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What Is the Overtone Series? Harmonics, Timbre & the “Sasquatch Chord”When you play a single note on a piano, you are not actually hearing just one frequency.

You hear a fundamental pitch together with a series of higher frequencies called overtones or partials.

Those frequencies are one of the reasons a piano sounds like a piano, a flute sounds like a flute, and the same written note can have a completely different color depending on which instrument plays it.

And, strangely enough, this is also how we ended up inventing the Sasquatch chord.

One Note Contains Many Frequencies

Suppose we play a low B♭ on the piano.

The lowest and strongest pitch gives us the note we identify as B♭.

But above that fundamental, the sound also contains higher-frequency components.

The first few harmonic relationships are approximately:

B♭ → B♭ → F → B♭ → D → F …

So very early in the harmonic series we encounter:

the root

another root an octave higher

the perfect fifth

another octave

the major third

That is why the overtone series has such an important relationship to harmony.

Hidden inside the spectrum of a single musical tone are intervals that resemble the building blocks of chords.

Harmonic Series vs. Overtone Series

These terms are often used almost interchangeably, but technically there is a small distinction.

The harmonic series usually includes the fundamental frequency itself.

The overtone series refers to the frequencies above the fundamental.

So if the fundamental is the first harmonic:

1st harmonic = fundamental

2nd harmonic = 1st overtone

3rd harmonic = 2nd overtone

and so on

For practical musical discussion, the important idea is simply that a complex musical tone contains many related frequencies at the same time.

Why a Piano and a Flute Sound Different

If two instruments play the same pitch, why don’t they sound identical?

Because the overtones are not equally strong.

Each instrument emphasizes the partials differently.

A piano might have a particularly strong octave or fifth partial, while another instrument might emphasize a different part of the spectrum.

That pattern of relative amplitudes contributes enormously to what we call timbre.

So timbre is not simply:

“This is a piano.”

At the acoustic level, it is partly the result of which frequencies are present and how strong they are relative to one another.

You Can Hear the Overtone Series on a Piano

One of the most interesting demonstrations in the lesson uses sympathetic resonance.

Hold down a higher B♭ silently so its damper lifts from the strings.

Then strike a lower B♭ and release it.

The higher B♭ begins to resonate.

Why?

Because that higher pitch is strongly represented in the harmonic spectrum of the lower B♭.

The same thing can be demonstrated with the F above it.

But if you silently release the damper of a note that has little relationship to that particular part of the harmonic spectrum, it will not resonate nearly as strongly.

This lets us experience the harmonic series physically rather than merely looking at a diagram.

The piano itself becomes the experiment.

Seeing Overtones in a Spectrum

We can also record the B♭ and examine it with a spectral analyzer.

Instead of seeing only one frequency, we see a stack of frequency bands.

The fundamental is present, but so are higher partials corresponding approximately to the harmonic series.

And the bands have different intensities.

That visualizes the same phenomenon we heard through sympathetic resonance:

one piano note is actually a composite sound.

This is also why saying that a note is “just B♭” is useful musically but incomplete acoustically.

Does Every Note Contain a Major Chord?

The lesson makes a deliberately provocative observation:

In a sense, every time you play a note, you are already hearing the ingredients of a major triad.

The early harmonic series contains the root, fifth, and eventually the major third.

For B♭, those pitch classes are:

B♭ – D – F

So the spectrum begins to reveal something very close to a B♭ major triad.

That does not mean that every played note is literally a major chord in the normal harmonic sense.

The partials have different amplitudes, occupy different octaves, and are properties of one complex tone rather than independent chord voices.

But it does reveal something profound:

many familiar consonant intervals are already embedded in the acoustics of musical sound.

That is the real theoretical insight hiding inside the joke.

And This Is Where Bigfoot Enters the Story

The Crypto Chords premise was intentionally ridiculous:

take mysterious phenomena and search for hidden musical structures using music theory, numerology, spectral analysis, and whatever other questionable investigative techniques seemed entertaining.

