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I've been holding off doing a study group because I didn't want to saturate the market. But I thought a study group focussed on chords/re-harminization/chord-melody might be interesting to people. I suppose if no one joins it is just a few kb on the server.
I feel A. Kingstone's book is a gold mine, and I notice that there was a call to do a study group on this before. So here it is! I know there is a dedicated Barry Harris thread, but most of it is focussed on single line improvisation. Alan's book doesn't really seem focussed on that (although maybe this study group will prove otherwise). I've read through the book a couple times, and each time I feel like a layer of fog in my brain is removed and I "see" something new.
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04-10-2017 01:42 PM
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I thought that as a format we could walk through the sections, post what we understand about it, and help each other fill in the gaps.
To get the ball rolling, here is my take on the "scales" section of chapter one:
Four scales are presented, although I really don't understand what the last two are for in the context of harmonization and constructing chords.
The Major6dim scale: What is interesting is that by looking at a major6 chord's 4 tones and combining them with the 4 tones of a diminished chord you get all the notes of the traditional major scale plus one note. You end up with an eight note scale just like the seven note scale with the addition of a b6 note.
This is the main building block for building the chords presented later in the book. Lots of questions about that next step, but for this first post I'll just share my observations about the scale itself.
Also, as far as I can tell, Kingstone doesn't discuss how/if you would use this scale to develop single line improvised melodies. But that is OK for me, as the gold in this book is about harmony and re-harmonizing. Single line improvisation is covered elsewhere.
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Next, The Minor6dim scale: This one is built the same way, except with the minor6 chord and the same diminished 4 notes. Again we end up with a familiar scale, the melodic minor, with one addition: the major 6. That gives us the same three chromatic notes: 5-b6-6 we had in the major scale.
This one is a bit less obvious for me. Unlike the minor modes of the major scale, this one is not contained within the Maj6dim scale. It does have more HWH feel that invoke dim in my mind. But my mind just resist a minor with a major seventh. I know that the notion of a minor mode with a minor seventh is actually not that old or common in the history of Western music, but it was what I knew.
The book also uses this scale to build the chords used later in harmonization, although much less. A LOT of questions to follow on how to use these progressions.
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Last, we get the DOMdim and DOMb5dim scales. Built the same way as the others. Unless I am missing something, they are never discussed again in the book after simply being presented. Not sure what to do with them, but there they are. Maybe someone will know more.
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NB: I got the book from a friend who had lost the CD, so I don't have Kingstone's recordings. I have recorded the scales FWIW:
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I spent a summer doing nothing but repeating every chord inversion in every key in every position from Kinstone's book until I knew them cold. Changed everything for me. I no longer even think of them as something separate, they are now just the basis of how I see everything on the fretboard. That book had the single biggest impact on my playing outside of one specific guitar instructor I had in Chicago. Alan come in and out of the board once in a while and is a great guy. There are quite a few threads on the book here so if you get stuck, check them out. Enjoy the book. The time invested into learning the inversions cold is worth it.
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I didn't find a lot of threads about the book when I searched, but that is the way of searching on a forum I guess. I hope a systematic study group going through the book methodically doesn't come across as duplicative. In any case, I hope you stick around and share what you learned as the study group works through the material. Assuming other people join in, of course
Originally Posted by TheGrandWazoo
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Alan's book is about chords rather than single lines, I understand there is another whole Barry Harris method about that.
Anyway here's something I posted before which you might find useful:
Barry Harris chord movements - My Romance
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Right. Exactly! That is why I wanted to start this group. The Barry Harris post seemed more about lines. I know you are an accomplished pro player, so a study group on the book is probably not your speed. But I do hope others will join in. Thanks for the link. Originally Posted by grahambop
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I've spent quite a bit of time with Alan's book and feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the chords & their inversions - what would really help me would be specific examples of those applied to actual tunes. thanks
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I love this idea. I have this book. I started it but did not get very far. I can not commit to another study group but I would like to keep an eye on what you guys are doing and how you are approaching the material. I may jump in later when my workload is a little lighter. If I remember correctly, this is quite a heavy book in terms of heavy concepts that require concentrated work. Originally Posted by rlrhett
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Thanks, I'm just a guy with an office job, not a pro player! I've got a lot out of this book so I'm happy to offer any information I can. Originally Posted by rlrhett
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Yes I didn't really look at these much initially. You could use them to move around on a dominant chord, or a dom7b5 chord. I've used the first one a bit, but not the second. Originally Posted by rlrhett
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You sound like a pro, and that's all that matters. Always love to hear you play. Originally Posted by grahambop
In terms of actually being a pro... we'll that's entirely not about how you play.:-) But anyway that's OT, and I'm sure you kind of know what I mean....
