As one of Barry's many students I just wanted to chip in. I will do a vid when I get a chance, but here's the basic gist: first of all this is not a Barry Harris concept per se. It's just Drop 2 block chords, which have been used by many musicians including George Shearing and Wes Montgomery. BH would not claim to have invented that - that's swing era stuff as you say. So from that people might say 'so what?' In fact, this is like Exercise 1 of the whole thing. Barry's presentation of the system is much more scalic (and perhaps confusing to people) because it allows more flexibility for non parallel movement. Where the Barry stuff gets really sophisicated is with borrowed notes and non-parallel movement. It can become much more complex. This stuff is just the beginning and there's a limit to what you can put across in 45 minutes...
I agree as well, I hope ppl don't get the impression that this video is all there is, because Barry's actual concept is probably the purest interpretation of "tonality" (not music because there is such a wide spectrum of what we call music, from modality, atonality, and other forms of organizing pitches) Learning how each tonic, subdominate, and dominant interplays with its "brothers and sisters" and how to move forward and backwards between them provides an endless possibility of chord changes that can fill a lifetime of music
Correct. Barry Harris has never claimed to have invented it, and points to instances in classical music where it is used. Mr. Harris has always said that he’s trying to bring to light devices that bop pioneers made use of in constructing their solos.
Barry Harris just passed away last week prob the most influential musical person in my life that didn’t play guitar a true innovative genius who could relate to the common person and with allot of charisma 🙏 🎶
Hi Rick, Like many others, I learned of these two scales from watching various Barry Harris’ videos. He did mention in some of them that the diminished chords were upper structure Dom7b9 chords. It took a while to wrap my head around his explanations. But I think I finally got it. After studying it for a while, this is what I came up with that works for me: I know (as you said) each major 6th is also minor 7th a third below i.e. C6 = Am7. So, I also practice the major sixth diminished scale thinking of Am7 inversions connected by dim7 or dom 7b9 chords. I think of the minor 6th diminished scale this way: Each mi6 chord (also as you said) is a mi7b5 a third below i.e. Cm6 = Am7b5 and is also a dominant 9th (w/o a root) up a perfect 4th i.e. F9. That gives us three ways to practice that scale…...Cm6, Am7b5 or F9 inversions connected by diminished or dominant 7b9 chords. I know you know all this. But I just wanted to share how much these two diminished sixth scales have helped me with my chord inversions/substitutions and solo guitar arrangements. Thanks for your video on these two scales and your views on their uses and keep up your great work!
Just a quick note: in your example, using the tonic C minor bop scale (aka the diminished 6th scale) the F7 would require starting on the 9th (G) in order to 'lay' right in the harmony. Barry also has a 10-note scale (which in this instance would start on the F -- see also Jerry Bergonzi "Jazz Line") which can help this create melodic lines that are consonant with the harmony.
Thanks for helping popularise some of Barry's teachings on your channel. This is the Real Stuff for bop IMO. I'm glad to see his ideas getting more and more currency ATM.
HammerGruvin1 search vids on it but I’ll tell you a bit since a lot of videos over complicate things unnecessarily. Anytime you have a dominant chord you can substitute it for a dominant chord 3 whole tones away or an augmented 4th away. So instead of using a G7 you can substitute it for a Db7 which is 3 tones away or an augmented 4th which is the same. Hope that helps.
The reason this works is because the diminished chord in between the inversions of the c6 is a g7b9,(no root),..making the sequences 1 to 5, 5 to 1 chords which always go together..this is great harmony and has many applications
Rick thank you... The relationship between a minor seven and a C minor seven or C major seven is not always obvious to students... those of us who have played music and studied music for a long time often forget that beginners are really learning a new language.. keep it upSszzz
Wow, thanks, Rick! This one was a big eye opener. For 25 years, my entire harmonic vocabulary (aside from diminished scale harmony) has been built from all the 7-tone scales and I always just assumed that the 8-tone jazz scales were only for melodic application. This video is a game changer for me.
The best way to explain reharmonization is to take a standard with a II-V-I and impose the 6th diminished chords.. Thie key is to rethink each Progression not as a separate chord but move through revoicings of the tonic through movement. If you don’t understand II V I as the underlying source, you are not going fully understand this concept. Over the past few years, however, guitarists have posted some really good videos on this concept.
The Sixth Diminished Scale Enharmonic w/ Ionoptyllic Scale (Octatonic Scale) This scale has two imperfections. ( Ab and B ) Theoretical Modes: C Ionian add b6 D Dorian add b5 E Phrygian add b4 F Lydian add b3 G Mixolydian add b2 Ab Mogyllic Scale A Aeolian add ♮7 B Locrian add ♮6
Found this pretty eye opening, helped me understand a lot more about the thought process of early bebop players. Or to feel like I understand it more anyway. There's this thing that always came up in Dizzy Gillespie interviews that what people now call -7b5 or half-diminished, they always used to think of as a -6 with the 6 in the bass. Anyway, one thing that's always eluded me is how to get this perception of movement into rhythm parts even when essentially staying on one chord. Tried working with inversions but this seems to give a few more options.
also your Donna Lee video gave me new perspectives to work and the Olivier Messian video will take me a few years to get under my fingers. thanks for everything you do. I don't have time to watch your other channels. you guys must be genius prodigies!
