Official Barry Harris Thread

**David B** · 09-26-2018, 04:35 AM

A heads-up for anyone else in the London area beyond me, Oz and Christian who may read this. Guitarist Ofer Landsberg has just started a fortnightly jazz workshop in Dalston. I went to the first session yesterday. Ofer studied with Barry for some years in NYC and his teaching largely follows the BH method. He's a really good teacher and we had a great time running scales and building lines over 'Perdido'.

Facebook link: Fortnightly Jazz Workshop with Ofer Landsberg

This Tuesday Ofer Landsberg will start a regular workshop at Babel Arts cafe, open to all levels of musicians who are keen on developing their ability to play and improvise over Jazz standards.
Ofer is one of the top Jazz Guitarists in London working regularly across the city so don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from one of the best!
The main focus of the workshops will be on melody, harmony & rhythm.
Using these three elements effectively to improve your understanding of improvisation.

Ofer will run the sessions alongside a rhythm section who will be there to play for all instrumentalists.

The sessions will be held every second and fourth Tuesday of the month, at 7pm until 9pm.
Entry costs £15.00 for two hours.

**christianm77** · 09-26-2018, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by rlrhett

Right... 'Cuz the "me" generation was famous for its discipline.

You want to see practice, you should see some of these little kids taking piano and violin with my daughter. I'm bursting with pride when she gives it 10 minutes here and there (she's 6). We get to class and some little girl about her age is playing Rachmaninoff and getting a "kitty" sticker for practicing 20 hours that week.

Christian has the wrong "oiks", whatever the hell that is.

My oiks practice diligently, but they don’t practice what I tell them to :-)

**rlrhett** · 09-27-2018, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by joe2758

today i did RC with honeysuckle bridge and blues in Bb in 5th ish position. 100-190, then separated scales 200-210. Stuck with my light picking technique, but it doesn't make too big a difference it looks like (though it feels smoother). a little discouraged about reaching my goal, but if we stopped now I could say i brought them up by 20 bpm, adjusted my pick angle, got these in my ear and popping out on the fretboard, played with some dynamics, and removed a good deal of tension in both arms. So still a successful addition to my practice I'd say. No time for chord scales today.

Did you mean to post this on the study group thread?

In any case, if we are talking about "Honeysuckle" can anyone tell me the scales for the A section. Here is what I would guess, but it seems off to repeat the same scale over so much (in Bb):

F7up/down
F7up/down
Bbmaj up
F7 up
Bbmaj up/down to 3rd of G7 (B)

Yes?

**christianm77** · 09-28-2018, 02:47 AM

Originally Posted by rlrhett

Did you mean to post this on the study group thread?

In any case, if we are talking about "Honeysuckle" can anyone tell me the scales for the A section. Here is what I would guess, but it seems off to repeat the same scale over so much (in Bb):

F7up/down
F7up/down
Bbmaj up
F7 up
Bbmaj up/down to 3rd of G7 (B)

Yes?

I wouldn’t bother with the third F7, but you could do that sure.

I prefer an Eb7 there

**joe2758** · 09-28-2018, 08:45 AM

yeah meant for the group, thanks rhett

**Tdoloco** · 10-12-2018, 02:10 AM

Hi everybody this is my first post. I have been reading through some of these posts and a few people referred to a guy named Roni Ben Hur. My question is, does he play in the style of Barry Harris or is he just a good jazz musician in general? I'm asking because before I purchase his lesson material I just would like to be clear on that. Any info would be great

**don_oz** · 10-12-2018, 05:06 AM

Originally Posted by Tdoloco

Hi everybody this is my first post. I have been reading through some of these posts and a few people referred to a guy named Roni Ben Hur. My question is, does he play in the style of Barry Harris or is he just a good jazz musician in general? I'm asking because before I purchase his lesson material I just would like to be clear on that. Any info would be great

He actually did an album with the Barry Harris trio,

Backyard by Roni Ben Hur With Barry Harris Trio on Spotify

He's all about the Barry Harris system, he also had a few videos released on mymusicmasterclass two of which talk about improvising on minor blues and two of which talk about rhythm changes.

**tamirgal** · 10-12-2018, 05:52 AM

Originally Posted by don_oz

He actually did an album with the Barry Harris trio,

Backyard by Roni Ben Hur With Barry Harris Trio on Spotify

He's all about the Barry Harris system, he also had a few videos released on mymusicmasterclass two of which talk about improvising on minor blues and two of which talk about rhythm changes.

