QUARTER TRIADS FOR A COLTRANE SOUND Introduction This quarter triad approach is a sound. It is a big part of Coltrane’s sound. The thing of the sound is that it is ‘gapped’ ‘gapped’ – i.e. that it doesn’t doesn’t sound scalar- and that it does not sound triadic either. either. It doesn’t doesn’t seem to have a third (although (although it could include include the third of the chord). chord). It sounds sounds angular hip spac!. It evo"es a clear quartal t!pe of harmon! that people associate clearl! #ith Coltrane.
This quarter triad approach is also a melodic device. $uarters and fifths (quarters are inverted fifths) are po#erful intervalls the strongest ones #e are used to hear and the! immediatel! register their logic #ith an! audience. The! are hip to listen to and the! can be arpeggiod and turned around in different voicings in so man! #a!s to create endless interesting catch! melodies. Limitation is the key The most basic starting point is to understand that a normal scale has % notes a pentatonic scale has & notes #hile the quarter triad is a ' note scale. sing onl! three notes gives space and a t!pical strong meaningful and open sound. This sound is achieved b! forcing !ourself to limit !ourself !ourself to ' notes – it is this limitation limitation that #ill deliver deliver the sound. dd dd different different ne# notes notes and the sound is gone – unless the! are the e*act right e*tra notes (as !ou #ill see belo#).
The "e! element in getting these ' notes to sound good+hip in+out as !ou li"e them is to "no# in advance #hich quarter triads fits over #hat chord. That is ,ust a matter of remembering the s!stem belo#. fter internaliing it is a matter of being able to pla! them in different different shapes (see belo#). or ever! t!pe of chord situation there are a number of pentatonic scales available. /ere #e #ill not go into #here to use this or that pentatonic scale. ll the ideas of #here to appl! the pentatonic also appl! to the quarter triad as the quarter triad is a smaller smaller part of the pentatonic pentatonic scale. scale . That means that #hen !ou "no# #hat pentatonic scale applies to a certain harmonic situation !ou "no# ho# to deal #ith that pentatonic scale in different #a!s – b! limiting !ourself to one of several separate sounds (the quarter triads) from #ithin the pentatonic scale and not running up and do#n the #hole pentatonic scale. s !ou #ill have an idea of #hen #hat pentatonic scale #ill appl! #e #ill here deal onl! #ith the most common harmonic situations (I I0 0 ma,or and I II dorian minor) to appl! !our tric"s immediatel! to good effect and #ithout thin"ing #hat ‘parent’ pentatonic scale to use on the chord at hand. 1hen !ou have more e*perience in pulling notlogicall! related pentatonic scales over certain harmon! then the tric"s discussed here #ill help !ou do so immediatel! in all these different conte*ts because #hen chosen the right pentatonic scale !ou #ill have an abilit! to ta"e that pentatonic scale apart and #or" its hidden potentials. Maor and minor use 2et’s start #ith 3o 4etter 4lues a perfect eas! song in ma,or to get the quarter triads out #e sta! in the "e! of (concert) 5 for tenorsa*. nother reason for this is to use the tric"s on a fe# #ell "no#n modal tunes such as 6o 1hat Impressions 2ittle 6unflo#er #hich are in 7m (dorian) 8m (dorian) for tenorsa*. This as #e #ill see is the e*act same thing from the pentatonic perspective. 1e #ill onl! spea" of ma,or pentatonic scales not of minor pentatonic scales. or e*ample e*ample 5 pentatonic pentatonic is also spo"en spo"en about as 8 minor pentatonic pentatonic but #e #ill for sa"e of sanit! ,ust spea" about 5 pentatonic also in 8 minor. This #a! #e internalie the concept one time have one #ord for it and "no# ho# to find it and use the same thing in different situations.
Ste! "# 9n the 5 ma,or chord #e are going to pic" the three most usuable quarter triads that ma! fit (depends on !our taste). suall! the! fit after eachother and !ou can feel that #ith each ne*t one !ou are moving a little a#a! from the tonal center. 1hich can be good for a more spac! approach.. but also means !ou can move from the center out#ard and bac" b! using these quarter triads after eachother (similar to the changing in+out sound achieved b! using different pentatonic scales over a given ma,or or minor chord). The pianist ma! pla! them on top of eachother but !ou should pla! them afte afterr eachother so as not to brea" the strength of the separate sounds and to give !ourself this potential of these shifting colors li"e Coltrane does. 6hifting bet#een these three sounds ma"es people h!pnotic – Coltrane did this pushing them through these colours.
