Quartal Harmony: From FUNK to FUSION

[@chrisegonmusic]

Quartal and modal harmony are such an absolute gift to the improviser

[@SteveAllsworth]

Absolutely - cheers for watching Chris - hope you enjoyed the Henderson vid!

[@chrisegonmusic]

@@SteveAllsworth I sure did!

[@yzimsx]

I've found the quartal chord shapes to also provide an interesting "method" and a set of anchor points for viewing the entire fretboard as a whole. If you learn the series of quartal chord shapes, then in a way you learned all diatonic scales and all of their modes in one go. No boxes or other scale forms one-by-one, just a series of narrow slices that you can move according to the desired tonal center and mode. And another thing: fast quartal chord arpeggios work nicely for faking modal fusion bass line "fills". They just have to played fast and very cleanly for the effect to work.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Nice! Cheers for the comment 🤓🙌🏼

[@nairdaazrapse]

This is, by far, the best tutorial out there on quartal harmony! Thanks!

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks so much! 🙏🏼

[@gavriloprincip11]

thnx (i actually foud it by luck/accident randomly looking up zappa lessons. It was the first lick in this video with dweezle kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnTRfpdrmKmDn68&ab_channel=Sweetwater .but thnx for the response

[@chrissmith-lf1hz]

What's more surprising here? Online lessons that teach so much, so easily and so clearly, or the fact the there are so few subscribers? Thanks Steve.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Wow, thank you Chris - working on it! 🙌🏼🎸

[@ricandreoli8086]

You made me happy with these lessons. Thank you!

[@SteveAllsworth]

@ricandreoli8086 Very happy to hear it! 🙏🏼

[@justinfippinger6843]

Man, your lessons are phenomenal. You’re not a look at me show off. You’re a great teacher. Your backing tracks are great. You have killer guitars. Stank face is the best way to describe what you do. Just enough jazz to be tasty and enough funk and blues to be nasty. And you have a pleasant accent. I’m in!

[@SteveAllsworth]

Great to hear Justin - glad you're enjoying the lessons! Stank face is indeed the height of compliments 😄🎸

[@terrapin7777]

Just discovered you. Your lessons are great! You are so clear and concise. And, I love how you always include examples that put the lesson in context...how to make something musical. I also really like how you include some charts and tab. All around great stuff. You have me thinking I can integrate quartal harmony into my playing. Thank you so much.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Ah thanks Pozo! I'm still finding my feet with this KZbin thing, so that's really great to hear! You can def get it into your playing without it sounding too 'out there' 🎸

[@MassimilianoIppolitoPetrilli]

Great contents on this channel! Thank you!! You're fantastic

[@SteveAllsworth]

Hey thanks @MassimilianoIppolitoPetrilli - cheers for watching! 🙌🏼

[@seamanjive]

I remember, years ago, being intrigued (and bemused) by a quartal harmony article in Guitar Tech magazine. I gave up. Just found you and "bing"...the lights start going on! Im on it and subbed. Thx

[@SteveAllsworth]

@seamanjive Really awesome to hear about your Eureka moment! Welcome aboard 🎸

[@timemerson2691]

You do a great job of explaining some complex concepts. Thanks for sharing.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Pleasure as always Tim!

[@matija42]

Great lesson !! Thank you! There is one more inversion you can use... GCF (fourth,fourth) / CFG (fourth,second) / FGC (second,fourth)... The same thing (Inversions)works very well with 1-3-7- voicings (no5) and 1-5-7voicings (no 3rd) to create "open sounds" for modal situations. I think Bill Frisell uses this a lot . Maybe content for a video??? I really like your channel..

[@SteveAllsworth]

Great tip - thanks for sharing! 🙌🏼

[@peterbrazier4370]

Nice lay out of quartal harmony thanks a lot valuable stuff

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks Peter - glad you enjoyed it 🙌🏼

[@martinpizarro6620]

Great man! thanks

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks Martin - glad you enjoyed it! 🙌🏼

[@sadielampduo3762]

Great voicings of movable chords building great melodic chops ,, Love your music channel .

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks for watching - that's great! 🎸

[@elrafa782]

I discovered your channel yesterday and love it ! Very interesting, very clear. Thanks

[@SteveAllsworth]

Awesome, thank you! 🎸

[@Yourguitarworkshop]

Awesome videos Steve! I looked at your diminished video before this one. Great stuff and so calmly and clearly explained. I always found Scott Henderson's stuff in Tribal Tech hard to figure out. Combination of basslines and chords I think. I couldn't hear the harmony properly and was beyond my skillset at the time. Looking forward to your next videos!

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks André, that's great! Yes, there's some serious ninja level harmony going on in TT! 🥷🏻 Cheers for watching!

[@tbluesboye]

Way cool Steve! Keep them coming!

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks Tom! 🙌🏼

[@vincerusso5619]

Absolutely brilliant playing!

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks Vince! 🙌🏼

[@AJG76]

Yes Steve - just discovered you thanks 😊

[@SteveAllsworth]

Awesome, glad you found me!

[@Whostheguitarist]

Great video Steve! So many gems to take away and work on - you make it very easy to digest.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Great stuff - thanks buddy! Hope you're keeping well 🙌🏼

[@ryanradcliffguitar]

These are incredible lessons!!