For Bigfoot, the chain of “evidence” goes something like this:

the creature is called Bigfoot

the recorded cry seems to center around B♭

“Bigfoot” has seven letters, so obviously it must be a seventh chord

Bigfoot is also called Sasquatch

therefore the chord must somehow be a sus-quatch

None of this is intended as scientific evidence.

It’s the comic framework that gets us to the actual theory. 

What Is a 7sus4 Chord?

Before creating the mythical Sasquatch chord, we need a real chord.

A B♭7 chord is:

B♭ – D – F – A♭

or:

1 – 3 – 5 – ♭7

A B♭7sus4 replaces the third with the fourth:

B♭ – E♭ – F – A♭

or:

1 – 4 – 5 – ♭7

The word suspended comes from the traditional tendency of the fourth to resolve down toward the third.

That gives us the perfectly respectable theoretical starting point for the completely disreputable Sasquatch chord.

The Strange Frequency in the “Bigfoot” Recording

The lesson then analyzes the alleged Bigfoot recording spectrally.

If the fundamental is B♭, we would normally expect strong early partials related to:

B♭ and F

But the recording appears to contain a prominent E natural where F would have been the more expected relationship.

Enharmonically, E can be spelled F♭ relative to B♭.

And F♭ is:

♭5

So the investigation turns the ordinary:

B♭7sus4

into:

B♭7sus4(♭5)

with:

B♭ – E♭ – F♭ – A♭

The acoustical analysis is real as a technique; using it to deduce Bigfoot’s personal chord vocabulary is, obviously, the joke. 

Lower Structures and Upper Structures

At this point the lesson moves into another genuinely useful jazz-harmony concept:

upper structures.

Complex voicings can often be understood more easily as combinations of simpler chordal units.

Instead of thinking:

“I have to memorize nine unrelated notes,”

we can think:

“Here is one lower structure, and here is another recognizable structure above it.”

The imaginary Sasquatch chord becomes an excuse to push this idea to an extreme.

Its lower structure begins with the B♭7sus4(♭5) sound.

Then additional upper structures are layered above it until the chord becomes deliberately enormous.

The Final Sasquatch Chord

On piano, the lesson constructs the full sonority from two hands.

The lower structure contains the essential:

B♭ – E♭ – F♭/E – A♭

which gives us the:

1 – 4 – ♭5 – ♭7

sound.

The upper structure then adds more color tones, including a G-based dominant structure and additional notes chosen partly through the Crypto Chords narrative.

The result is not a standard chord symbol you are expected to encounter in a Real Book.

It is an invented sonority.

And that’s precisely the point.

Once you understand:

chord construction

suspensions

altered fifths

overtones

tritones

upper structures

voicing

you can begin designing sounds, rather than merely identifying chords someone else already named.

Why the Joke Actually Works as a Music-Theory Lesson

This is the part I would emphasize strongly in the article, because I think it explains why the video is more substantial than it initially appears.

The ridiculous chain of reasoning is constantly moving through real concepts:

Bigfoot recording↓pitch identification↓spectral analysis↓overtone series↓sympathetic resonance↓timbre↓major-triad relationships in the harmonic spectrum↓sus chords↓altered chord tones↓upper structures↓voicing

So the bizarre narrative is doing something pedagogically clever:

it gives unrelated-looking theoretical concepts one continuous problem to solve.

You keep asking “What chord is Bigfoot?” and accidentally learn acoustics and advanced harmony along the way.

What the Overtone Series Really Teaches Us

The most important takeaway has nothing to do with Bigfoot.

A musical note is not an isolated frequency.

It is a structured spectrum.

That spectrum affects:

timbre

consonance

instrument color

resonance

interval perception

and, indirectly, many of the harmonic relationships musicians use every day

The overtone series therefore sits at an interesting meeting point between:

physics and harmony.

