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    So What Chord - The Jazz Piano Site

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    Mbolafab Rbj
    The document discusses the So What chord, a type of quartal chord used in jazz piano. It is built from stacked perfect fourths and a major third on top, making it ambiguous and able to function as different chords. Examples are given of how it can be used in tonal and modal chord progressions. Inversions and alterations of the So What chord are also explained.

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    So What Chord - The Jazz Piano Site

    Uploaded by

    Mbolafab Rbj
    329 views8 pages
    The document discusses the So What chord, a type of quartal chord used in jazz piano. It is built from stacked perfect fourths and a major third on top, making it ambiguous and able to function as different chords. Examples are given of how it can be used in tonal and modal chord progressions. Inversions and alterations of the So What chord are also explained.

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    The document discusses the So What chord, a type of quartal chord used in jazz piano. It is built from stacked perfect fourths and a major third on top, making it ambiguous and able to function as different chords. Examples are given of how it can be used in tonal and modal chord progressions. Inversions and alterations of the So What chord are also explained.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    329 views8 pages

    So What Chord - The Jazz Piano Site

    Uploaded by

    Mbolafab Rbj
    The document discusses the So What chord, a type of quartal chord used in jazz piano. It is built from stacked perfect fourths and a major third on top, making it ambiguous and able to function as different chords. Examples are given of how it can be used in tonal and modal chord progressions. Inversions and alterations of the So What chord are also explained.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 8
    At a glance
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    The key takeaways are that the So What chord is a quartal chord built from stacked perfect fourths with a major third on top, making it ambiguous and able to function as different chords depending on context. It was popularized by Bill Evans and is commonly used in modern jazz.

    The So What chord is a specific type of quartal chord that is a widely used voicing in modern jazz piano. It derives its name from the Miles Davis song 'So What' where pianist Bill Evans played this characteristic voicing.

    The So What chord is constructed with the left hand playing two notes a perfect fourth apart, and the right hand playing three notes that are each a perfect fourth above the previous note, with a major third between the left and right hands.

    (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/)

    So What Chord
    Quartal Harmony

    Up to this point, we have discussed building chords up in intervals of 3rds (tertian harmony). But it is
    also possible to build chords up in intervals of 4ths. This is called Quartal Harmony. The So What
    Chord is a speci c type of Quartal Chord (we will discuss Quartal Chords
    (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/quartal-voicings/) in more
    detail in an upcoming lesson). The So What Chord Voicing is a classic and widely used Modern Jazz
    piano voicing. This chord voicing derives its name from the song So What from Mile Davis’ Kind of Blue
    album. In this song the pianist, Bill Evans, plays a particular chord voicing which has become known
    as the So What Chord.

    Quartal chord voicings:

    Sound very modern;


    Are very ambiguous (there is no clear tonal centre [root note] and each voicing can be
    many di erent chords);
    Because they are ambiguous, they do not have the same need to resolve to any particular
    chord – they just oat there as stand alone entities.

    Chords built in 4ths are analysed in the same way as regular chords built in 3rds. We look at all the
    notes that comprise them and gure out an appropriate chord name. This is arguably unsuitable,
    because chords built in 4ths sound and function very di erently to chords built in 3rds. But
    unfortunately, standard music theory is what everyone knows and uses.

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    So What Chord
    The So What Chord is a two handed chord voicing made up of 5 notes. It is built out of three

    stacked Perfect 4ths with a Major 3rd on top. So, for example, the D So What Chord is:

    Left Hand: D-G


    Right Hand: C-F-A

    Chord Ambiguity

    Because of the way the So What Chord is constructed (out of 4ths rather than 3rds), it is rather
    ambiguous and can be numerous chords at once, depending on the context. Some of these chords
    are listed below.

    So What Chord Possible Chords Notes

    D So What Chord Dm11 DFACEG


    D-G C-F-A
    B♭Maj13 B♭ D F A C ( ) G

    E♭Maj13#11 E♭ G B♭ D F A C

    F69 FACDG

    G9sus GCDFA

    Because these chords are built in 4ths, they have a slightly Suspended Chord
    (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chords/suspended-
    chords/) sound. This also means that they do not have the same need to resolve to another chord
    (like a G7 feels like it needs to resolve to CMaj7).