[@SteveAllsworth]

You're very welcome - glad you're enjoying them! 🎸

[@abaddonbolero9605]

'No surprise there' he says! Steve, everything you DO is a surprise to Me, practically! Your lessons are like 12 NORMAL lessons. I have to take them apart to learn One concept at a time, PLUS the theory BEHIND it!! But as oft stated by others, with the charts and tabs, you facilitate that better than Most, even for a hopeless hapless LEFTY like ME, that can't even remember what little theory he Once only sorta knew!! Thanks- for so MANY ideas & styles!!! Wouldn't mind some more BASIC theory primers, if you're ever that bored! Also, recording basics- for Beginners. PS: Nice Tele Deluxe is that? Looks well-loved and well-played! And sounds good as Hell! Cheers. -Al in NJ

[@SteveAllsworth]

Cheers Al! Oh man - I have soooo many ideas - hopefully I'll find more time to devote to making videos as I'm really enjoying it! Both of those are in my 'book of YT ideas' so watch this space... And yes, a Tele Deluxe - it's been well loved/abused in equal measure! 😂

[@mentalitydesignvideo]

great stuff, great sounds and expression

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks Viktor! 🙌🏼

[@joehenry9787]

This is absolutely excellent stuff Steve - thanks very much for sharing this. Hope it's successful for you buddy. This 4ths thing has been eluding me for years now - but I got it instantly from your video here. Excellent - thanks again.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Ah that's so cool Joe - great to hear! Many thanks for the kind words 🙌🏼

[@sethbauer2147]

Mind blown! 🤯🫠 Been really digging your videos... Do you give private lessons?

[@SteveAllsworth]

That's really cool Seth - great to hear! Yes, my email is in the about section - drop me a line 🎸

[@adam872]

Frank did love some quartal harmony, it sounds off kilter and mysterious. Keith Emerson loved it too - Tarkus is full of fourths and it sounds amazing.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Funnily enough I recorded a playthrough of that keys line in Tarkus but chopped it out of the final video due to time! Killer idea 🔥

[@adam872]

@@SteveAllsworth haha, awesome! You should do a video on just Tarkus. It's one of the most exhilarating and fascinating rock compositions ever I reckon.

[@pernielsen7529]

this has been a mystery for me for a long time. where did those cool sounding harmonies come from and this video is just perfect. thanks a lot Steve.

[@SteveAllsworth]

My pleasure - glad to have helped! 🙌🏼

[@giacomobacigalupo4169]

Would anybody mind letting me know the name of the Zappa song that was played in the intro? 🙏🏽🤙🏽

[@SteveAllsworth]

Zoot Allures! (Live version) 🎸

[@RenardeauGuy]

Good teacher

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thank you! 😃

[@gavriloprincip11]

Antone know what Zappa track is being played in the beginig?

[@SteveAllsworth]

I do! It's Zoot Allures! (Live version) 🎸

[@TheTwangKings]

Awesome!! Really helps understand this. The only thing not clear was the key - you specified the diagrams in C, but the backing track is in Dm? Cheers.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Great stuff! Yes correct, all the shapes are C major which is exactly the same as D Dorian so they all work happily over the Dm backing (and the F Lydian one as well) Hope that makes sense!

[@TheTwangKings]

@@SteveAllsworth Ah yes, of course, it's obvious now LOL. That's why you can always play a d min scale over a c7. DUH. Thanks!!

[@SteveAllsworth]

No worries!

[@JamesWoodGuitar]

Honestly Steve this is really good stuff!! Keep up the great informative videos! Better than my dross! 😂 Hope you’re well mate, big up BIMM class of 2003 the original and best!!

[@JamesWoodGuitar]

Blimey just thought that was 20 years ago! 😫

[@SteveAllsworth]

Hey James - thanks a lot fella! Yeah I miss those days - you lot were legends!

[@VirtualModular]

Great stuff, this channel should have a few 100k subs at least! Never noticed that in Zappa's music before so that was interesting. A good trick to sound a bit like Zappa is using different pentatonic scales over a key, for example minor pentatonic a semitone down from the root gives you Lydian, but it sounds more open. Also 4 semitones up (I think!) gives you the 6th and 9th. A video on that would be great too!

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks very much! Yeah I hope so 😀 The pentatonic substitution thing is definitely in the pipeline 💪🏻

[@gatienst]

There's a live session video of Larry Carlton and Robben Ford playing together where Robben spices his playing with these drop voicings. Always wanted to know how I could use those diatonicaly. Thanks for the precious informations I subscribed :)

[@SteveAllsworth]

Thanks very much - I think Robben got a lot of that modal stuff from Miles Davis - mostly by ear - which is pretty amazing! Cheers for the sub 🙌🏼

[@101xaplax101]

binging on your stuff......just bought the dl's

[@SteveAllsworth]

Awesome - thanks for fuelling my ☕️ habit! Much appreciated and I hope you enjoy having a blast over the tracks!

[@Web4Panama]

Lovely. I think I need that funk book of your’s now.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Awesome! Let me know how you get on with it 🕺🏻🎸

[@maxcuthbert100]

I always thought the penultimate chord in the diatonic chord scale was a half diminished one, rather than a full diminished(?) Great channel,tho.

[@SteveAllsworth]

Cheers Max! Yes you're correct - I'm referring to the triad which is diminished, when it's a 7th chord it's half dim as you say 💪🏼

[@maxcuthbert100]

@@SteveAllsworth You're also correct,tho but ! I just thought it might be a little misleading for some.

[@Rocknrolldaddy81-xy8ur]

@@maxcuthbert100that’s why many prefer to call the half diminished, a minor 7 flat 5, to make the naming more consistent for the 4 note “7th” chords. And to be fully consistent, the 3 note triad is a diminished chord, and the 4 note one is a “diminished 7th chord”. Further clarity. But more words.