The quic" #a! to thin" is: ta"e the ma,or chord !ou are pla!ing on (5 ma,or) and build !our quartet triad on I 0 and II of the scale of 5 (5-7-. This is eas! to remember – same counter cloc"#ise thin"ing on the c!cle of 0ths as #ith pentatonic scale use on given ma,or and minor chords). ;o# build !our three quarter triads b! loo"ing at these three chords in the 5 scale and ta"ing step < step = step & from each of them. 9n 5 ma,or the three (or 4) quarter 4) quarter triads to use are ( left is lo# right is high li"e on the piano): 57 ( < = & on 5) 7 8 ( < = & on 7) (or 5 6 2 on G) 4 8 ( < = & on ) (or 2 3 6 on G) 8 >4 ( < = & on 8) (or 6 7 3 on G) use onl! if !ou !ou #ant a ma,% sound over I ? ;o# a small reconfiguration to assure the! flo# more smoothl! into eachother #e reconfigure the second one b! inverting it: 57 ( < = &) 7 8 ( = & @) 4 8 ( = ' @) 4 8 > ( ' @ %) Aracticall! !ou can see no# ho# the! melodicall! flo# nicel! into eachother because the first pair the second pair and the third pair have stuff in common ( 7 bet#een the first pair 8 bet#een the second pair 4 8 bet#een the third pair ) that sounds good to "eep in the same place and to use to connect t#o phrases to each other #hen !ou move from one quarter triad to the other. The logic is moving from one to another is "eeping t#o dropping one adding a ne# one. This "eeps "eeps enough enough of the old sound sound intact intact !et !et change changess the sound’ sound’ss dimens dimension ion enough enough to notice. notice. udiences understand this logic. This ma"es them ideal to pla! after each other (in the right order –other#ise the logic bet#een them is lost the audience is lost follo#ing !ou). !ou). Theoreticall Theoreticall! ! !ou can also observe observe that #ith these three taken together !ou have e*hausted the #hole 5 pentatonic scale. 6o there is three quarter triads inside the pentatonic scale. Aracticall! and theoreticall! all this applies to 8 minor as #ell ?
Ste! $#
;o# let’s loo" at the second chord of 3o 4etter 4lues the I0 + C. 2et’s do the same thing on C. ;otice that adding the C note ma"es this a C pentatonic no# – no suprise the pentatonic on the ma,ord ma,ord chord (and especiall! #hen required #ithout #ithout e*tensions e*tensions ,ust a triad) at hand is the safest choice possible: C75 57 78
( < = & on C) ( < = & on 5) ( < = & on 7)
Bou notice something Bep this is ,ust one quarter triad (the first one that bases the quartal triad firml! in its related chord+"e! of the pentatonic) different from the previous series ? That ma"es life more eas! as it means !ou can basicall! understand them as one tower of quartal triads per key key ,ust adding a quartal triad at the bottom or at the top to ‘fit’ the chord better (to taste) ? nd to add to simplicit! because on I0 more added tones #or" #ell the #hole previous bunch applies so !ou can "eep 4 8 too but onl! if !ou #ant a ma, % sound on the I0. Deconfiguring them for melodic use and connecting them smoothl! after eachother: C75 75 78 ( 8 4) onl! if !ou #ant a ma, % sound on the I0 ( 8 > 4) onl! if !ou #ant #ant a ma, %+ l!dian sound on the I0 4efore !ou get to #oodshedding here is something else that considerabl! simplifies our use of these quarter triads throughout songs: this same C pentatonic starting from the I0 but applied to the 0 chord (7%) is giving us a 0sus chord sound that also sounds appropriate for a normal mi*ol!dian 0% but that is actuall! a I0 triad over 0 in the bass. 9n a 0 !ou often #ould go altered but in 3o 4etter 4lues it is this popp! open sounding 0sus+ I0 over 0. 0. 1hen 1hen such a sus% chord is called for !ou need tob e able to treat it #ith that popp! open sound or the effect is lost. nother great use is appl!ing this sound over a 0 chord before altering it thus providing t#o 0 sounds after eachother for contrast. (This is a"in to approaching an! 0 chord as a ii-0.) ii-0.) 4ac" to 3o 4etter 4lues. 6o the I0 chord #hich is as #e sa# almost the I chord but #ith a different bottom quartal triad and no# this I0 is pla!ed again as 0 as the 0 is in the bass ? That means it is simpl! the e*act same bunch of quarter triads as above. I is almost the same as I0 e*cept for the bottom quartal triad. 0sus is I0 again. 6o it is almost one simple and po#erful sound sound ?This sounds sounds #eird #eird but #ith pentatonic pentatonics s that are build on perfect quarter quarter distances distances there #ill #ill nev never appe appear ar a trit trito one #hic #hich h is the the '-% '-% core core of the the 0 domin minant ant chor chord d.. so this this quartal+pentatonic approach does not !ield a real good pentatonic or quarter triad that ‘represents’ the dominant sound #ith its '-% tritone – at least not diatonic in the "e! of 5. 1hat this means is: pentatonic pla!ing is something !ou can do key ased (almost) forgetting+replacing the changes ? (;4 #hen things get altered i.e. #hen u leave the "e! and scale that is #hen !ou need to reach for other pentatonics. The above applies to the #orld of I-II-0sus-I0) 2et’s loo" at this logic ta"ing 3o 4etter 4lues as a perfect e*ample of a I-I0-0 song #here alterations and e*tensions are absent and #here !ou need to reall! #or" simple ma,or triad #ithout e*tensions and their additional color. 6o one bunch of notes for I and almost the same (different starting quartal triad) bunch of notes for f or I0+0.
