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Quasi Chords ? Glen Halls © All Rights Reserved Quasi Chords ? Glen Halls © All Rights Reserved A quasi chord is a name given to functionally useful chords arrived at only by enharmonic adjustment or by correction. ( correction meaning when flats are resolved as sharps, basically) To put it another way, these are chords which are functionally useful and often familiar, despite their spelling. Quasi chords are typically simple structures which for all intents and purposes sound as triads and four note chords. The classic augmented sixth chord is one such structure. ( For example Ab+6 spelled, possibly, Ab C D F#, the 'French sixth' , and not Ab7 ) Less well documented are false triads in which the augmented second behaves as a minor third. It follows that many of these quasi chords are derived from inversions of diminished 7ths. A variation involves a suspension of some kind which resolves directly to tonic rather than first resolving internally relative to the root of this moving chord. Taking a quick look at the most common functional close tones relative to a C tonic: In the simplest possible sense quasi chords will involve any combination of at least two of the above dominants and subdominants , and typically one of each, which would be of use functionally but would not be spelled as a 1, 3, 5, or 7 of a tertian stack. As augmented sixths were mentioned earlier, let us quickly exhaust this set. Ab to F# (quasi Ab7) is one useful augmented sixth, as is Db to B, (quasi Db7- the so called 'tritone substitute' ) , and F to D#. (quasi F7 to Emi) There is one other possibility- the Fb to D resolution to C minor., or quasi E7 . ( really this can be understood as the bII augmented sixth to the relative major, bIII) Note, it is not necessary that chords based on two or three intervals be bound to a given scale set. This is a larger discussion, but if the functional tones are part of a given reasonable scale it permits 'chord-scale' melodic interest. As a quick and admittedly poor explanation, traditional harmony stops more or less at four tones. We used to speak of 'chord tones', 'passing tones', and 'chromatic passing tones'. This is a reasonable description if the musical texture is concerned with the preservation of line- of voice leading. However, and this development is almost entirely the contribution of bebop and post bebop jazz improvisation, ( I always resist saying 'jazz harmony' ) if voice leading is not an issue it is possible to control progression within large columns or aggregates of pitches, what I tend to refer to as the 'chord- scale'. This is largely a function of speed and rhythm. Imagine the 'sheets of sound'period of John Coltrane. He is playing on large columns of tones, quickly and unevenly presented, - it is difficult in real time to say 'those are the 'chord tones' and those are the 'passing tones' . Rather, we understand the musical surface as the manipulation of large numbers of events, or chord-scales. The chord-scale is a 'gestalt', if you will. So, what follows are the reasonable scale sets which would contain and derive the functional pair of intervals, resembling a conventional triad or 7th chord but spelled differently, which we term quasi chords. Augmented sixths: (resembling a minor 7, say in a 'dominant type' seventh chord.) Augmented Unisons? ( also resembling the minor 7, in inversion) Augmented seconds: (resembling a minor third ) Augmented fourth (resembling the perfect fifth ) Doubly Diminished fifths ( resembling the perfect fourth, perhaps in a quasi second inversions major triad, like B Fb Ab resembling E major. ) Diminished Octaves ( resembling a major 7th, allowing the 'major seventh' to be functional- i.e. not just 1 3 5 and -7) Augmented third Db to F# (resembling a ïsusÍ chord) or the diminished 6th, F# to Db, resembling a perfect fifth . not part of any naturally occurring scale. Try Go(7) or G0(7)sus ( Note, the F# is really a Gb) or * Try a quasi Dbsus ( Db Gb Ab, but functionally Db F# Ab) .
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