It explains something about both what sound is and why certain collections of notes can feel so naturally related.

Key Takeaways

The overtone series is the collection of frequencies above a fundamental that contribute to a musical sound.

Its early partials produce relationships such as:

octave

perfect fifth

another octave

major third

The relative strength of those partials helps determine an instrument’s timbre.

You can demonstrate them physically through sympathetic resonance or visually through spectral analysis.

And once you start treating those acoustic relationships as musical raw material, they can lead naturally into:

chord construction

voicing

upper structures

altered harmony

Or, if you are sufficiently irresponsible:

a B♭7 Sasquatch chord.

What Is a Line Cliché? Jazz Harmony Explained with My Funny ValentineA line cliché is a stepwise melodic line—ascending or descending—that creates movement over an otherwise static harmony.

The line can appear in any voice, but one of the most common uses is in the bass or inside a repeated minor chord.

Instead of holding the same chord for several measures, one note moves chromatically or stepwise while the basic harmony remains in place.

A classic example is the opening of My Funny Valentine.

The Classic Minor Line Cliché

The opening harmony of My Funny Valentine can be understood as several measures of the same basic tonic-minor harmony.

But one note moves downward:

C → B → B♭ → A

That produces:

Cm → Cm(maj7) → Cm7 → Cm6

The root stays C.

The basic minor-chord identity remains.

But the descending line gives the harmony motion and direction.

This is the essence of a line cliché:

a moving melodic line inside an otherwise static harmonic environment.

Why Line Clichés Work

If we simply repeat:

Cm7 → Cm7 → Cm7

the harmony can feel static.

But if we introduce a descending line:

C → B → B♭ → A

the listener hears continuous motion even though the underlying harmony has barely changed.

That makes line clichés useful for:

creating movement over long static chords

connecting phrases smoothly

adding chromatic color

reharmonizing simple progressions

creating stronger voice leading

And the line does not have to be placed in the top voice.

It can appear:

inside the chord

in an inner voice

or in the bass

My Funny Valentine: A Line Cliché in the Chord Symbols

In My Funny Valentine, the line is reflected directly in the chord symbols:

CmCm(maj7)Cm7Cm6

If we voice those chords so the changing note is easy to hear, the line becomes:

C → B → B♭ → A

The chords do not need to remain in root position.

You can use inversions and still preserve the same descending voice.

That is an important point:

the line cliché is defined by the voice leading, not by a particular chord shape.

Using a Line Cliché to Reharmonize a Static Chord

Once you recognize the technique, you can apply it to other songs.

The easiest place to look is a progression containing several measures of the same chord.

In I Love Paris, for example, there is a passage that stays on Cm7 for several measures. 

Instead of repeating Cm7, we can create movement:

Cm → Cm(maj7) → Cm7 → Cm6

Now a static C-minor area has an internal melodic direction.

Why Start with Cm Instead of Cm7?

If the original progression gives us Cm7, it may seem strange to remove the seventh first.

But we want to use that seventh—B♭—as one of the notes in our descending line.

So we begin with a plain C-minor triad:

C – E♭ – G

Then introduce the moving note:

B → B♭ → A

giving:

Cm → Cm(maj7) → Cm7 → Cm6

The changing note becomes part of the musical story rather than simply being present from the beginning.

Extending the Line into the Next Chord

The technique becomes even more interesting when the line cliché connects naturally into the following harmony.

After the C-minor passage in I Love Paris, the progression moves to:

Dm7♭5 → G7♭9

The descending line can continue into those chords.

Instead of thinking of the line cliché as an isolated embellishment, we can treat it as voice leading that connects the entire phrase.

This is one reason line clichés are so useful for reharmonization:

they can reveal connections between chords that might otherwise seem separate.

Rhythm Matters Too

Sometimes the number of chords in the line cliché does not fit neatly into the number of measures available.

