Barry Harris on Single-Note Jazz Lines

[SeanZ]

Found a book with lots of exercises a la BH approach - /www.amazon.com/Practical-Approach-Jazz-Improvisation/dp/1562242954. It's not expensive and I highly recommend.

On another note, I realize I'm a little 'slow' sometimes but finally figured out that maj6 or min6 dim with their inversions are nothing more than I - V, I - V, etc. Actually after writing out all the diatonic 7th chords in a key, I realized that they all can be thought of as just V or I. I know this is probably nothing new to most of you but it's a major ah-ha for me.

I.E. key of C, BH teaches us that Dm6 is actually G9 w/o the root but D, F, A, & B could also be thought of as Cmaj 7 w 6,9, & 11

cheers

[NSJ]

I Went ahead and ordered the volume one DVD series of four DVDs .

Looks like volume two is where the all the best goodies are, but you might as well start sequentially

[wzpgsr]

@NSJ There's a lot of wisdom in Barry's teachings no doubt, but I think that Barry, as wise old dudes will do, leaves a lot of the actual application to the player. I've got the first set of DVDs, but I see the material as more of a collection of ideas that you will need to take and explore on your own to really apply in a useful manner. Our own Christian77 has done at least a few videos on BH's approach to improv, and I found that they were quite helpful in figuring out ways to apply and build a practice routine around Barry's ideas.

[christianm77]

Concept? Barry tells you what to do and you do it. That's the concept.

The dvds are great. It took a bit of prep to get my scales under my fingers in all positions well enough to do the exercises.

It's made a big difference to my improvisation within the language, and also to my transcription of bop material. It's good to see this stuff in the wild.

[NSJ]

My copy of the first set of the four DVD series just arrived-- it was lost in the mail and Took its sweet time. I watched the first DVD about the half steps and 5432 and I liked it so much I went ahead and ordered the second part of additional four DVDs .

I'm curious how long it took people to go through the material thoroughly .

It's interesting that he says the most important aspect of this music is rhythmic and that's with the half steps are there to help maintain . Also it's clear that any thorough absorption of this primary material instantly give someone a baseline vocabulary of clichés to play that will always sound interesting and help maintain the momentum. I don't mean clichés in a bad way, everyone should have clichés, everything can't be completely original 100% of the time.

" The person who can play one scale that cuts through four chords is better than the person who can play four chords"

Every reputable teacher I've had said it's absolutely necessary to practice scales and arpeggios thoroughly in order to play music, even though music is not just merely scales and arpeggios .

So I never understood the people said don't practice scales. You have to practice scales thoroughly in order to not play scales .

In conclusion, it's clear that when Barry will be leaving this mortal coil, it will be a huge loss for the world .

I'm really glad these DVDs exist . What a fucking genius .

[christianm77]

This is my attempt to apply the Barry toolset to a melodic line from a Hank Mobley solo. IMO the system works perfectly this way around as well. It's pretty striking. What? Did they all study with him lol (no.)

[NSJ]

It just occurred to me that I always learned that you could always play a melodic minor scale and a half step above a dominant, a full step Below the dominant, a perfect fourth and perfect fifth above the dominant.

However, if you measure that against the tonic, the same melodic minor scale can be played on
The Tonic, ii chord , the iv chord and the b6 chord

These chords , as we know have a special place in Barry's major minor diminish chord scale system. The two, four, and flat six are all associated with the diminished chord .

So, no reason we can't play a melodic minor scale there and even interchange it. The world gets more simple, and the musical possibilities increase

[NSJ]

I feel like I've started to *crack the code* with regard to the playing of the *Brothers and Sisters* (Barry's 4 dominant chords associated with each diminished chord).

Basically, to move from one to the other, move up or down a m3, up or down a M6 or up or down a tritone. I.e., treat the dominant chords as if they themselves were diminished chords.

This is sort of what Jack Zucker is also talking about with his "12 tone theory of chord substitution" (Duodecophonics)

It's an interesting way to create a "long line", as one brother scale merges with another sister scale and so on, as you move both up and down and also across the fingerboard.

I thought I would be unemployed and thus finally have time to practice all this, but alas, here I am at work again.
Can't wait to get home and give this a go.