So What Chord
So What
0 - 5 - 10 - 15 - 19Quartal voicing from Miles Davis "So What"
About So What Chord
The So What chord is a five-note voicing of three stacked fourths with a major third on top — in C that is C, F, B♭, E♭ and G. It is named after the Miles Davis piece that opens with it, and it is the rare case of a chord that entered the vocabulary from a single recording rather than from theory.
Notes and formula
The formula is 0 – 5 – 10 – 15 – 19 in semitones: three perfect fourths, then a major third.
The major third at the top is what separates this voicing from a plain quartal stack. Without it the chord floats entirely; with it there is one interval that fuses, and the chord acquires a top rather than simply stopping.
Where the name comes from
Kind of Blue was recorded in 1959, and the piano voicing that opens So What became a fixture of jazz teaching within a decade. Bill Evans is generally credited with the voicing, and the piece with making it famous.
It is worth stating plainly that the name is a reference rather than a description. Nothing in the notes is specific to that composition; the chord had been available to anyone stacking fourths.
How to play it
On piano the notes are usually spread between hands with the fourths in the left and the third on top in the right — the voicing is designed for two hands and sounds crowded in one.
On guitar the shape is x–3–3–3–4–3, sounding C–F–B♭–E♭–G. All five notes are reachable, which is unusual for a voicing conceived at a keyboard.
What it is used for
Modal comping over a static minor chord. Read over a D bass the same shape supplies a Dm11, and moving it up and down by step gives a whole accompaniment without any change of harmony.
That is the technique the recording demonstrated and the reason the voicing spread: it solves the problem of what to play when the chord does not change for sixteen bars.
Searching for it
The So What chord is the only one in this catalogue whose name is a title. People who look it up have heard the recording or been shown the shape by a teacher, and they are looking for the notes rather than for an explanation.
The notes are above; the explanation is that it is a quartal voicing with one tertian interval on top, and that is all it is.
Frequently asked questions
What notes are in the So What chord on C?
C, F, B♭, E♭ and G — three perfect fourths with a major third on top. On guitar, x–3–3–3–4–3.
Why is it called that?
Because the Miles Davis piece So What, recorded in 1959, opens with the voicing. The name is a reference to the recording rather than a description of the chord.
What chord symbol does it correspond to?
Over a bass note a fourth below the top note it functions as a minor eleventh. On its own it is a quartal voicing and no ordinary symbol describes it exactly.