In the I Love Paris example, there are four stages of the line cliché but only three measures of static C-minor harmony.

So we have to decide how quickly the harmony moves.

One solution is:

use longer note values at first

then move into half-note changes as the phrase approaches the next harmony

This creates not only harmonic motion, but also rhythmic acceleration.

The rhythm begins preparing the listener for the faster harmonic movement that follows.

So when applying a line cliché, ask:

How many harmonic changes do I want, and how much time do I have to fit them into the phrase?

Bass Line Clichés and Slash Chords

The same technique can be moved into the bass.

Instead of changing the chord symbol itself, keep the C-minor harmony above a descending bass:

Cm/C → Cm/B → Cm/B♭ → Cm/A

This produces a similar sense of motion, but now the line is much more explicit because it is in the lowest voice.

The descending bass becomes:

C → B → B♭ → A

You can think of these as slash chords: the harmony remains related to C minor while the bass creates the line.

Extending the Bass Line with Inversions

We can continue the descending line even when the progression leaves C minor.

Suppose the next chord is:

Dm7♭5

That chord contains A♭.

So instead of playing D in the bass, we can use an inversion:

Dm7♭5/A♭

Now the bass continues:

C → B → B♭ → A → A♭ → G

The final G can then support the following G7 chord.

Instead of hearing separate bass jumps, we now get one continuous chromatic line.

This is a good example of combining two harmonic techniques:

line cliché

inversion

The inversion is not being used randomly. It serves the larger voice-leading idea.

How to Find Places for Line Clichés

When analyzing a song, look for:

Long static chords

If one chord lasts several measures, there may be room to introduce a moving inner voice.

Minor chords

Minor harmony is especially common for the classic descending pattern:

1 → maj7 → ♭7 → 6

Stepwise connections to the next chord

See whether the line can continue naturally into a note contained in the following harmony.

Bass notes available through inversions

An inversion may allow you to preserve the stepwise line longer than the original root-position progression would.

Line Clichés Are Really Voice Leading

It is easy to think of a line cliché as a list of chord symbols:

Cm → Cm(maj7) → Cm7 → Cm6

But the deeper idea is voice leading.

One note moves while the surrounding harmony remains relatively stable.

That is why the technique can appear in many different forms.

The moving line could be:

descending

ascending

in the soprano

in an inner voice

in the bass

The chord symbols are simply a way of describing what that moving line does to the harmony.

How to Practice Line Clichés

Start with a minor chord and play:

Cm → Cm(maj7) → Cm7 → Cm6

First, keep the moving note on top so you can hear it clearly:

C → B → B♭ → A

Then try:

changing the inversion

moving the line into an inner voice

placing it in the bass

continuing the line into the next chord

applying it to a standard containing several measures of static harmony

The goal is not just to memorize the C-minor example.

It is to learn to recognize opportunities for the technique inside real songs.

Key Takeaways

A line cliché is a stepwise melodic line that creates movement within otherwise static harmony.

A classic minor example is:

Cm → Cm(maj7) → Cm7 → Cm6

which creates the line:

C → B → B♭ → A

Line clichés can:

create motion over repeated chords

appear in any voice

be written as changing chord symbols or slash chords

extend into later chords through inversions

improve voice leading

provide a practical reharmonization technique

Most importantly, the technique reminds us that harmony is not only about naming vertical chords.

Sometimes the most important musical idea is the horizontal line moving through them.

Explore the Jazz Standards Progressions Books →

12 Advanced Jazz Piano Voicings: Quartal, Upper-Structure & Cluster ChordsAdvanced jazz piano voicings often sound complex, but many of them can be understood as combinations of a few simple structures:

quartal voicings

upper-structure triads

clusters

shell voicings

add9 shapes

and carefully chosen chord tensions

In this lesson, we’ll build 12 advanced jazz piano voicings and look at why each one works.

Rather than memorizing twelve unrelated shapes, the goal is to understand the construction behind them so you can transpose them, adapt them, and eventually create your own.