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Originally Posted by christianm77
The difference between you and he is crystal clear--both of you are apparently on B.S.T. (British Standard Time). One is fast asleep, ready for the morning routine of daily mourning (the ritualistic process mildly staring at the cubicle/computer screen while attempting to maintain a faint, pretextual appearance of showing a modicum of interest).
The other is clearly maintaining pro musician (or as the British apparently say, "muso") hours!
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Count me in. Although I've only scratched the surface of AK's distillation of BH's harmony teachings, they've opened my ears to sounds I probably would never have discovered on my own.
I've mainly focused on trying to create sounds I like in tunes like Autumn Leaves. I'll post a video showing a couple of the things I've come up with by borrowing alto notes from the subsequent chord.
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I'd like to get to the point where I can move around within the chords of a tune without having to think much about it.
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Great! I think the next step (assuming no one wants to add something Earth shattering about the scales themselves) is to look at just the chord scale built on the Maj6dim. Like many I love the sound of progressions I can build from it and noodle around with the chords but don't quite understand how to use them to approach re-harmonizing an existing tune or building a chord-melody arrangement. But something tells me there is something truly amazing just beyond the next bend.
I'll post a video tomorrow on the voicings and the overall progression.
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Fundamentally, you're essentially creating V-I cadences all over the fingerboard between the Dim chord and the various inversions of the I6 chord. Tension and release, dissonance to consonance. Plus the subs: sub IV6 for iim7 and V6 for iiim7 etc. Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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Thanks Christian, appreciated. I'm pretty sure I don't have the persistence to be a pro, I'm a lazy sod by nature! Originally Posted by christianm77
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The 'My Romance' link I posted has some info. about harmonising that tune. Originally Posted by rlrhett
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I don't have the book to hand, but if you've seen Pasquale Grasso's videos from mymusicmasterclass.com, he gives a very clear example in the first video of how to harmonise the melody of 'My Ideal' using the 6th diminished scale. Originally Posted by rlrhett
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Here's something cool I got out of the book: Take any of the chord shapes which cover the bottom 4 strings, omit the 5th string (i.e. only play strings 6,4,3), and you have your 'swing/Freddie green' rhythm chords right there.
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Thanks, grahambop! I did read through your post. I do have some specific questions, but I'll leave them for later as they pertain to things like his "major-minor-minor6" concept and his "6th on the 5th" concept that are further along. It's HARD to do a study group when the material isn't laid out in lessons!
I've made a second video for the next section covering the Harmonized Maj6dim. As I say in the video, I think it is GREAT sound that lends itself to noodling while always sounding satisfying. It has much the same feel as the Hamonized 7th major scale. It feels like you could use it exclusively for any key/tonality center and make it sound hip and engaging. One thing that does leave me with a bit of a head scratcher is the dim chord built on the 4th note of the scale. It sounds great as a passing chord, but obviously our ears are far more used to a movement to the fourth sounding sweet and as a close kissing cousin to the Imaj chord. A little further on Kingstone demonstrate a cadence from a I6 to a IV6 with two voices moving. If you were just to stick to the Maj6dim you would never get the IV6. When we get there I would love to have the bigger universe of what is happening there explained. For now, here is my take on just the Maj6dim chords:
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As in phoning people up again and again until they cave in and give you a gig? Originally Posted by grahambop
The master of this is a mister Nigel Price, of course :-) he plays great, of course (and crucially he is a great showman of the guitar imo) but he sinks in the soul destroying hours at the phone and the computer.
I always think of Nige when I moan about it having enough gigs :-)
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