    Chord Progressions

    The So What Chord Voicing can be used in a standard ‘tonal’ chord progression (going around a
    Circle Progression (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-
    progressions/circle-of- fths/) or II-V-I (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-
    chord-progressions/ii-v-functionality/)) or a ‘modal’ chord progression (moving in steps). We will learn

    much more about tonal and modal harmony (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-
    lessons/modern-jazz-theory/tonal-harmony-vs-modal-harmony/) in future lessons.

    Tonal Chord Progression

    You can use the So What Chord in a II-V-I chord progression, as shown below.

    II-V-I in C

    Basic Chord Progression Dm7 G7 CMaj7

    Variation #1 Dm11 G9sus CMaj13

    D So What Voicing D So What Voicing E So What Voicing

    D-G C-F-A D-G C-F-A E-A D-G-B

    Variation #2 Dm11 G9 CMaj13#11

    D So What Voicing Open B So What Voicing

    D-G C-F-A D-G B-F-A B-E A-D-F#



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    Modal Chord Progression

    Because the So What Chord Voicing is ambiguous and doesn’t need to resolve, you can move it
    around the piano however you like. Any chord can move to any other chord. You can create some
    really smooth and nice sounding progressions by moving the So What Chord up and down in steps
    (as is often done in Modal Jazz (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/modern-jazz-
    theory/modal-jazz/)) or in small jumps. This can be done in two ways:

    Diatonic – Only using the notes within a key (Note: One of the 4ths in a diatonic key will be
    a ‘diminished 4th’ or tritone, like that between B and F in the key of C Major);
    Parallel Motion (Parallelism) – Keeping the true/classic So What shape.

    Root Parallel (True So Diatonic (in key of C Possible Chords (for


    Note What) Major) Diatonic)

    C C-F B♭-E♭-G C-F B-E-G Gsus

    D D-G C-F-A D-G C-F-A Dm11


    B♭Maj13
    E♭Maj13#11
    F69
    G9sus

    E E-A D-G-B E-A D-G-B Em11


    CMaj13
    FMaj13#11
    G69
    A9sus

    F F-B♭ E♭-A♭-C F-B E-A-C G7sus


    FMaj7#11

    G G-C F-B♭-D G-C F-B-D G7sus


    FMaj#11
    Root Parallel (True So Diatonic (in key of C Possible Chords (for 
    Note What) Major) Diatonic)

    A A-D G-C-E A-D G-C-E Am11


    FMaj13
    B♭Maj13#11
    C69
    D9sus

    B B-E A-D-F# B-E A-D-F G13


    Bø7
    Dm69
    FMaj7#11

    So What Inversions

    Like any chord, So What Chords also have inversions. All of these inversions can be used if you need
    a di erent bass note or melody note on top. Notice that the 4th inversion of a So What chord is a
    standard Quartal Chord (which, again, we will discuss in an upcoming lesson).

    So What Chord Inversions

    Root Position D-G C-F-A

    1st Inversion G-C F-A-D

    2nd Inversion C-F A-D-G

    3rd Inversion F-A D-G-C

    4th Inversion A-D G-C-F


    (Quartal Voicing)

    So What Alterations

    You can also alter the interval between your left hand and right hand to create a new chord and a
    more dissonant sound. Below are a few examples of this.

    So What Chord Notes Possible Chord

    Classic So What D-G C-F-A Dm11

    LH + 2 semitones E-A C-F-A Dm9 or FMaj7

    LH + 3 semitones F-B♭ C-F-A B♭Maj9

    LH + 4 semitones F#-B C-F-A ?

    Jazz Piano History

    Quartal harmony was rst used extensively by McCoy Tyner in the 1960’s. And because Quartal
    chords are a bit ambiguous, they are more conducive to Modal harmony (again, we will discuss
    Modal Jazz in a future lesson). Today, playing chords built in 3rds is considered a bit old-fashioned
    and simplistic. Instead, Modern Jazz Pianists prefer to play chord built in 4ths.

    Have a Listen to

    So What ~ Miles Davis


    Peresina ~ McCoy Tyner

    Matrix ~ Chick Corea

    Jazz Piano Chord Voicings - So What Chord

    >> NEXT LESSON >> (/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/barron-chord)

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