In 3o 4etter 4lues !ou go I-I0 briefl! then I and then again I0 (C). Then it goes do#n in this #a! C 4E5 m% 4E5 and continues E8m%.... E8m%.... That That !ou should ,ust ,ust understand as C 5 C 5 ... so ver! little change (,ust the ‘bottom’ quartet triad) of !our choice of notes. Bou Bou could even simplif! this #hole section as all being C and stic" to 5 pentatonic ? Then after E8m% comes % (different stuff) and then again the usual suspects: 7sus (0sus) #hich is C (I0) again then 5 (I). Bou can in fact reduce aall ll harmon! in an! song to falling into either the I or I0+0 categor!.. categor!.. so !ou can appl! this process #herever !ou are. or e*ample an! II-0 is ,ust 0... an! 0I or III is ,ust I. 1hen the harmon! of a song becomes sophisticated this harmonic harmonic generalisati generalisation on #ill become problematic – for a specific sound the right fitting pentatonic mother scales need to be figured out to retrieve the perfect matching quarter triads. 4ut arguabl! our quarter triad approach is not so much for pla!ing sophisticated changes but for creating interest b! moving !our quartals over the simpler harmon! going on belo#. 4ut #herever !ou see a simpler passage (II-0-I I-I0-0) or have one dorian chord for a long time !ou can go Coltrane quartals for contrast ?
Ste! %# 9" no# it is time to go and #or" out out ? This is #hat #e have no# (#ritten do#n do#n in the three possible inversions):
(5 C 7 in case of a I0+0 situation) 5 7 ---------------------------------------------------- ---------- 7 8 ---------------------------------------------------- ---------- 4 8 -------------------------------------------------- -------------
(C 7 5 in case of I0+0 situation) 7 5 ---------------------------------------------------- ----------7 8 --------------------------------------------------- -----------8 4 -------------------------------------------------- ---------
F I situation
F I situation
(7 5 C in case of I0+ 0 situation) 7 5 -------------------------------------------------------- --------------87 ------------------------------------------------------ ----------------- F I situation 48 -------------------------------------------------------- --------------s !ou notice the last set of inversions is the quarter stac" in its pure form. (Bou also notice I left out the ne*t quarter stac" 4 8 > and its inversions the one #hich #as mar"ed red earlier because #e are tal"ing about 3o 4etter 4lues #hich doesn’t have this color. 4ut in an! more I ma, % situation that is ofcourse the one to add. The one after 4 > C> gives !ou a l!dian l!dian I ? )
;o# #e are going to ma"e life more interesting. 1e 1e are going to ma"e them into G note note figures b! doubling one of the three notes of the triad and ma"ing sure the outside of the shape is a perfect octave. That is gonna give !ou some po#erful shapes ? I #rote shapes that flo# into eachother.
(5 C 7 5 5 7 5 7 8 4 8
in case of a I0+0 situation) --------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- -----------
(C 7 5 C in case of I0+0 situation) 7 5 ------------------------------------------------- -------------7 8 7 ------------------------------------------------- -------------4 8 4 ------------------------------
F I situation
F I situation
(7 5 C 7 in case of I0+ 0 situation) 7 5 7 ------------------------------------------------------- ---------------8 7 8 ----------------------------------------------------- ------------------ F I situation 8 4 8 ------------------------------------------------------ -----------------
Bou ma! ofcourse add an! note from #ithin on top or bottom again for five note structures.. or create these continues arpeggios of these shapes over t#o or more octaves. The thing is to "eep these shapes intact: the three note sound ? 1e sa# alread! that the quater stac" can be filled out #ithin a perfect octave b! doubling the outer note but here the! are all together for clarit!:
(C 7 5 C in case of I0+ 0 situation) 5 7 5 -------------------------------------------------------- --------------7 87 ------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- F I situation 4 8 ------------------------------------------------------- ---------------or: (7 5 C 7 in case of I0+ 0 situation) 7 5 ------------------------------------------------------- ---------------87 8 -------------------------------------------------------- --------------- F I situation 4 8 4 -------------------------------------------------------- ---------------
Ste! &#
Can more be done Bes Bes ? 1e can revoice the quarter triad as t#o stac"ed fifths ? This creates #ide spaced voicings....