One can be very creative with diminished chords, just extending them pretty much can resolve anywhere, its an excersize finding substutions for obnoxious generic dominant 7ths. I am happy that someone like Rick is making sense of this, WHen I see Barry Harris's performaces. he is brilliant at moving in half steps, to form melody, totally gets 'the economy of motion' . I try to use these diminished runs to move through melodic changes (with mixed success), but it should be noted this a one way to come up with maybe some cooler substitutions. I will never be Diana Krall, or a jazz expert, but maybe I can pull off some my favorite Kinks songs with a different take I know basic theory by now, (still want more) and I know what I can do and what I can't. I am old, but inclined to learn things rapidly, keep it simple, everyone attacks knowledge in various, be it Ricks work or Barrys older videos , its all killer. The more you listen to music wise, go to lots of concerts, play with everyone you can, be open minded, figure out what you like and go for it, and keep ego and artsy drama somewhere else
I am eating this up right now wow. I tried glimpsing i to barry harris yrs ago in it went over my head lol. Im goin to study this clip for while u clarified everthing rick love it still need to get ur book. Much encouragement ur contribution is awesome thank u for the education especially us guys that couldnt make to Berkeley lol
I find it helpful to consider this as the "6th, diminished scale", that is, a block scale that alternates between 6th chords and diminished chords. Trying to interpret it in terms of the bebop scale only confuses things. And I would not ghetto-ise the bebop scale by thinking of it as something only from bebop or from gypsy jazz. March composers such as John Phillips Sousa and Kenneth J. Alford used it in many of their compositions. The genius thing about it is that it allowed an eight-note scale to fit nicely within a 4-beat measure.
I don’t know about the scale particularly but the harmony on the scale can be be pretty fun as an alternative to the normal C scale harmony or used with it alternately.
Thanks Rick for a very informative lesson! One observation about something you may have missed - a couple of places it seemed like you played a G6/9 (EADG stack) rather than a G6 (EBDG). It sounds fine but is obviously substituting the A for a B note. I think you do this G6/9 at 15:01 (and a few places after that).
The way i learned it was just the major 6 chord to a diminished chord that had the melody as the top note. Then i watched all the barry videos, but the other way worked fine.
Big 👍👍👍 for pointing out that the actual videos of Barry are really not a good way to study his teaching. Far better is Things I Learned From Barry Harriss, or any of the other ‘Barry Harris Whisperers’. And really big 👍 to you for being on of the few who name a chord’s diminished partner properly, as its ‘diminished leading tone’ chord. Eg the dim chord for C6 is not ‘D Diminished’, but is ‘B diminished’. It really is an important distinction, because the whole reason it works is that B is C’s leading tone. ‘D dim’ is tonally meaningless.
@@xyzyzx1253 Its Barry Harris concept. You just take a dominant b5 and throw a diminished chord on the 2nd degree and you put the two together and you have a scale from those two arpeggios. Can do the same with the regular dominant chords, maj6, min6. There are 4 that work I guess.
I associate Major 6th chords with Swing-Era Sax Section writing (Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" though a few more "Hip" things I. e. Milt Buckner,s Block Chords) as well. Mark Levine's Book also covers this.
to one of the smartest musicians Ive ever listened to please don't ever critique my music because I don't care what anybody else thinks theres only one thing I want from rick Beato and that's his lifes work the Beato book yeah Buddie love yas rick
Hey Rick. Love your channel! Been watching you for years! Just subscribed! Just have to say I think you need to revisit Barry Harris and the diminished 6th concept
Forget which video I posted about specific sections of Jarrett's solo concerts, but after all this talk of George Russell's Lydian concept I may have just discovered what he was doing and what I've been hearing. Dr. Gratz via Pebber Brown's channel.
Rick..You said at approx 12:08 that the chord was C6.. I saw this as a C6 add 9.. I am working from a small phone..so I don't see guitar notes very clearly at times
not only does adding the extra chromatic note in the 7 tone scale create a diminished chord with which to base the 6ths diminished scale or harmonized bebop scale it also creates augmented chords too!
Rick, you are a musical saint. I am a fellow music theorist and teacher, and I can't thank you enough for your educational material. You are a fucking saint. Thank you.
Fun to see you stretch a bit, and have to think about what notes to play ... gives some hope for the rest of us. Wish your keyboard was off to the side, so we can see the whiteboard even when you are playing.
This makes a lot of sense compared to Barry’s explanation, but when Barry plays it’s second nature to him, He just plays…. and any variation of the scale or chords derived from the scale, he makes any song sound more musical. Like for ex. Giant steps on his videos saying that the only way he can hear that musically or melodically (which I agree with, not only with giant steps but other songs as well that he demonstrates using his style of playing.
I don't understand how these are different chords. They're inversions of the I and II so if you make a progression out of it you only have 2 chords to work with (or I and V if you think of it as the G7b5). what am I missing? I see there are some other chords that you can insinuate like Am7 but when you hear Barry actually play chords around this scale it sounds out of this world.
Carl Powell It’s a G7b9 not G7b5. And I’m still working through the concept myself but it seems like the bass harmony is what Barry uses to really make it sound good. Adding a G bass to the ii makes it a G7b9. Adding an E to the bass of that same chord, the relative minor of G, makes it an E7b9, which leads nicely into the C6/E. In fact, the left hand can just hold the E during both chord voicings on the right.
roddil777 I feel Harris has this complete different approach of which I came to understand what he means. Everyone has their way to learn, but however there's much more complexity in Barry's approach. He makes you completely reinvision what a ii-V can actually be in harmony as a logical truth kinda way, but he hasn't mathematical proved it, but he has faith that there's an underlying logic in what he teaches, and it's true that the way Barry sees it is complex to explain. However, it's explained just fine by Rick since he shows things structurely, but this video is only about this scale only, so of course he doesn't continue the complexity of this scale as Barry emphasizes that it is.
roddil777 It is, but there's more to his explanation than simply seeing as melodic scale. He prefers people to see it as a rhythmic scale... In fact his concept is rhythmic with harmonic and melodic nuances in a sense. Play rhythms first, not melodies, by utilizing this scale, even with syncopation, and it'll work. That's just the basics of it at first.
yes, I understand that as well. I am a bassist, so I tend to apply/see these concepts more from a melodic angle for practical purposes. Application of the chording is not so much. But knowing what you are hearing is invaluable. ;)
So, over a ii-V-I in the key of G, for example, I would play the C6 diminished scale/chords over the ii chord and either continue the C6 diminished scale/chords over the V or use the Ebm6 diminished over the V for altered sounds and then the G6 diminished scale/chords over the I chord, correct? Or did I completely misunderstand?
