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how to play
Mr. Goodchord Goes
Keyboard, Part 2
by Mitch Haupers
r. Goodchord’s back! In the first part of this series
M (Sept .’ 0 3 ) , we introduced you to Mr. Goodchord and
the fact that his Mr. Goodchord’s Almanac of Guitar
Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond is not just for
guitarists anymore. We applied the system to triad-based
materials (tri ad s ,s evenths, and hybrid voicings). This time around, we’ll
dig into quartal (voicings built in fourths) and cluster voicings (voicings
built in seconds), and give you a glimpse of the rich world of chords and
lines available when you apply Mr. Goodchord’s voice leading to these
somewhat ambiguous and beguiling sounds. We’ll also give you two
exploratory voice leading lessons, one from Yellowjackets keyboardist
and composer Russ Ferrante, and another from Boston-based pianist
and composer Vardan Ovsepian.
Mr. Goodchord (a.k.a Mick Goodrick, jazz guitarist) insists that his
two (soon to be three)-volume set is not a method book. In fact, he thinks
of these volumes as non-method books. The books supply every possible
voicing and every possible way of moving it within the three scales we use,
and let you explore the material to your heart’s content.
It’s natural to want to jump into this material and play the chord
structures harmonically. But don’t forget to arpeggiate it, too. Your
melodic development will be enhanced, and it will give a sense of harmonic
continuity to your lines and soloing. To get used to these newer-sounding
four-part chord families, pick any two voices and play them through the
cycl e ,t h en pick another combination of two voices and do it aga i n .E ach
four-part chord has six possible combinations of two voices. Breaking
the four-part chords down will help you to understand the intervals of
the chords,as well as to hear the individual lines within the progression
and how they relate to each other.
After you work with this voice leading material for a while,you’ll see
that chord families can be viewed as different ways of experiencing the
scale from which they arose. For example, if you play through all the
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Break down harmonic walls! Make melodic leaps
over imposing chord structures! Now we follow this
potent voice leading system into quartal territory
Mr. Goodchord’s Keyboard Chord Decoder:
What’s with all these Ds and DDs?
Just as he or she would do with a seventh chord, an arranger will look
at a four-part quartal chord in close voicing (4WC, or four-way close
voicing) and they’ll number the notes, in their mind, from top to bottom —
regardless of the inversion. Here we have a four-part quartal chord in root
position (a), first inversion (b), second inversion (c), and third inversion
(d). Note that the numbers next to the chords refer only to the note order
from top to bottom; no functional or intervallic information is implied.
1
1
1 2
1 2 3
2 3 4
2 3 4
3 4
4
With the chord tones numbered, arrangers will take certain notes
and drop them down an octave (D) or two octaves (DD).With any of
the inversions shown here, you can take the second note from the top
and drop it an octave, and you’ll have a drop 2 voicing (D2). If you take
the third note down an octave, it’s a Drop 3 (D3). You can drop more
than one note at a time. See Example 1 for more examples.
four-part chord families of C major/D2 in the following order: sevenths,
TBN 1 (triad over bass note 1; G over C), TBN 2 (triad over bass note
2; Bdim over C), four-part quartal voicings, and then spread clusters,
you may feel more familiar with the sounds of the first two families
(sevenths and TBN1). Once you work with the material for some time,
you’ll soon realize they’re all just the C major scale.
You’ll notice that we offer very few chord names here. The reason is that
the names one might use get complicated (Cmaj9, no5th, for example).
With these particular voicings, names could easily tend to limit how they
can be used. They revolve around structures of fourths and seconds,and
they’re more ambiguous sounding than the structures based on thirds.And
ILLUSTRATION © 2003 RICK EBERLY
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in many cases, they’re more flexible in terms of their multiple functions.
The type of voice leading we use here is called disjunct. The roots are
not always in the lowest voice of the chord, and the principles of economy
of motion apply, meaning that stepwise and small leaps to the nearest chord
tone in the next chord are the general rule. You’ll see how this gets really
interesting when we get into the lessons from Vardan Ovsepian and Russ
Ferrante. This type of voice leading sounds very different than parallel
motion or running a constant structure through a scale. One isn’t better
than the other, or even more important to learn. They’re equally useful.
By their nature, quartal chords are made up of fourth intervals,
whereas cluster chords are built of seconds. This certainly is evident in
D2 voicings in four-part quartal voicings and four-way close voicings
in spread clusters (see Mr. Goodchord’s Keyboard Chord Decoder:
What’s with all these Ds and DDs? on page 50). If you haven’t played
these much before ,t h ey can sound vague and disson a n t ,m aybe even a
bit confusing. One of the great insights you can gain with this voice
leading approach is that, depending on the inversion, four-part quartal
voicings and spread clusters can sound almost consonant by vir tue of
the vertical order of intervals. Give Examples 1–8 a try.
Vardan Ovsepian hails from Armenia and has applied his classical
training to his composing, improvising, and jazz playing. His first record,
Abandoned Wheel (Fresh Sound), explores the contrapuntal possibilities
of solo piano; keeping both hands in motion, he avoids the cliché sound
of a comping left hand under a soloing right hand. He delves into this more
traditional approach to the keyboard on his second record with quartet,
Sketch Book (Fresh Sound) — but he applies his own interpretation of
the Mr. Goodchord materials. See Examples 8–14.
Russell Ferrante needs no introduction in this magazine. As the key-
boardist/composer/co-founder of the world-renowned band, Yellowjackets,
Russ is known for his heartfelt solos, adventurous writing and his signature
voicings. One of the keys to Russell’s great voicings is his ability to create
unique sonorities from simple structures. His voicing rule of thumb is
to try and build chords with no doublings. For brainstorming ideas,
playing ballads,and coming up with those expressive orchestral intros,
this disciplined approach is well worth exploring.
Examples 15–19 show exercises that Russ has devel oped after
spending some time with the Mr. Goodchord voice leading material.
Clearly, voice-leading is his language,something he excels in; just listen
to his tunes and solos. It’s inspiring that even seasoned pros are getting
new insights from and are finding uses for this information.Enjoy the
time you spend working with Mr. Goodchord and look for another
installment in the near future.k

