guitar chords

Welcome to this lesson on one of the most iconic and modern-sounding chord voicings in jazz — the "So What" chord. Made famous by pianist Bill Evans on Miles Davis’s legendary tune "So What".

In this lesson, we’ll break down how to play the "So What" chord on the guitar, explore its structure, and learn how to move it around the neck.

Whether you're new to quartal harmony or looking to expand your chord vocabulary, this voicing will open up a fresh, sophisticated palette for your playing.

"There Will Never Be Another You" is a popular song by Harry Warren (music) and Mack Gordon (lyrics).

It is one of the most known jazz standards and an indispensable study for any jazz guitarist.

This jazz guitar lesson provides you different chord voicings (drop 2, inverted, rootless and extended chords) on the top four strings of the guitar to comp over this jazz tune.

Quartal harmony is a modern jazz harmony technique based on stacking notes in fourths instead of the traditional thirds. On guitar, quartal chords create open, ambiguous and sophisticated voicings that are especially useful for jazz comping, modal jazz and chordal improvisation.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to build quartal chords, play chords in fourths across the guitar neck, harmonize the major scale with quartal voicings, use inversions and four-note shapes, and apply the famous "So What" chord to jazz guitar comping.

Quartal harmony became an important part of modern jazz during the second half of the 20th century, with players such as McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Bill Evans and Mike Stern exploring the sound in different ways.

The examples below include guitar diagrams, chord shapes and practical applications so you can take these fourth-based voicings directly into your jazz guitar playing.