C6 dim scale can be used over the ii chord (Am7) in G major and the Cm6 dim scale over the ii chord (Am7b5) in G minor. So it's in the subdominant realm. Also possible to use the minor a half-step above the Dom7 to get an altered sound. So Ebm6 dim over the D7 in key of G major or minor.
Its high time I put this idea out there so here we go. There are only two scales. Two + their modes. Excluding pentatonic scales, 99+% of all recorded and written music use these scales. IF WE EXCLUDE what our ears (Western ears) hear as exotic scales then there are only two scales. Period. Ok, here we go... When we say "scale" we TYPICALLY (99+% of all recorded and written music) mean a seven-note scale; we TYPICALLY expect 1/2-steps and whole-steps since leaps of a minor-3rd interval are TYPICALLY heard as an exotic interval; we SHOULD think that two 1/2-steps next to each other MUST include a chromatic passing tone rather than three chromatic scale tones in a row; and, of course, we typically don't expect quarter tones. IF you agree then that leaves you with only two remaining arrangements of notes. Period. There are physically no other scales other than these two, given those parameters. Summary: 7-note scale, no m3rd intervals, no adjacent 1/2-steps, no quarter-tones. That leaves ONLY, without exception, the following two arrangements of intervals (I'll use "1" for whole step and "1/2" for half-step): 1 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 (modes from each starting point) 1 1/2 1 1 1 1 1/2 (modes from each starting point) Notice that there are adjacent 1's (whole steps) in groups of TWO and THREE OR adjacent 1's (whole steps) in groups of ONE and FOUR Now, if you try to arrange 1's and 1/2's in ANY OTHER order then you will find that it is impossible, given the rules/parameters, especially no adjacent 1/2-steps. (To flesh this out for you, the whole-steps must equal FIVE total whole-steps in the scale. So its either 2+3 or 1+4. There is no 0+5 since that would necessitate two adjacent 1/2-steps.) What I LOVE about this is knowing, with certainty, that there are no other options. It is a physical fact. No more sense of not having it together or feeling overwhelmed by the idea that there are thousands of scales. Do I love and use other scales? Yes! Diminished, Whole-tone, Chromatic, Melodic Minor, Pentatonics, and perhaps, rarely, others, but my bread and butter (and my seven-course dinner with apertif and second dessert) is these two scales (with modes). OK, now dig it!
Interesting. I got the combinations bit of what you say as soon as I thought about it. The two scales are - major and melodic minor ascending, the jazz melodic minor. What about the diminished scale then? 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 It does have one mode 1/2 1 1/2 1 etc. Obviously the whole tone has no modes.
Frantzes Elzaurdia it really tends to only sound like C when it’s by itself (having a bassist is a different picture). And we all know Bdim7 is just a boneless G7b9
or could you use the same 4 note diminised to be like Db7b9 or E7b9 or Bb7b9. it is nice that it has a couple of tritones in it with all the notes pulling your ear towards the C6
Rick Beato yeah it's just hard to tell what are talking abt without seeing the board also to put it in example like I the gospel song BE Grateful by Walter Hawkins is in this key
thanks so much! from the bottom to top Rick played 1563 on the inside 4 strings. generating 3more inversions exclusive to 1563.A bar across the top 4 strings at 5th fret makes 5136 with 3more inversions. 1356 on the top 4 strings. index 5fret high e string pinky 10 to fret d string generates 3more for a total of 12 inversions. I am getting those down. can anyone help me to do the remaining inversions. ?1356 has stretches I can handle. there must be 24. 1x2x3x4 equals 24. are the others playable? I'm very grateful for every one's input I am learning a lot in my "old fart "phase!
It’s one of those things of being easily heard than explained. You probably been doing this without realizing it. Keep in mind this method is merely a tool among others.
Hey Rick- If it is possible, can you please title the email alerts' subject lines with the actual topic ("GYPSY JAZZ CHORDS-6th Diminished Scale," instead of where the email usually just says "Rick Beato Uploaded a Video"). Thanks in advance and for all your great material!! Best, Elliot
Not wanting to sound like an idiot guitar player who just uses patterns because they suit fingering/picking without thinking about what I'm actually playing, but... I'd been sort of using this pattern of notes to turn all the regular scale positions into 3 note per string shapes, I'd been thinking of it as adding the flat 5 from the Dorian mode. Didn't invent it, just noticed it in Chris Poland's playing. (Just use the extra note once per position and it turns what would have been the awkward bit with two notes on a string into a 3 note bit).
Good video but doesn’t clearly answer a key question: what is the basic use of this for average musicians esp guitarists. Answer.: easily create chord solos (with the top note being the melody) using only 2 chords , the diminished and various inversions of the tonic. This is much simpler than having to harmonise the melody with all sorts of diatonic chords.
It's quite possible you said it, I watched it late at night here in Europe and my attention was already way past expiration time. I shouldn't comment in that state of non-mind. Anyway, thanks so much for the video, I need to rewatch it in comprehension mode.
This video says to me, here’s someone who hasn’t really gone deep in a concept they’re trying to simplify for others. If you want to see how to apply what Barry does, UA-cam Things I Learned From Barry Harris. Chris will give you the real deal.
It's not to do with intervals, it's named after the alternating between a 6 chord and a diminished 7 chord. For example a "C 6/diminished scale of chords" is alternating between inversions of C6 and Ddim7. This isn't quite what western music theory considers a scale, in fact you'll find Dr Harris uses his own terms that sometimes overlap or clash with western music theory, but can still be understood for its internal consistency.