Ex .1 . Each of these takes a particular inversion of a close-voiced four-part quartal chord and redistributes the notes in a particular way. In 1a, we take the
second note from the top and drop it down an octave for a drop 2 (D2 for short). In 1b, take the third note from the top and drop it an octave; this is drop
3 (D3). Drop the second and third notes in 1c down an octave to get a drop 2 and 3 voicing (D2&3). In 1d,drop the second and fourth notes for a drop 2
and 4 (D2&4). And finally, in 1e,drop the second note two octaves and the third note one octave for a double-drop 2,drop 3 (DD2D3). Note how I used
different inversions in the close-voiced chords, yet I ended up with C in the bass for every drop voicing.The trick is to know which close-position chord in
which drop voicing will put the note you want in the bass.
a) b) c) d) e)
1
1 1 2
1 2 2 3
4
2 3 3
4 4 1
3 2
4
3
4

Ex .2 . This gives you an idea of how you can take a quartal voicing through each of the cycles. Each measure contains the first three chords of one cycl e .S e e
if you can complete each chord cycle by referring to the complete cycles as spelled out in the September issue. Here we’re taking a close-voiced three-part
quartal voicing through all the cycles of C melodic minor.

a) b) c) d) e) f)

cycle 2 cycle 4 cycle 6 cycle 7 cycle 5 cycle 3

Ex .3 . Here we take three-part fifth chords (the spread counterpart of three-part quartal chords) through the first three chords in the cycles in C melodic minor.

a) b) c) d) e) f)

cycle 2 cycle 4 cycle 6 cycle 7 cycle 5 cycle 3

Ex .4 . Here we take three-part quartal voicings (spread) through cycle 2 in C major, using the Mr. Goodchord Universal Notation System, in which the
arrows represent direction of movement between voices (either up or down). The dashes represent common tones between two adjacent chord tones that
don’t move. The vertical stacks of note names are the chord structures. Once you’ve been through it a couple times, play through it over a D or A pedal
point. This will put you in D dorian mode, and since there aren’t any avoid notes in dorian, pretty much anything and everything you play will work
very nicely. Arpeggiate the quartal voicings to come up with some really cool melodies. Â
D D B G G E C C A F F D B B G E E C A A F
n n
n
G E E C A A F D D B G G E C C A F F D B B
n
C A F F D B B G E E C A A F D D B G G E C

Excerpts copyright ©2003 by Mr. Goodchord Publications from Mr. Goodchord’s Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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how to play
Mr. Goodchord

Ex .5 . Here the scale is C melodic minor, we’re using four-part quartal chords in drop 2 voicing, and were taking the voicings through cycle 2. 5b shows you
the same progression in standard notation,using the most basic rhythm. Note that common tones between chords can be re-played,as between bar lines
here, or they can be held, as with the lower notes within each bar.

Eb D D B B A A
B G G F F D D
F F Eb Eb C C B
C C A A G G Eb

Ex .6 . This example shows a drop 2 four-part quartal voicing moving through cycle 4 of the C melodic minor scale. The repeat signs surrounding the voice
leading work the same way as they do in ordinary music notation — simply repeat what is between them. This is in long form, which means you have
to play through the cycle a number of times before you arrive at the original voicing you started with. This may be two, three, or even four times through,
depending on the chord type and cycle.

