How To Comp On The (Jazz) Blues - Getting Started With Barry Harris' 6th Diminished System: Ep 2
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
- / billgrahammusic
In this episode, we look at some ways that we can apply Barry Harris' 6th Diminished system to a 12 bar blues in the key of F. This is an amazing system that teaches you how to stop playing static chord voicings, and start playing dynamic, 3 dimensional harmonic movements instead. Make sure to watch episode 1 (or at least make sure you understand about the major 6th diminished and minor 6th diminished scales of chords, and how you apply them to each chord quality,) otherwise this video probably won't make much sense. • Getting Started With B... (Broad strokes, on major chords, play major 6th diminished on the root or the major 6th diminished on the 5th. On minor 7th chords, play the major 6th diminished on the relative major, or the major 6th diminished on the 5th of the relative major. On minor 6th chords, play the minor 6th on the root. On dominant 7th chords, play the minor 6th diminished on the 5th, or the minor 6th diminished on the b2nd, or the major or minor 6th diminished scale of whatever key the dominant chord is V of, starting on it's diminished. On minor 7 flat 5 chords, play the minor 6th diminished on the 3rd. On tonic diminished chords, play the diminished scale.)
Barry's system is deep, and it rewards experimentation and exploration, so don't just play these examples I show you. The possibilities are endless. Make it your continuing mission to seek out new chord forms and new harmonizations.
If you're interested in lessons, I'm available over Skype, or if you're in the Atlanta area, we could arrange for private lessons in person.
My book "Chord Tone Improvisation - A Practical Method For Jazz Improvisation: Volume 1 - Approaching Major And Minor Triads" is available for purchase at amzn.to/2UNu9YE
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Table Of Contents
Introduction 0:00
Basic F Blues Chord Changes 0:25
Which 6th Diminished Scale(s) To Use On Each Chord 2:23
3 Choruses Of Comping 10:50
Breaking Down The First Chorus 12:31
Breaking Down The Second Chorus 18:06
Breaking Down The Third Chorus 22:53
At Tempo One More Time 27:35
Wrap Up 29:07
Thanks for watching!
I'm back for my yearly viewing! This is classic material right here. It will be years before I can watch this and actually understand it, but I've been practicing 2 hours a day for 2 years now and I'm getting there. In the end, it's worth it, because my spirit resonates most with this sound.
You’re awesome brother.
Scratching the surface! Love it.
Will need lot of time to practice. A good system, not only chords come out from nowhere like we usually see. Thank you
I'm going to start checking out your classes I think you're really awesome musician
I love you approach to explaining all these things... Great!
Thanks so much Nelson!
Wonderful stuff Bill. Thank you. I've just hand written 3 pages of notes (pun not intended) and that only covers the first 18 minutes. Now I need to go away and digest it all.
I’m back to this video .Lots of good info here,thanks
My experience of teaching harmonic theory for improvisation and composition is that by the time you get two steps removed from basic you've already lost 90% of your "class" and your words turn into Charlie Brown's teacher trumpet with plunger 🪠 mute.
Thank you so much. Great explanation!
Thanks!
Those videos are real deal. No bullshit! Thanks a lot
Hi… thank you for this.
The most practical application of Barry’ system on YT.
It would have been nice to see the chart to follow along, and even more valuable to here the final version with a melody on a separate track to better understand how all this movement flows together with what it is purported to support.
Haha this is why Barry always says you gotta know the 6th diminished scale in every key. Can’t just run the ones you like, his system had you all over the place!
Amazing lesson! Thanks for posting this. Would you consider doing a minor blues video with the same level of analysis and using Barry's method? I would really appreciate that.
How can I reach you sir? Your videos are BY FAR the BEST tutorials on UA-cam 🙏
Hi Bill...I have a question about the tritone sub. Let's take B7 tritone subbing for F7.
Would Barry still use the 7th scale structure in this tritone sub (B7)? The reason is I'm not hearing playing the E natural. I would opt for an F natural but I don't think Barry refers to lydian dominant per se as part of internalizing scale approaches. I would, of course, utilize all half-step rules.
I'm playing these chords and at any point along the path I want to be able to play the corresponding scale anywhere on the neck (guitar). Thanks.
Thank you kindly. "scratching the surface" that is nice to know. This rabbit hole goes very deep !
Is there a PDF of this in your book ?
It goes deep indeed! My book only deals with single note improvisation. I’m planning on dedicating a whole book to Sixth Diminished Harmony at some point in the future.
@@billgrahammusic I hope you do, your ability to explain this stuff is exceptional. I'll buy!
@@billgrahammusic That would be awesome. Please include a transcription of this specific lesson if you don't mind; this lesson is fundamental and I see it gaining increasingly accelerating views over time as this system continues to benefit the voices of the world's musicians.
Thank you Bill - your videos have really helped me make sense of Barry's system and get closer to the style of piano I aim to play. I have taken in a lot of BH's materials, but have somehow failed to absorb that, on a dominant chord, one option is to move through "the major or minor 6th diminished scale of whatever key the dominant chord is V of, starting on its diminished". Now that I'm playing/hearing/feeling this approach, it seems like a piece of common sense, but do you remember if Barry explains this particular point somewhere in his videos or books?