Actually, it's a combination of Bdim chord ( B, D, F, Ab) and a major 6 chord (C, E, G, A, C) or minor 6th (C, Eb, G, A) , when you overlap, you end up with 8 notes, that's all there is to it....but the new possibilities are endless!!!
I know the gypsy scale has the #4,5,#5 and it seems out with the gypsy jazz that you are suggesting with the 5,#5,6. So I'm wondering if there was another tribe of gypsies that accounts for this discrepancy? Even the Hungarian gypsy scale has #4,5,#5, so I can only speculate that Jango was from a different tribe of gypsies, perhaps the French tribe. Which may account for many things, including negative harmony. If negative harmony is the same as apophatic harmony, a negation and search, like the search for the mystical, missing or lost chord (nothing to do with the Moody Blues). Implying the chord is like a looking at a musical footprint, that something has been there before, setting up the structure to suggest the chord (perhaps in the same way that V suggests a I, to use a rudimentary example), but it is a negative... a nothingness... because we can't really hear the chord or what's it pointing to. Other mystical chords, like Scriabin's, would not work. Scriabin's mystic chord has a #4 and, being Slavic or a Russian, he has nothing to do with French Gypsies. So this is like a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. The one way Scriabin's chord would somewhat work is that it contains the 6, and if we stretch our ears and think of literal inversions (not intervals) so that 6 flipped over becomes a 9, then the word "Reinhardt" is numerically equivalent because it too has 9 letters. Therefore, 6 and the 9 are right for Jango and his music, it is personalized. Scriabin's chord make sense hypothetically and we also have to think that French was spoke in the Russian courts. What the French Gypsies and Russians point to with that chord can't be vocalized anymore than Theosophy can be vocalized. That is why music is so personal and the pathway to God is through everything from classical to gypsy, though gypsy is on the ground coming up and classical is on Mount Olympus coming down. It's the difference between reading the Gospel of Luke (ground up to divinity) and Gospel of John (divinity pouring itself into the world).
I will say my favorite composers, did not play the blues, they l would have likely hated dominant 7th sounds and western tritone subs.Most eastern european composers of classical and folks song. I would propose for quick learning purposes for a particular sound, figure out what different tribes and cultures negate and avoid. After that one can come back and figure out exactly why they do that, its theory, its history, culture, politics its bias all sorts of reasons Scriabin definity loved those dark dims, its great material, I am Rimsky Korsakov inclined. What is the best national anthem? It is the Russian one. Lyrics may change the music will not
Ric, you have not grasped the whole concept, this is not at all an old school gypsy jazz bebop thing, it´s a system, and you have not grasped the depth, and the all sounding possibilities, so you can sound like shoenberg, bach, jazz fusion etc, not just the sound that comes from the basic understanding.
As one of Barry's many students I just wanted to chip in. I will do a vid when I get a chance, but here's the basic gist: first of all this is not a Barry Harris concept per se. It's just Drop 2 block chords, which have been used by many musicians including George Shearing and Wes Montgomery. BH would not claim to have invented that - that's swing era stuff as you say. So from that people might say 'so what?' In fact, this is like Exercise 1 of the whole thing. Barry's presentation of the system is much more scalic (and perhaps confusing to people) because it allows more flexibility for non parallel movement. Where the Barry stuff gets really sophisicated is with borrowed notes and non-parallel movement. It can become much more complex. This stuff is just the beginning and there's a limit to what you can put across in 45 minutes...
All those greats may have used the concept but Barry Harris is more known for teaching it, and no less important.
I agree as well, I hope ppl don't get the impression that this video is all there is, because Barry's actual concept is probably the purest interpretation of "tonality" (not music because there is such a wide spectrum of what we call music, from modality, atonality, and other forms of organizing pitches)
Learning how each tonic, subdominate, and dominant interplays with its "brothers and sisters" and how to move forward and backwards between them provides an endless possibility of chord changes that can fill a lifetime of music
Td
Correct. Barry Harris has never claimed to have invented it, and points to instances in classical music where it is used. Mr. Harris has always said that he’s trying to bring to light devices that bop pioneers made use of in constructing their solos.
Barry Harris just passed away last week prob the most influential musical person in my life that didn’t play guitar a true innovative genius who could relate to the common person and with allot of charisma 🙏 🎶
Hi Rick, Like many others, I learned of these two scales from watching various Barry Harris’ videos. He did mention in some of them that the diminished chords were upper structure Dom7b9 chords. It took a while to wrap my head around his explanations. But I think I finally got it. After studying it for a while, this is what I came up with that works for me:
I know (as you said) each major 6th is also minor 7th a third below i.e. C6 = Am7. So, I also practice the major sixth diminished scale thinking of Am7 inversions connected by dim7 or dom 7b9 chords.
I think of the minor 6th diminished scale this way: Each mi6 chord (also as you said) is a mi7b5 a third below i.e. Cm6 = Am7b5 and is also a dominant 9th (w/o a root) up a perfect 4th i.e. F9. That gives us three ways to practice that scale…...Cm6, Am7b5 or F9 inversions connected by diminished or dominant 7b9 chords.
I know you know all this. But I just wanted to share how much these two diminished sixth scales have helped me with my chord inversions/substitutions and solo guitar arrangements. Thanks for your video on these two scales and your views on their uses and keep up your great work!
Just a quick note: in your example, using the tonic C minor bop scale (aka the diminished 6th scale) the F7 would require starting on the 9th (G) in order to 'lay' right in the harmony. Barry also has a 10-note scale (which in this instance would start on the F -- see also Jerry Bergonzi "Jazz Line") which can help this create melodic lines that are consonant with the harmony.
Thanks for helping popularise some of Barry's teachings on your channel. This is the Real Stuff for bop IMO. I'm glad to see his ideas getting more and more currency ATM.
This is a "noob"question but II have to ask...what is a tri-tone substitution....is it applicable to this topic....?