Eb Eb D D C C B B A A G G F F
n B A A G G F F Eb Eb D D C C B n
n F F Eb Eb D D C C B B A A G G n
C B B A A G G F F Eb Eb D D C

Ex. 7. Enough theory for the momen t .T h e se voicing types show up in the real world al the time. In fact, they’re quite similar to the kind of things McCoy
Tyner plays, such as these voicings similar to those in the last two bars of “I Wish I Knew,” from John Coltrane’s, Ballads (MCA). In 7a, note that his quar -
tal voicings move through the scale in parallel motion so that the cycle 2 motion ascends with the root always in the bass, as you would predict. Also, look
at the complicated chord symbols needed to describe the quartal voicings. Now check out the alternative voicing in 7b. The notes are the same, but the voic -
ing is different, which completely alters the sound of the progression. In 7c, we use three-part fifths. In 7d, we use disjunct voice leading.

Ex .8 . Here’s another cool real world example. Keyboardist/composer Russell Ferrante describes the idea behind his voicing choice in this excerpt from “Coal Minor
Blues” as sixths collapsing into fourths. It’s interesting that the first chord is a spread cluster (G,A, Bb, C) and the second is a four-part quartal voicing
(Eb, Ab, Db, Gb), yet both are functioning as I major and I minor, respectively, as this is over an Eb pedal. Russ will have more to say a little later.

Ex .9 . This is an excerpt from the head to “Rooms,” which is on Vardan Ovsepian’s CD Sketch Book (Fresh Sound). He makes extensive use of Mr. Goodchord
voicings in it. The first four bars are three-part quartal voicings superimposed over fifths, which creates minor elevenths over cycle 5.
1 Fm7,11 Cm7 13 Gm7,11 Dm7 13 Am7,11 Em7 13 Bm11

Excerpts copyright ©2003 by Mr. Goodchord Publications from Mr. Goodchord’s Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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how to play
Mr. Goodchord

Ex.10.This example shows D2 spread clusters moving through cycle 2 of the C major scale.This example led pianist Vardan Ovsepian to discover that
the motion of voice leading is as important as the actual pitches in the chart.These spread clusters can be seen as combinations of alternating thirds and
sixths, shown in shades of blue in the first two chords. Using the same motion, Vardan substitutes different intervals in the right and left hands as well as
introducing modulations away from the diatonic scale to come up with interesting voice leading variations, which you’ll find in the subsequent examples.

E F D E C D B C A B G A F G
n C A B G A F G E F D E C D B n
n B G A F G E F D E C D B C A n
D E C D B C A B G A F G E F

Ex.11.This variation uses alternating fifth and second intervals in the same motion as Example 9. In this case, we get the same triad twice over different
bass notes.

C/F C/D Bdim/E Bdim/C Am/D Am/B G/C G/A F/B F/G Em/A Em/F Dm/G Dm/E

Ex. 12. Here the same voicings are played down a whole step each bar, and still results in the same triad twice over different bass notes.

C/F C/D B /E B /C A /D A /B F /B F /G E/A E/F D/G D/E

Ex. 13. Based on Example 11, in this progression Vardan makes every other chord minor.

C/F Cm/D B /E B m/C A /D A m/B F /B F m/G E/A Em/F D/G Dm/E

Ex. 14. In this variation, Vardan makes the intervals of the left hand (seconds and fourths) different from those in the right hand (thirds and sixths).

C/F Em/A Bdim/E Dm/G Am/D C/F G/C Bdim/E F/B Am/D Em/A G/C Dm/G F/B

Excerpts copyright ©2003 by Mr. Goodchord Publications from Mr. Goodchord’s Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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how to play
Mr. Goodchord

Ex .1 5 . Russell Ferrante of the Yellowjackets has always been adventurous when it comes to voicings. But he’s also one of the many top players who have embraced
Mr. Goodchord, and who have applied their own creativity to the material. Here is a hybrid of cycles 3 and 6, using close three-part quartal voicings.

Ex. 16. This example uses the same voice leading as Example 15, but Russell shifts between C and Db every two chords.

Ex. 17. Russell’s always looking for interesting ways to approach melody; here’s how he plays Example 16 as a melodic exercise.
3 3 3
3 3

3 3 3
3 3 3
3

Ex .1 8 . Polytonality and polychords are favorite techniques for Russell. Here he takes three-part quartal voicings in cycle 6, C major, in the right hand and
superimposes them over a descending bass line in Ab (a) and E (b).
a) b)

etc. etc.

Excerpts copyright ©2003 by Mr. Goodchord Publications from Mr. Goodchord’s Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Â

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how to play
Mr. Goodchord

Ex.19.This is the intro to Russell’s tune, “Coal Minor Blues,” which appears on the Yellowjackets’ Blue Hats CD. This is a great example of how Russell
combines seventh-chord voicings and quartal voicings, and how he uses passing tones.
Intro

“Coal Minor Blues,” written by Russell Ferrante. ©1997 Teeth Music,LaViera Music, and Kalabash Music. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Excerpts copyright ©2003 by Mr. Goodchord Publications from Mr. Goodchord’s
Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading for the Year 2001 and Beyond. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Mitch Haupers is the managing partner of Mr. Goodchord Publications (www.mrgoodchord.com) and an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music
(www.berklee.edu/news/2001/02/mhaupers.html).

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