1. Rootless Altered-Dominant Voicing with Stacked Quartals

Our first voicing is a rootless altered-dominant voicing.

The construction is simple:

stack two three-note quartal structures a major third apart.

A quartal voicing is built primarily from perfect fourths rather than thirds.

For a C7 altered sound, start by locating the ♯5 / ♭13:

G♯ / A♭

From there, build two perfect-quartal structures separated by a major third.

The result produces several altered tensions at once while retaining a very open, modern sound.

This is a useful way to create an altered dominant without thinking of each tension individually.

2. Tritone-Sub Upper Structure

The second voicing uses one of the most useful devices in jazz harmony:

an upper-structure triad based on the tritone substitute.

For an F♯7 chord, play the essential dominant structure in the left hand and place a C major triad in the right hand.

C is a tritone away from F♯.

To make the upper structure sound even richer:

play the C-major triad in second inversion

double its bottom note an octave above

This gives the upper structure a strong fourth-based sonority while reinforcing important overtones.

3. Dorian Minor Voicing with Two Add9 Structures

For a minor-7 chord, we can create a spacious Dorian sound by stacking two add9 chords.

For Fm7:

left hand: A♭ add9

right hand: C minor add9

The A♭ structure begins on the third of Fm7.

The C-minor structure begins on the fifth.

The important color note is D natural, the natural 6 of F Dorian.

That note immediately separates this sound from a more conventional Aeolian minor voicing.

This is a good example of how a large voicing can be easier to remember as two familiar substructures rather than as one complicated collection of notes.

4. Rootless Altered Dominant with Tritone-Sub Triad

Here is another altered-dominant upper structure, this time rootless.

For G7 altered, the left hand plays:

F – B – E♭

giving us:

♭7 – 3 – ♭13

Then place a D♭ major triad in second inversion in the right hand.

D♭ is the root of G7’s tritone substitute.

Together, the two hands create a dense altered sound without requiring the root G.

This is especially useful when playing with a bassist.

5. Major-7 Cluster with a Sus4 Upper Structure

Clusters do not always need to sound harsh.

For a major-7 chord, try placing a tight 7–1–2–3 cluster in the left hand.

Over A major, for example:

G♯ – A – B – C♯

Then place an E sus4 shape in the right hand, with octave doubling.

Interestingly, this voicing does not depend on loading the chord with exotic tensions.

Much of its richness comes from note distribution and density.

That is an important voicing principle:

You can make a chord sound larger without necessarily adding more harmonic information.

6. Major-6 / Major-7 Cluster with Quartal Upper Structure

Major-6 and major-7 chords are often interchangeable depending on the melodic and harmonic context.

This voicing takes advantage of that relationship.

For A major, the left hand plays a cluster built from:

5 – 6 – 1 – 2

or:

E – F♯ – A – B

The right hand adds a quartal structure beginning on the third.

This creates a compact voicing with a surprising amount of fourth-based color.

When viewed as a whole, much of the structure can be understood as an extended quartal sequence.

7. Minor-7 Voicing with a Sus-Dominant Character

Another useful quartal-cluster combination begins with a four-note structure built from the fourth degree.

The voicing can place the root of the related V chord in the bass.

That changes the perceived function of the sound.

Instead of hearing only a conventional ii chord, the voicing begins to suggest:

V7sus4

This is a valuable arranging and comping technique because the same collection of notes can imply different harmonic functions depending on:

bass placement

register

voicing

and context

A minor-7 chord can therefore be softened into a more ambiguous suspended-dominant sound.

8. Altered Dominant Built from m7♭5 + Major Triad

This voicing is easiest to understand as two separate structures.

Start with a minor-7-flat-5 chord in the left hand.

Then place a major triad above it.

The trick is to build the lower structure on the ♭7 of the dominant chord.

For G7, use:

Fm7♭5

and place:

E♭ major

above it.