HammerGruvin1 search vids on it but I’ll tell you a bit since a lot of videos over complicate things unnecessarily. Anytime you have a dominant chord you can substitute it for a dominant chord 3 whole tones away or an augmented 4th away. So instead of using a G7 you can substitute it for a Db7 which is 3 tones away or an augmented 4th which is the same. Hope that helps.
I love everything you do
It’s a gold mine
Thanks for decoding things in a way a normal person can understand
Now I can actually use this stuff
so true Gary
most of it goes right over my head, even sitting with it for days... A good teacher can only teach a good student?
The reason this works is because the diminished chord in between the inversions of the c6 is a g7b9,(no root),..making the sequences 1 to 5, 5 to 1 chords which always go together..this is great harmony and has many applications
Rick thank you... The relationship between a minor seven and a C minor seven or C major seven is not always obvious to students... those of us who have played music and studied music for a long time often forget that beginners are really learning a new language.. keep it upSszzz
Wow, thanks, Rick! This one was a big eye opener. For 25 years, my entire harmonic vocabulary (aside from diminished scale harmony) has been built from all the 7-tone scales and I always just assumed that the 8-tone jazz scales were only for melodic application. This video is a game changer for me.
The same occurs to me
Love how you can pop up through the related keys via dim7 with this scale: C6 Do7 Eb6 Fo7 Gb6 G#o7 A6 Bo7 C6
Cm6 is 1st chord?
The best way to explain reharmonization is to take a standard with a II-V-I and impose the 6th diminished chords.. Thie key is to rethink each Progression not as a separate chord but move through revoicings of the tonic through movement. If you don’t understand II V I as the underlying source, you are not going fully understand this concept. Over the past few years, however, guitarists have posted some really good videos on this concept.
The Sixth Diminished Scale
Enharmonic w/ Ionoptyllic Scale (Octatonic Scale)
This scale has two imperfections. ( Ab and B )
Theoretical Modes:
C Ionian add b6
D Dorian add b5
E Phrygian add b4
F Lydian add b3
G Mixolydian add b2
Ab Mogyllic Scale
A Aeolian add ♮7
B Locrian add ♮6
Jari Satta fancy names and I learned nothing.
B E B O P S C A L E
Found this pretty eye opening, helped me understand a lot more about the thought process of early bebop players. Or to feel like I understand it more anyway.
There's this thing that always came up in Dizzy Gillespie interviews that what people now call -7b5 or half-diminished, they always used to think of as a -6 with the 6 in the bass.
Anyway, one thing that's always eluded me is how to get this perception of movement into rhythm parts even when essentially staying on one chord. Tried working with inversions but this seems to give a few more options.
also your Donna Lee video gave me new perspectives to work and the Olivier Messian video will take me a few years to get under my fingers. thanks for everything you do. I don't have time to watch your other channels. you guys must be genius prodigies!
Great video and thorough explanations for both piano and guitar! 🎯💯🎉♥️💥☀️
One can be very creative with diminished chords, just extending them pretty much can resolve anywhere, its an excersize finding substutions for obnoxious generic dominant 7ths. I am happy that someone like Rick is making sense of this,
WHen I see Barry Harris's performaces. he is brilliant at moving in half steps, to form melody, totally gets 'the economy of motion' . I try to use these diminished runs to move through melodic changes (with mixed success), but it should be noted this a one way to come up with maybe some cooler substitutions. I will never be Diana Krall, or a jazz expert, but maybe I can pull off some my favorite Kinks songs with a different take
I know basic theory by now, (still want more) and I know what I can do and what I can't. I am old, but inclined to learn things rapidly, keep it simple, everyone attacks knowledge in various, be it Ricks work or Barrys older videos , its all killer. The more you listen to music wise, go to lots of concerts, play with everyone you can, be open minded, figure out what you like and go for it, and keep ego and artsy drama somewhere else
This was great. Those C minor piano lines are gypsy jazz guitar arpeggios. Thx for all you do.
I am eating this up right now wow. I tried glimpsing i to barry harris yrs ago in it went over my head lol. Im goin to study this clip for while u clarified everthing rick love it still need to get ur book. Much encouragement ur contribution is awesome thank u for the education especially us guys that couldnt make to Berkeley lol
I have been just listening to Jango and wondered what scale and chords one uses. Saved me a ton of time. Thanks Rick
Great video on the subject. This concept is even better when paired with the ergonomic chord voicings used by Django.
Rick this bill Evans Barry Harris style concept freed me up well on piano bro
Rick gives a simple explanation and application of Barry Harris' complicated 6th diminished concept.
I find it helpful to consider this as the "6th, diminished scale", that is, a block scale that alternates between 6th chords and diminished chords. Trying to interpret it in terms of the bebop scale only confuses things. And I would not ghetto-ise the bebop scale by thinking of it as something only from bebop or from gypsy jazz. March composers such as John Phillips Sousa and Kenneth J. Alford used it in many of their compositions. The genius thing about it is that it allowed an eight-note scale to fit nicely within a 4-beat measure.
I learned this from Barry Harris' lesson.
Represent !
Represent !
I don’t know about the scale particularly but the harmony on the scale can be be pretty fun as an alternative to the normal C scale harmony or used with it alternately.
Thanks Rick for a very informative lesson! One observation about something you may have missed - a couple of places it seemed like you played a G6/9 (EADG stack) rather than a G6 (EBDG). It sounds fine but is obviously substituting the A for a B note. I think you do this G6/9 at 15:01 (and a few places after that).
+Peter Schwimmer Good ear! I did it because I was improvising :)
Awesome! Beato strikes again!
mind blown , now i have to start over... back to woodshed.
Thanks Rick you've really opened up theory for me! This was a really helpful and informative video
Great video. I miss 2014-17 Rick
The way i learned it was just the major 6 chord to a diminished chord that had the melody as the top note. Then i watched all the barry videos, but the other way worked fine.