(C 5 7 in case of I0+ 0 situation) 5 7 ------------------------------------------------------- ---------------78 ------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- H F situation 8 4 ------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
The most appropriate note to be doubled as a fourth note no# seems to be the one that is a fourth or and fifth a#a! from its neighbours:
-on the bottom: (5 C 5 7 in case of I0+ 0 situation) 7 5 7 ----------------------------------------------------- -----------------7 8 -------------------------------------------------------- --------------- F I situation 88 4 ------------------------------------------------------ -----------------
-or on the top: (C 5 7 5 in case of I0+ 0 situation) 5 7 7 ---------------------------------------------------- ----------------78 ------------------------------------------------------ --------------- F I situation 8 4 8 ------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Ste! '#
1e could could tr! to go be!ond be!ond the quarter quarter triad sound sound no#.. no#.. and pic" pic" a fourth fourth note note from from the pentatonic that is ;9T the ne*t quarter – a t!pical note... it’s up to taste. 4ecause the note !ou add better be a good one not to brea" the magic. 4ut there are a fe# tric"s to #or" #ith. ‘illing in the obvious third’. This brea"s the open quartal sound #hich sta!s a#a! from the triadic sound but it is a nice grouping + <='& <='& (<'G& for the 0) 0) sequence in its o#n right: 5 ( 7 over 5 ma,or C ma,or (for a ma,%+ sound) or sound) or 7sus% (for a sus sound) sound) or ma,or (for a l!dian sound). sound) . 9r over 8 dorian minor (or over dorian minor or over 7 dorian minor) C 7 E 5 for 7sus% (for a sus sound) 7 F) 5 giv gives es ma,% sound sound on 5 + I a l!dian l!dian sound #hen #hen used on C+I0J C+I0J gives gives a tri triadi adic c mi*ol!dian + sus sound on 7% + 0. *reat o+er Em, 4ut there are other pentatonics than the obvious ones ? quic" overvie# of pentatonic scale options: 9ver 5 !ou could pla!: -5 pentatonic scale -7 pentatonic scale Kin 3o 4etter 4lues don’t pla! 7 pentatonic as it is reall! not 5ma,% .ut o+er Em,/ yes - pentatonic pentatonic scale Kin 3o 4etter 4lues don’t pla! pentatonic as it is reall! not 5 l!dian .ut o+er Em,/ yes 9ver C !ou could pla!: -C pentatonic: C 7 8 5 (#e bro"e this one apart in three quarter triads) -5 pentatonic: 5 4 7 8 (#e bro"e this one apart in three quarter triads) -7 pentatonic: pentatonic: Kin 3o 4etter 4lues it is not advisable to pla! as it is reall! not C l!dian ? 9ver 7sus% !ou could pla! -C pentatonic: C 7 8 5 (used for three quarter triads. 0orks on sus/ sussin1 a mi2o3ydian ) -5 pentatonic: 5 4 7 8 (used this for three quarter triads. Not a mi2o3ydian sound/ as no , ) -7 pentatonic: 7 8 > 4 (tr! its quartal triads. A triadic/ not sus or mi2o3ydian sound/ as no &/ ,4 9ther pentatonics for 7% (mi*ol!dian or sus) for use diatonicall! inside "e! of 5: (there are others for altered ofcourse) -7sus+dom pentatonic: 7 > 5 C (has < ' G % 1i+es 1ood mi2o3ydian or sus sound4 -m@ + LColtrane minorM-pentatonic: C 7 8 > (has < ' % 1i+es 1ood mi2o3ydian sound4 5m@+ pentatonic: 4 C 8 > (<= b' & @ has ' & % <' 1i+es 1ood mi2o3ydian sound4 same as -> halfdiminished pentatonic: > 4 C 8 ( has ' % 1i+es 1ood mi2o3ydian sound ) - C+7 he*atonic (CN7 triad): 7 8 > 5 C (has < ' G and % e2ce33ent 6or dominant or sus ) The tric" is to pla! these pentatonic scales as a set flo#ing through one pentatonic into another. This approach preserves the LgappedM sound #hile allo#ing a more thorough e*ploration of the chord scale.
