For most of your musical journey, you have been taught to build chords by stacking 3rds. 1-3-5-7-9. This is called Tertian Harmony. It is the foundation of music, but it is also very “defined.” A tertian chord immediately tells the ear: “I am a happy major chord” or “I am a sad minor chord.”
But what if you want a sound that is mysterious? A chord that floats? A sound that feels incredibly “wide,” modern, and expensive?
Welcome to the West Coast Sound. To achieve this, we have to stop stacking 3rds and start stacking Perfect 4ths. This is Quartal Harmony—the secret behind the shimmering, open textures used by the world’s top Neo-Soul and contemporary Gospel players.
What is Inside the Masterclass?
This module, The Open Sound, teaches you how to break the “stacking in 3rds” habit and unlock a more ambiguous, sophisticated harmonic palette. Here is what you will master:
1. The Theory: Stacking Fourths
We move away from the “Here Comes the Bride” melody and turn the interval of a 4th into a structural powerhouse. You will learn:
- The Quartal Stack: How to build 3-note and 4-note stacks (e.g., $C \rightarrow F \rightarrow Bb \rightarrow Eb$).
- Ambiguity is Power: Why these chords sound “modern”—because they don’t immediately reveal if they are major or minor, allowing them to float over different bass notes.
2. The “Quartal Grip” Technique
Theory is nothing without muscle memory. We teach you how to lock your hand into a specific physical “grip” that allows you to:
- Planar Movement: Slide the same quartal shape up and down the keyboard chromatically or diatonically.
- The Half-Step Slide: Use the same “grip” to create tension by sliding into your destination chord from a half-step above or below.
3. The Pentatonic Waterfall
This is the ultimate “show-off” move for worship ballads. We show you how to take a simple Pentatonic scale and “plane” your quartal stacks up and down the scale. It creates a “cascading” effect that sounds like a shimmering waterfall of sound.
4. Application: The Quartal 7-3-6 Turnaround
We take the most famous gospel turnaround and give it a West Coast facelift.
- The Transition: Instead of standard dominant chords, we use quartal slides in the key of Db to move from the 7 to the 3, and finally to a “wide” Bm11 resolution.
- The Benefit: Your right hand barely has to change its shape—it just moves positions on the keyboard.
5. Using Quartal Voicings in Talk Music
Quartal harmony is the “glue” of modern talk music. We show you how to use these open stacks to create a non-intrusive, atmospheric bed of sound that supports a speaker without ever getting in the way of their voice.
Stop Stacking 3rds. Start Floating.
If you are ready to move past the “traditional” church sound and step into the modern, “West Coast” world of Neo-Soul and Contemporary Gospel, this module is your gateway.