Rick I love all your videos, but I think it's really important to see what you're playing when you teach on the keyboard. Best regards.
Big 👍👍👍 for pointing out that the actual videos of Barry are really not a good way to study his teaching. Far better is Things I Learned From Barry Harriss, or any of the other ‘Barry Harris Whisperers’.
And really big 👍 to you for being on of the few who name a chord’s diminished partner properly, as its ‘diminished leading tone’ chord. Eg the dim chord for C6 is not ‘D Diminished’, but is ‘B diminished’. It really is an important distinction, because the whole reason it works is that B is C’s leading tone. ‘D dim’ is tonally meaningless.
Yeah ty thanjs for the comment
You can also do this type of concept with dominant chords or dominant flat 5.
What do you mean? That sounds really interesting. C6 dominant flat nine? And then repeat the rest of the scale that way?
@@xyzyzx1253 Its Barry Harris concept. You just take a dominant b5 and throw a diminished chord on the 2nd degree and you put the two together and you have a scale from those two arpeggios. Can do the same with the regular dominant chords, maj6, min6. There are 4 that work I guess.
I associate Major 6th chords with Swing-Era Sax Section writing (Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" though a few more "Hip" things I. e. Milt Buckner,s Block Chords) as well.
Mark Levine's Book also covers this.
to one of the smartest musicians Ive ever listened to please don't ever critique my music because I don't care what anybody else thinks theres only one thing I want from rick Beato and that's his lifes work the Beato book yeah Buddie love yas rick
This video is soooo good
Great lesson. Thanks Rick from here (France)
You should check out Kent Hewitt, he did a tutorial on this a while back that was very clear and interesting
Beautiful
I did see a vid about this concept with Barry Harris, and found it interesting, thinking I would need to dig into it someday. Thanks, Rick.
Hey Rick. Love your channel! Been watching you for years! Just subscribed! Just have to say I think you need to revisit Barry Harris and the diminished 6th concept
That chords changes reminds me a little bit..a kind of music from Brasil...called Choro.
rsrsrsrsrs adoro Chorinhos!
like Odeon..for exemple
Odeon is great tune! I love Choros... Yeah it's that old school harmony...
Forget which video I posted about specific sections of Jarrett's solo concerts, but after all this talk of George Russell's Lydian concept I may have just discovered what he was doing and what I've been hearing.
Dr. Gratz via Pebber Brown's channel.
Rick..You said at approx 12:08 that the chord was C6.. I saw this as a C6 add 9.. I am working from a small phone..so I don't see guitar notes very clearly at times
It’s so eerie
thank you for this, Signor Beato! Great conceptual approaches...
not only does adding the extra chromatic note in the 7 tone scale create a diminished chord with which to base the 6ths diminished scale or harmonized bebop scale it also creates augmented chords too!
that first little bit you played on piano is so pretty. I rewinded it about five times in a row.
Great video as ususal Rick! At 15:15 you play Bmin but shlouldn´t be 2nd inversion of E instead?
more great informative info from Rick!
Love it! Will practice them with piano today!
Rick, you are a musical saint. I am a fellow music theorist and teacher, and I can't thank you enough for your educational material. You are a fucking saint. Thank you.
So many smart Alecs on these comments. Let them do their own videos.
I like Rick's teaching. So other teachers are available......and so what.
Harmonizes the major and minor and melodic minor Bebop scales.
Fun to see you stretch a bit, and have to think about what notes to play ... gives some hope for the rest of us. Wish your keyboard was off to the side, so we can see the whiteboard even when you are playing.
This makes a lot of sense compared to Barry’s explanation, but when Barry plays it’s second nature to him, He just plays…. and any variation of the scale or chords derived from the scale, he makes any song sound more musical. Like for ex. Giant steps on his videos saying that the only way he can hear that musically or melodically (which I agree with, not only with giant steps but other songs as well that he demonstrates using his style of playing.
Coltrane is known for obsessive practicing. I think it's possible he went through the entire book.
You should call the new channel "Rick Beato minor ii"
You play the wrong chord at 15:14. You was supposed to play that next G6 but you played a b minor. And you did a g 6 with a 9 to start.
you are watching this great old video after watching several recent ones on the same subject.
I don't understand how these are different chords. They're inversions of the I and II so if you make a progression out of it you only have 2 chords to work with (or I and V if you think of it as the G7b5). what am I missing?
I see there are some other chords that you can insinuate like Am7 but when you hear Barry actually play chords around this scale it sounds out of this world.
Carl Powell It’s a G7b9 not G7b5. And I’m still working through the concept myself but it seems like the bass harmony is what Barry uses to really make it sound good.
Adding a G bass to the ii makes it a G7b9. Adding an E to the bass of that same chord, the relative minor of G, makes it an E7b9, which leads nicely into the C6/E. In fact, the left hand can just hold the E during both chord voicings on the right.
should that III chord in the C-6 diminished harmonization be C-/Eb ?
great video by the way. I have seen the Barry Harris videos , and yes it isn't explained that great. You do a very good job of explaining it.
roddil777 I feel Harris has this complete different approach of which I came to understand what he means. Everyone has their way to learn, but however there's much more complexity in Barry's approach. He makes you completely reinvision what a ii-V can actually be in harmony as a logical truth kinda way, but he hasn't mathematical proved it, but he has faith that there's an underlying logic in what he teaches, and it's true that the way Barry sees it is complex to explain. However, it's explained just fine by Rick since he shows things structurely, but this video is only about this scale only, so of course he doesn't continue the complexity of this scale as Barry emphasizes that it is.
the scale, C 6th diminished... I know it also as a C Bebop Major scale.
roddil777 It is, but there's more to his explanation than simply seeing as melodic scale. He prefers people to see it as a rhythmic scale... In fact his concept is rhythmic with harmonic and melodic nuances in a sense. Play rhythms first, not melodies, by utilizing this scale, even with syncopation, and it'll work. That's just the basics of it at first.
yes, I understand that as well. I am a bassist, so I tend to apply/see these concepts more from a melodic angle for practical purposes. Application of the chording is not so much. But knowing what you are hearing is invaluable. ;)
you're such a clever music teacher,, I do pay attention & care very much about understanding the nuts & bolts of music.. OH ,,, & ,,, I'm a Taurus ..
are there any other scales that lend themselves to this effective of a chord scale?