This gives us an altered dominant containing colors such as:

♭9

♯9

♭13

The voicing sounds complicated, but the construction is easy to remember once you think in terms of substructures.

9. Major-7 Cluster Built from a Minor-7 Shape

Here is another way to create a rich major-7 sound.

For D♭maj7, think first of a minor-7 chord beginning on its third:

Fm7

Then add the:

9th

11th

to that F-minor structure.

Placed closely together, those notes create an attractive cluster.

You can then redistribute one of the notes into a higher register to take advantage of octave-and-fourth relationships.

Again, the interesting sound comes not only from the chord tones themselves, but from their spacing.

10. The Same Cluster Concept over Minor 7

The previous construction also works over minor-7 chords.

The difference is simply where the structure begins.

For a minor-7 chord, build the extended minor structure from the root itself rather than from the third of a major chord.

For example:

F♯m7

can use the same cluster-and-register concept.

This gives major and minor chords a related sonic vocabulary without making them sound identical.

11. Dominant ♯11 with a Major Triad on the 2nd

For a dominant 7♯11 sound, one of the easiest constructions is an upper-structure triad.

Play the essential dominant tones in the left hand.

Then play a major triad built on the second degree in the right hand.

For:

B7♯11

play:

D♭ major

in the right hand.

That upper structure provides:

9

♯11

13

all at once.

This is one of the cleanest examples of why upper structures are so useful: a familiar major triad can generate three sophisticated tensions automatically.

12. A Heavy Major Voicing with Low Fifth + Quartal Color

For the final voicing, we want more weight.

Start with a perfect fifth in the low register.

Then place a quartal or sus4-based shape in the right hand.

For D♭6 or D♭maj7, use an F sus4 structure in the right hand and double the octave.

The wide fifth in the bass gives the voicing mass and stability, while the fourth-based upper structure keeps the sound modern and open.

This type of spacing works particularly well when you want a large piano sound without simply stacking more thirds.

What These 12 Voicings Have in Common

Although the twelve sounds are different, the same principles appear repeatedly.

Think in substructures

Instead of memorizing seven or eight individual notes, think:

“minor-7-flat-5 plus major triad”

or:

“cluster plus sus4”

or:

“shell plus upper structure.”

That makes complex voicings much easier to transpose.

Use quartal structures

Perfect fourths create a spacious sonority that immediately sounds different from traditional tertian voicings.

Use upper structures to generate tensions

A single major triad can automatically supply:

9

♯11

13

altered tensions

depending on where it is placed.

Pay attention to register

The same notes can sound dramatically different when:

clustered tightly

spread across both hands

octave doubled

placed over a low fifth

Voicing is about distribution, not merely chord spelling.

How to Practice Advanced Jazz Piano Voicings

The most important thing is not simply learning twelve shapes.

Practice each voicing:

in all 12 keys

slowly enough to understand the construction

from the underlying formula rather than visual memory

inside an actual progression

with smooth voice leading from one chord to the next

Once the structure is internalized, transpose it without referring to the original example.

That is when the voicing becomes part of your harmonic vocabulary rather than just another shape you memorized.

Key Takeaways

These advanced jazz piano voicings use several recurring techniques:

quartal harmony

upper-structure triads

clusters

rootless dominant voicings

altered tensions

sus structures

register and octave reinforcement

The important idea is not to memorize twelve unrelated chords.

Learn how each voicing is built, and you can reuse those same construction techniques to create many more.

Practice All 12 Voicings in Every Key

The lesson includes a workbook containing all twelve voicings in every key, along with the complete progression transposed through all keys and practice-track videos.

Get the Advanced Voicings Vol. 7 Workbook →

Really cool web-view tweak with Firefox "Add Split View" feature to combine two function of PublMe at once. The platform is at beta though yet. With no mobile app so far it is a good workaround to simplify. #PublMe #Education #FAQ

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