Using Major Fourth Voicings For Harmonic Flexibility

Fourth voicings are basically the arrangement of the notes of a chord in intervals of fourths.

This is different from the regular way of arranging notes in thirds (aka – “tertian harmony”).

What makes fourth voicings (aka – “quartal harmony”) unique apart from being a clear departure from tertian harmony (the standard practice of stacking notes in thirds) is that they sound open.

In this post, we are delving into fourth voicings of the major chord. But before we do, let’s review this idea of voicing.

Quick Review of Voicing

Voicing is the consideration of the notes of a chord as voice parts.

If you’ve been around choir people, you should be familiar with voice parts like soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. In singing (especially in classical music), there are traditional music rules (aka – “voice leading principles“) that guide the movement of these voice parts.

Using the fourth voicing, the notes of a chord can be rearranged in fourths.

When the notes of a chord are arranged in such a way that the distance (or interval) between chord tones are in fourths, such arrangement is called the fourth voicing (aka – “quartal voicing”).

In this post, I’ll be showing you six important fourth voicings of the major chord and most importantly, how you can apply them.

Fourth Voicing of Major Chords

The chord above is a major chord rooted in the key of C. What makes this a major chord is the quality of the interval between its root note (C) and the third (E):

I must admit that the interval between the root and the seventh tone (B):

…determines quality too. However, in terms of quality determination, the third comes before the seventh.

This is because it’s possible for the seventh to either be major or minor, whereas, the third constantly remains major. We can either add a major seventh:

…or a minor seventh:

…to a C major triad:

This will produce:

C major seventh:

…major third plus major seventh. Or…

C dominant seventh:

…a major third plus minor seventh.

In both cases, the third is constant and this is because of reasons I won’t delve into right now. However, we’ll talk about this in a future post.

Major Seventh vs Minor Seventh

As far as major chords are concerned, the quality of third is fixed.

The quality of seventh used, whether major or minor, can produce two different chord qualities – major and dominant.

For example, in the key of C major…

C major seventh:

…with a major seventh.

C dominant seventh:

…with a minor seventh.

Pay attention to this…

The difference between major and dominant seventh chords is just the quality of seventh.

Major Seventh vs Dominant Seventh

C major seventh:

…vs C dominant seventh:

Major Ninth vs Dominant Ninth

C major ninth:

…vs C dominant ninth:

Major Eleventh vs Dominant Eleventh

C major eleventh:

…vs C dominant eleventh:

Major Thirteenth vs Dominant Thirteenth

C major thirteenth:

…vs C dominant thirteenth:

I’ll be showing you fourth voicings of the major chord (without the seventh) that you can add to your list of chords.

These chords are neither dominant or major seventh because they have no seventh. However, they can be easily applied as chord 1 or 4 (depending on the key you’re in).

“Hello Sixths…”

If you’re looking for chords that are in the same class with the sevenths, then you’ll probably come across sixth chords.

Sixth chords (aka – “added sixth chords”) are four-note chords that are formed by adding a sixth to a triad. Adding a sixth tone to a major triad will yield a major sixth chord, while adding the sixth tone to a minor triad will produce a minor sixth chord.

For example, a C major triad:

…plus the sixth tone from its root (A):

…will produce the C major sixth chord:

In the same vein, a C minor triad:

…plus the sixth tone from its root (A):

…will produce the C minor sixth chord:

Sixth chords do not have the seventh tone. However, they are perfectly good to go… especially in situations where we do not want to narrow down the chord to either major or dominant.

Let’s take voicings of the the major sixth [add9] chord (aka – “major 6/9”) in the key of C major before going into the application of all of this.

Voicing #1

Voicing #2

Voicing #3

Voicing #4

Voicing #5

Voicing #6

These fourth voicings have thirds in between chord tones and this is because they are derived from the pentatonic scale. View this post on pentatonic voicings.

Application

The absence of the seventh tone in these voicings above make them flexible.

“Here’s one of the ways you can use fourth voicings of the major chord…”

These voicings can be used as chords 1 and 4 at the same time.

Voicing #1

Over F on the bass, the chord above will yield an Fmaj13 chord.

Here’s the voicing formula of voicing #1 with F on the bass:

5-7 / 3-13-9

To use this voicing in any key, play the 5th and 7th on the left hand, and the 3rd, 13th, and 9th on the right hand.

Voicing #2

Over F on the bass, the chord above will also yield an Fmaj13 chord.

Here’s the voicing formula of voicing #2 with F on the bass:

5-7-3 / 13-9-5

To use this voicing in any key, play the 5th, 7th and 3rd on the left hand, and the 13th, 9th, and 5th on the right hand.

Voicing #3

Over F on the bass, the chord above will yield another Fmaj13 chord.

Here’s the voicing formula of voicing #3 with F on the bass:

7-3-13 / 9-5-7

To use this voicing in any key, play the 7th, 3rd and 13th on the left hand, and the 9th, 5th, and 7th on the right hand.

Voicing #4

Over F on the bass, the chord above will yield an Fmaj13[#11] chord.

Here’s the voicing formula with F on the bass:

7-3-13 / 9-#11-13

To use this voicing in any key, play the 7th, 3rd and 13th on the left hand, and the 9th, sharp 11th, and 13th on the right hand.

Voicing #5

Over F on the bass, the chord above will yield an Fmaj13 chord.

Here’s the voicing formula with F on the bass:

3-13-9 / 5-7-9

To use this voicing in any key, play the 3rd, 13th, and 9th on the left hand, and the 5th, 7th, and 9th on the right hand.

Voicing #6

Over F on the bass, the chord above will yield another F maj13 chord.

Here’s the voicing formula with F on the bass:

9-5-7 / 3-13-9

To use this voicing in any key, play the 9th, 5th, and 7th on the left hand, and the 3rd, 13th, and 9th on the right hand.

Final Words

From what we’ve covered here, you’re now exposed to quartal voicings and their openness, flexibility, etc.

In a future post, we’ll be exploring these voicings from another perspective.

Until then.

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Chuku Onyemachi

Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group

Onyemachi "Onye" Chuku is a Nigerian musicologist, pianist, and author. Inspired by his role model (Jermaine Griggs) who has become his mentor, what he started off as teaching musicians in his Aba-Nigeria neighborhood in April 2005 eventually morphed into an international career that has helped hundreds of thousands of musicians all around the world. Onye lives in Dubai and is currently the Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group and the music consultant of the Gospel Music Training Center, all in California, USA.

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