All :)
So, over a ii-V-I in the key of G, for example, I would play the C6 diminished scale/chords over the ii chord and either continue the C6 diminished scale/chords over the V or use the Ebm6 diminished over the V for altered sounds and then the G6 diminished scale/chords over the I chord, correct? Or did I completely misunderstand?
hey Rick. will you consider doing a video about the ornette Coleman concept called harmelodics?
Hello Old Skool Rick! Has the 6th diminished scale video had a reboot since this one? If not, might be about time :D
it's like having a LIVE Bee in your BRAIN!
Barry's Concepcion alive hahaha!!!
So helpful
Good for chordal soloing! How do you use these 6th dim scales concept in a II V I, major and minor?
C6 dim scale can be used over the ii chord (Am7) in G major and the Cm6 dim scale over the ii chord (Am7b5) in G minor. So it's in the subdominant realm. Also possible to use the minor a half-step above the Dom7 to get an altered sound. So Ebm6 dim over the D7 in key of G major or minor.
mdmellis thanks a lot!
mdmellis, I can't like this enough!
Don’t forget the 6th on the 5th and the dom7b5 dim !!!!
Its high time I put this idea out there so here we go.
There are only two scales. Two + their modes. Excluding pentatonic scales, 99+% of all recorded and written music use these scales. IF WE EXCLUDE what our ears (Western ears) hear as exotic scales then there are only two scales. Period. Ok, here we go... When we say "scale" we TYPICALLY (99+% of all recorded and written music) mean a seven-note scale; we TYPICALLY expect 1/2-steps and whole-steps since leaps of a minor-3rd interval are TYPICALLY heard as an exotic interval; we SHOULD think that two 1/2-steps next to each other MUST include a chromatic passing tone rather than three chromatic scale tones in a row; and, of course, we typically don't expect quarter tones. IF you agree then that leaves you with only two remaining arrangements of notes. Period. There are physically no other scales other than these two, given those parameters. Summary: 7-note scale, no m3rd intervals, no adjacent 1/2-steps, no quarter-tones. That leaves ONLY, without exception, the following two arrangements of intervals (I'll use "1" for whole step and "1/2" for half-step):
1 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 (modes from each starting point)
1 1/2 1 1 1 1 1/2 (modes from each starting point)
Notice that there are adjacent 1's (whole steps) in groups of TWO and THREE OR
adjacent 1's (whole steps) in groups of ONE and FOUR
Now, if you try to arrange 1's and 1/2's in ANY OTHER order then you will find that it is impossible, given the rules/parameters, especially no adjacent 1/2-steps. (To flesh this out for you, the whole-steps must equal FIVE total whole-steps in the scale. So its either 2+3 or 1+4. There is no 0+5 since that would necessitate two adjacent 1/2-steps.)
What I LOVE about this is knowing, with certainty, that there are no other options. It is a physical fact. No more sense of not having it together or feeling overwhelmed by the idea that there are thousands of scales. Do I love and use other scales? Yes! Diminished, Whole-tone, Chromatic, Melodic Minor, Pentatonics, and perhaps, rarely, others, but my bread and butter (and my seven-course dinner with apertif and second dessert) is these two scales (with modes).
OK, now dig it!
Interesting. I got the combinations bit of what you say as soon as I thought about it.
The two scales are - major and melodic minor ascending, the jazz melodic minor.
What about the diminished scale then? 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/2
It does have one mode 1/2 1 1/2 1 etc.
Obviously the whole tone has no modes.
Don't forget the 100's of modes/Ragas of North and South India
basically you're going from C6 🙏 to G7b9 🙌, C6 🙏 to G7b9 🙌, C6 🙏 to G7b9 🙌, C6 🙏 to G7b9 🙌, C6 🙏 to G7b9 🙌.
or C6 to Bdim7 etc. OR even Abdim7 to Amin7
Frantzes Elzaurdia it really tends to only sound like C when it’s by itself (having a bassist is a different picture). And we all know Bdim7 is just a boneless G7b9
haha underrated comment.
or could you use the same 4 note diminised to be like Db7b9 or E7b9 or Bb7b9. it is nice that it has a couple of tritones in it with all the notes pulling your ear towards the C6
Aaron et al are lost. Whole thing went over his head. Lol
I wish u would have showed the piano fingerings like you did with the guitar!
I will do a more detailed one with an overhead shot.
Rick Beato yeah it's just hard to tell what are talking abt without seeing the board also to put it in example like I the gospel song BE Grateful by Walter Hawkins is in this key
Hey rick, can you do a sound off with a film composer like bryan tyler or hans zimmer?
thanks so much! from the bottom to top Rick played 1563 on the inside 4 strings. generating 3more inversions exclusive to 1563.A bar across the top 4 strings at 5th fret makes 5136 with 3more inversions. 1356 on the top 4 strings. index 5fret high e string pinky 10 to fret d string generates 3more for a total of 12 inversions. I am getting those down. can anyone help me to do the remaining inversions. ?1356 has stretches I can handle. there must be 24. 1x2x3x4 equals 24. are the others playable? I'm very grateful for every one's input I am learning a lot in my "old fart "phase!
It’s one of those things of being easily heard than explained. You probably been doing this without realizing it. Keep in mind this method is merely a tool among others.