Thanks, great question. I'm honestly not sure if I recall hearing Barry making that specific point, but it seems like such common sense (and sounds so right,) that I play and teach it. It seems to me that if the reason that 6th diminished works is because it's giving us little micro movements from tonic to dominant and back, it should stand to reason that the same would apply on the dominant, moving from dominant to tonic and back. Hopefully some of Barry's students can chime in and let us know whether he talks about that option or not.
thanks so much, i'm the guy who asked for barry harris on the blues (on your reddit post)
By all means. I’m going to be doing a video on soloing on the blues very soon. Thanks for watching!
Thanks very much for this Bill. Some books eg Levine recommend learning a separate 'block chord' scale for each chord quality (near enough). But with this sytem, the minor and major dim scales, and the dim scale itself, will cover almost all harmony?
Geoffrey Packe Exactly. Major 6th diminished, minor 6th diminished, and diminished scale covers about any harmonic situation I can think of. Thanks.
You have the best presentations of this, fairly full and very systematic. However, I wonder if you are aware the verbal tangle. For example, one does not have to "think" Am7 is C6 to play the scale of chords. With the same exact same 8-note, one can "think" alternating C6 and D (etc) diminished, or one can "think" alternating Am7 and B (etc) diminished. It will be exactly the same sounds.
#ivdim resolves to I in 2nd inversion, Professor. It's #vii7 of V. But you know that, of course. (?)
Good Lesson. I just found out that there is a Dominant 7 diminished scale in in the Barry Harris system as well. Would the blues not be a good place to explore that angle as well? And if not, where do you see it fitting in?
I would have this same question in the beginning of when I was learning this method and here's what I've learned over time: it all comes down to which chord you hear as most appropriate for each situation. As it turns out, the more I explore this system, the more I realize all these exercises are really just ear training with application built in. All the scale-outlines Barry teaches are mostly just to help your ear here the range of options before you choose what to do with it all. So bringing it back to your question, and the blues form, you can honestly do a ton of stuff once your ear is trained. I agree with Mr. Graham's approach of using the important minor in the beginning of ear training. But once you've explored for a couple years and can hear what you're wanting, you'll definitely find yourself reaching for other options. Often times I'll find myself playing the important minor while grabbing extra notes that I borrow from the related diminished. That gives me an 11 note scale to use! Sometimes I'll hear the F7dim6 scale to user over the F7 instead of the important minor, so I'll do that. Sometimes I'll just flat out play a diminished scale of a 7th chord, while other times I might play an Ebdim6 scale over the F7, or perhaps the tritone Bmdim6 scale in a place where you wouldn't expect a tritone and can't explain why it works but it does. Art Tatum would do this a lot, where he would allow himself to play what he hears to the point of finding himself often times in strange lands where the only way back is really think fast about what notes would make it all have a smooth return arc. Believe it or not, as structured as Barry's system seems, it actually offers a mind-boggling amount of freedom in deviating into all sorts of chord-substitutions for blasting off into the phrase and then an equally staggering amount of chord-substitutions for your return arc to make it all work out. But it all requires being able to "hear it" which just takes time. That's why Barry's system seems like structure in the beginning but in the end feels like absolute freedom to express what you hear. Barry says "Bird says this, and then he says this, and then what do you say, or I say this". That language I've come to believe actually indicates that he views the entire system as a language of self expression where you're "saying" what you're feeling in your spirit as your inner ear is translating it, so that you can share it with others. Hope that helps!
You can go main chord, dim, main chord inversion, dim on any chord and it works fine. It just won't always fit the 6 dim parent scale which makes no difference.
Hi Bill, do you have the transcript of the 3 chorus. As a guitar player, it will be more obvious to follow I think. Thanks.
I know right? I've just taken to practicing memorizing each chorus sequence through playing it. That way I can do it in all 12 keys and take those learnings across to all of those parts of the language. It's surprising how a simple concept can feel foreign in another key, but then once you do it, you somehow gain access to new learnings that wouldn't have appeared in the basic keys you're used to. Like for me I learned how beautiful it is to play an Am6 dim scale on the 6th of C, instead of always just playing the C6 with the 6th in the bass; and understanding when to inter-change them, based on what I hear. But I wouldn't have stumbled across that learning if I wasn't trying to do the same basic stuff in my weaker keys. In skateboarding they call it goofy-stance when you're practicing your weaker side. But you can learn a lot once you strengthen your goofy side =)
A problm I am having--which is entirely due to my inexpertise, is... I don't recognize all the inversions you are playing. Thus, I can't quite follow you. especially regarding the four diminished chords and the change ups between bar 8 and another one I don't remember. I really need to get all these inversions down. When you use a seven and have four notes you add another inversion, isn't that right? So, do I need to kmow all four and then what about five note chords? Could you pay more attention to explaining what the chords are as you pass ghrough each one?
Monk jumped out of my screen
Lol!
Thinking about this another way - would it be correct to say a minor chord can take the minor 6th diminished scale of its dominant note? Ex Gm7 would take Fm6 diminished.
why did you use Gmin6 over D7b9?
I have the same question. Not sure I understand but this is how I think it works: While starting a iii-VI-ii V turnaround going back to F, you say at 19:45 that while you are on the iii chord (Cm6/Am7b5) you're anticipating a V-i move to G minor (D7 to Gm) so...I guess you just briefly touch base with the Cm6 and then move with Gm6 to Ebm6 (D7b9). Because I'm still learning this system, I would have bored everyone with the Cm6 (Am7b5) until I hit the beginning of the bar for D7. Sorry for the convoluted wordiness but I hope I'm understanding this. Thank you so much for taking the time to present this so well!
Thanks