quick naive question about a chord name

[ole Jason]

Other than curiosity, is there a use case for the chord name? Quartal harmony gets really squirrelly when you try to adapt it to chord charts IMO, even more so if you have players sight reading. If this is for a lead sheet you might consider notating the actual intended voicing of the chord at the top of the chart. You'll see a few tunes with stuff like that in the various fakebooks where a specific voicing is desired.

 

[yodedude2]

... Are the chords from a song? ...

not yet. it's something i've stumbled across that i hope to develop further. t.y.

... There’s no wrong answers here, really.

that's a relief!

 

[Winton]

No, there’s no name for a chord like that. It’s just stacks of fourths.

It’s always about context but in this case, I’d say it’s just a color chord which is somewhat resolved. We would have to hear it in context to get an idea of where in the measure and the phrase it comes in but that’s what it is. You gotta look and listen horizontally and not always vertically.

 

[yodedude2]

Other than curiosity, is there a use case for the chord name? Quartal harmony gets really squirrelly when you try to adapt it to chord charts IMO, even more so if you have players sight reading. If this is for a lead sheet you might consider notating the actual intended voicing of the chord at the top of the chart. You'll see a few tunes with stuff like that in the various fakebooks where a specific voicing is desired.

the few songs i've written are chord charts with lyrics, so i reckon that's where this is headed as well. i haven't written a song with a chord like this in it before, though. thanks for the tip on specifying the voicing!

 

[BarfanyShart]

Dm7add4/A makes perfect sense to me in context. Second inversion (fifth in the bass) always obscures the root and/or key center, and then you change the quality of the chord with the same root and fifth on top of that - it's a cool move. When I arrange stuff on my fifths-tuned bass to accompany myself it's a lot of sus2/4 and add6/9 kind of junk - but don't sweat naming stuff too much because there is a whole body of quartal/quintal theory from Modernists like Hindemith that probably explains this stuff better than Classical theory, but it's pretty complicated and people prefer to pretend it doesn't exist.

 

[SteveCS]

No, there’s no name for a chord like that.
...

I think it has been demonstrated throughout that this is not the case. Yes it sounds ambiguous, possibly even unpleasant, but it can be named within the established framework. On the other hand, so what, and was there any point even trying to give it a name...

...
but don't sweat naming stuff too much
...

Indeed - the name of the chord is of incidental importance due to the lack of clear harmonic function, at least when set against the adjacent D^7 which between them, and without melody, defy any attempts at traditional analysis through normal means. But that is of no concern since here it is all about having things sound as the do for the sake of how they sound and the texture they create in the moment, not for where they want to go next.

 

[elberon]

Since you're using the chord(s) as part of a composition in progress your goal should be how to get other people (piano player/guitarist) to play the pitches of the chord in the voicing that you prefer for the song. You could explicitly notate it so you get exactly what you want or write a lead sheet that communicates the chord to them as simply as possible.

In either case all that's important is how it sounds in the context of your song, not necessarily what you call it. People who hear your song aren't aware of what you've decided to name the chord and don't care. The simplest solutions for a lead sheet are G9 sus if "G" is in the bass or G7 sus/A if "A" is in the bass. Those will get the pitches you want if not the precise voicing. What's the voicing of the chord from bottom to top as you actually want it played?

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Just some funny stuff about that "quartal harmony."

From the OP's posting, we have the following notes of that "quartal" chord:
A - D - G - C - F.
Now, if we use the same notes but start from the end, we'll have the following "construction" of some chord:
F - C - G - D - A
I think, we have a quintal chord.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

The simplest solutions for a lead sheet are G9 sus if "G" is in the bass or G7 sus/A if "A" is in the bass.

Maybe, it's the D Quartal Chord/A(bass)?

 

[elberon]

So maybe the op has been influenced by Hindemith's Mathis der Maler, or not. The notes of the chord can be arranged in ascending P4s and not M/m 3rds so yeah I'll buy it. Good luck telling the guitarist in your band to play an "A quartal" as you're calling out chords on the stage.

 

[BassFalcon]

I

Just some funny stuff about that "quartal harmony."

From the OP's posting, we have the following notes of that "quartal" chord:
A - D - G - C - F.
Now, if we use the same notes but start from the end, we'll have the following "construction" of some chord:
F - C - G - D - A
I think, we have a quintal chord.

all depends on which direction you’re looking at it. 4 inverts to 5, 3 inverts to 6, and 2 inverts to 7.

I feel like this is that skeletor meme where he drops an uncomfortable fact and then runs away, but if you really really wanted to, you could view all chords that are stacks of thirds as stacks of sixths. So…sextal harmony instead of tertiary harmony

 

[Don Kasper]

Quartal voicings have been used (to indicate and define "Tertial Harmonies") for many DECADES in the jazz world.
If you want to spell a Bbmaj6/9 harmony, simply spell the voicing (bottom to top) - D G C F with a Bb in the bass. The bass note is crucial in defining the chord's sound in the context of the overall harmony.
Any student of jazz harmony knows this and any serious student of Jazz piano/guitar/arranging knows this from day 2.
IMFO, of course.
Also too - the voicing "D G C F " is the second voicing (in Dminor!) in the A sections of So What (by Miles Davis) - the first voicing is "E A D G". Listen/Play at a keyboard and "see/hear".
See/Hear at 0:36 below.

 

[SteveCS]

Just some funny stuff about that "quartal harmony."

From the OP's posting, we have the following notes of that "quartal" chord:
A - D - G - C - F.
Now, if we use the same notes but start from the end, we'll have the following "construction" of some chord:
F - C - G - D - A
I think, we have a quintal chord.

And, but for the absence of a diatonic major or minor 3rd, the same notes can be arranged into a 'normal' tertiary chord (of sorts)...

 

[teleharmonium]

To communicate with others I would use dm7add11, but personally I would write a4f, meaning ascending 4ths from a up to an f.

This better serves the rootless nature of the 4ths and that there is no single clear 3rd or 7th.

 

[kevindahl]

Dm7add11/A

I only say this because to my ears the D sounds like the root in this voicing.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

And, but for the absence of a diatonic major or minor 3rd, the same notes can be arranged into a 'normal' tertiary chord (of sorts)

All those notes from a five-note perfect 4th chord are from the F major pentatonic scale:
F G A C D and F

 

[SteveCS]

All those notes from a five-note perfect 4th chord are from the F major pentatonic scale:
F G A C D and F

Hence the F6add9 suggestion back on page 1.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Also too - the voicing "D G C F " is the second voicing (in Dminor!) in the A sections of So What (by Miles Davis) - the first voicing is "E A D G". Listen/Play at a keyboard and "see/hear".

No more theory.

 

[BD Jones]

Everyone is making this WAY too hard. It's an F 6add9 (also notated as F 6/9).

 

[Don Kasper]

From Harmony Theory:

Your example is a perfect - perfect 4th chord.
"Any PP 4th chord that contains two, three, or four superimposed perfect 4th falls into the category of "consonant 4th chords."
The OP example/quartal chord contains five perfect 4th and is a dissonant perfect 4th chord.

With all due respect, this is the kind of Ivory Tower/Ph.D. Thesis BullS*** that drives me crazy in these discussions - this means NOTHING to me and my ears when listening to/analyzing/teaching/playing Music.
I find this type of "thinking" a pedantic distraction.
This is my Opinion, of course, and you, and others, may feel differently.
Sorry to harsh your mellow, Who....(I guess I kind of killed the "messenger"?)
Thanks, for your interest, and conversation, as always.