Hey Rick- If it is possible, can you please title the email alerts' subject lines with the actual topic ("GYPSY JAZZ CHORDS-6th Diminished Scale," instead of where the email usually just says "Rick Beato Uploaded a Video"). Thanks in advance and for all your great material!! Best, Elliot
woah hey that's pretty sick
Not wanting to sound like an idiot guitar player who just uses patterns because they suit fingering/picking without thinking about what I'm actually playing, but... I'd been sort of using this pattern of notes to turn all the regular scale positions into 3 note per string shapes, I'd been thinking of it as adding the flat 5 from the Dorian mode. Didn't invent it, just noticed it in Chris Poland's playing.
(Just use the extra note once per position and it turns what would have been the awkward bit with two notes on a string into a 3 note bit).
13:00 sounds like the end of a Disney movie
Good video but doesn’t clearly answer a key question: what is the basic use of this for average musicians esp guitarists. Answer.: easily create chord solos (with the top note being the melody) using only 2 chords , the diminished and various inversions of the tonic. This is much simpler than having to harmonise the melody with all sorts of diatonic chords.
I thought that was Rick in the picture. Lol. I'm trying to understand this Barry Harris concept and it's almost clicking kind of.
19:06 - 19:10 reminds me of the chords before the main theme of Debussy`s Claire de Lune. =) Great lesson btw!
Right, it's the same progression!
Nick dont turn away from the mike and spea, cant hear you xx
@3:45
You have a exercise (progression) that uses these chords
29:50 can someone get him a guitar stand or a bean bag to set the thing on? Jeeezus
It sounds more like the bebop major scale, not bebop dominant scale
+vecernicek2 that's really what it is. I think I said it at one point
It's quite possible you said it, I watched it late at night here in Europe and my attention was already way past expiration time. I shouldn't comment in that state of non-mind. Anyway, thanks so much for the video, I need to rewatch it in comprehension mode.
This video says to me, here’s someone who hasn’t really gone deep in a concept they’re trying to simplify for others. If you want to see how to apply what Barry does, UA-cam Things I Learned From Barry Harris. Chris will give you the real deal.
Sea sick? Yes a little bit.. excuse me while I hurl over the side of the jazz dingy into the murky waves of diminished disharmony (bleeurghhh)
Rick Beato 2 Channel: ua-cam.com/channels/cp-HjtmTMeIJ-0RrSHSGLA.html
Hi Rick, Have you ever covered Triad Pairs in video?
+MusicByPeteGonzales i've covered triads in pairs in a couple videos but not in depth. I will do it soon!
Awesome, thanks for all the hard work!!
Thanks you rock!
still wondering why it's call 6th diminished instead of minor 6th, because diminished 6th would be a 5th.
It's not to do with intervals, it's named after the alternating between a 6 chord and a diminished 7 chord. For example a "C 6/diminished scale of chords" is alternating between inversions of C6 and Ddim7. This isn't quite what western music theory considers a scale, in fact you'll find Dr Harris uses his own terms that sometimes overlap or clash with western music theory, but can still be understood for its internal consistency.
Actually, it's a combination of Bdim chord ( B, D, F, Ab) and a major 6 chord (C, E, G, A, C) or minor 6th (C, Eb, G, A) , when you overlap, you end up with 8 notes, that's all there is to it....but the new possibilities are endless!!!
I know the gypsy scale has the #4,5,#5 and it seems out with the gypsy jazz that you are suggesting with the 5,#5,6. So I'm wondering if there was another tribe of gypsies that accounts for this discrepancy? Even the Hungarian gypsy scale has #4,5,#5, so I can only speculate that Jango was from a different tribe of gypsies, perhaps the French tribe. Which may account for many things, including negative harmony. If negative harmony is the same as apophatic harmony, a negation and search, like the search for the mystical, missing or lost chord (nothing to do with the Moody Blues). Implying the chord is like a looking at a musical footprint, that something has been there before, setting up the structure to suggest the chord (perhaps in the same way that V suggests a I, to use a rudimentary example), but it is a negative... a nothingness... because we can't really hear the chord or what's it pointing to. Other mystical chords, like Scriabin's, would not work. Scriabin's mystic chord has a #4 and, being Slavic or a Russian, he has nothing to do with French Gypsies. So this is like a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. The one way Scriabin's chord would somewhat work is that it contains the 6, and if we stretch our ears and think of literal inversions (not intervals) so that 6 flipped over becomes a 9, then the word "Reinhardt" is numerically equivalent because it too has 9 letters. Therefore, 6 and the 9 are right for Jango and his music, it is personalized. Scriabin's chord make sense hypothetically and we also have to think that French was spoke in the Russian courts. What the French Gypsies and Russians point to with that chord can't be vocalized anymore than Theosophy can be vocalized. That is why music is so personal and the pathway to God is through everything from classical to gypsy, though gypsy is on the ground coming up and classical is on Mount Olympus coming down. It's the difference between reading the Gospel of Luke (ground up to divinity) and Gospel of John (divinity pouring itself into the world).
I will say my favorite composers, did not play the blues, they l would have likely hated dominant 7th sounds and western tritone subs.Most eastern european composers of classical and folks song. I would propose for quick learning purposes for a particular sound, figure out what different tribes and cultures negate and avoid. After that one can come back and figure out exactly why they do that, its theory, its history, culture, politics its bias all sorts of reasons
Scriabin definity loved those dark dims, its great material, I am Rimsky Korsakov inclined. What is the best national anthem? It is the Russian one. Lyrics may change the music will not
Remember, Django's favorite composers were Bach and Debussy.
Barry Harris!! :D
You didn't talk about modulations though.
Ric, you have not grasped the whole concept, this is not at all an old school gypsy jazz bebop thing, it´s a system, and you have not grasped the depth, and the all sounding possibilities, so you can sound like shoenberg, bach, jazz fusion etc, not just the sound that comes from the basic understanding.
Please put the slate up higher and to the right.
Your body blocks it.