add or imply the third when harmonic quality must be unambiguous.