Backyard is one of my favorite albums. Roni actually have another great album with Barry called “Anna’s Dance”. Both albums on the top of my list. Also, Barry’s playing there is amazing.
Roni also appears on Barry’s album “live in new york”

I like Roni’ lessons, but i don’t think there’s a better place that covers the basic stuff (other than Barry’s DVDs) than the things i learned from Barry Harris channel:

Things I've Learned From Barry Harris
- YouTube

**christianm77** · 10-12-2018, 06:14 AM

The only guitarist who actually plays in the *style* of Barry Harris is Pasquale Grasso. :-) To the point where I hear his influence - and Bud Powell - more than any guitar player.

**don_oz** · 10-12-2018, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by christianm77

The only guitarist who actually plays in the *style* of Barry Harris is Pasquale Grasso. :-) To the point where I hear his influence - and Bud Powell - more than any guitar player.

My boy!

**don_oz** · 10-12-2018, 07:42 AM

Rhythm changes:

Minor blues:
Roni Ben-Hur (Inside the Minor Blues) - Jazz Guitar Lesson 1

Roni Ben-Hur (Inside the Minor Blues) - Jazz Guitar Lesson 2

But Pasquale Grasso also has videos on my music master class talking about sing 6th diminished and improvisation

**joe2758** · 10-12-2018, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by christianm77

The only guitarist who actually plays in the *style* of Barry Harris is Pasquale Grasso. :-) To the point where I hear his influence - and Bud Powell - more than any guitar player.

yeah well you wait til you hear our own Donnie Osmond in a few years

**don_oz** · 10-12-2018, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by joe2758

yeah well you wait til you hear our own Donnie Osmond in a few years

Joe, your expectations are too high for me haha!

**joe2758** · 10-12-2018, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by don_oz

Joe, your expectations are too high for me haha!

keep at it man. your playing sounds good, you're working on the right stuff and working hard at it, and you're younger than a new born baby

**don_oz** · 10-12-2018, 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by joe2758

keep at it man. your playing sounds good, you're working on the right stuff and working hard at it, and you're younger than a new born baby

It's funny because when I started my jazz studies at university in 2014, I had no idea about anything. The only jazz tunes I knew were road song and four on six both by Wes. Never heard of parker, dizzy, bud any of those guys.

4 years later, still trying to learn how to play good!

**Tdoloco** · 10-12-2018, 09:37 PM

Thanks I appreciate the feedback

**rintincop** · 10-13-2018, 02:08 PM

Why are the " 5, 4, 3, 2 Phrases " respectively name "5", "4", "3", and "2" ? What does each number designate?

(they're "handy get out of trouble" phrases, use them to end and begin lines, also works for Dominant and minor cases)

**jasonc** · 10-13-2018, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by rintincop

Why are the " 5, 4, 3, 2 Phrases " respectively name "5", "4", "3", and "2" ? What does each number designate?

(they're "handy get out of trouble" phrases, use them to end and begin lines, also works for Dominant and minor cases)

They denote the scale degree. The "5" is what you play when you land on the fifth scale degree. So if you're playing a line and you land on the five then play the major seven to the root then the four landing on the third of the key and you can continue however you feel. That's the move on the "5" that he's talking about. Hope that makes sense.

**David B** · 10-13-2018, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by Tdoloco

Hi everybody this is my first post. I have been reading through some of these posts and a few people referred to a guy named Roni Ben Hur. My question is, does he play in the style of Barry Harris or is he just a good jazz musician in general? I'm asking because before I purchase his lesson material I just would like to be clear on that. Any info would be great

In addition to the above mentioned lessons on MyMusicMasterclass, there are three videos from 2007 on Mike's Master Classes – Jazz Guitar Classes , In two, he teaches the BH approach to outlining 'How High the Moon' and 'Confirmation' with scales, before developing lines over the form. In the third, he demonstrates way to manipulate and use diminished chords.

How High the Moon: Anatomy of a Tune – Be-bop Style – Mike's Master Classes
Confirmation: Confirmation – Mike's Master Classes
The Diminished Chord - How to Alter and Apply: The Diminished Chord – How to Alter and Apply – Mike's Master Classes

Roni also has an excellent DVD (which contains a printable .pdf book) called 'Chordability'. He teaches drop 2 and drop 3 chord construction before moving on to more advanced BH concepts such as the six-diminished scales, borrowing notes etc.

Official Barry Harris Thread-51b5ld5rojl-_sy445_-jpg

Official Barry Harris Thread-51b5ld5rojl-_sy445_-jpg

His book, 'Talk Jazz Guitar' is a series of exercises to build facility with the BH "rules" for adding notes to scales, and music more.

Official Barry Harris Thread-41-e0gd5fzl-_bo1-204-203-200_-jpg

Official Barry Harris Thread-41-e0gd5fzl-_bo1-204-203-200_-jpg

**David B** · 10-13-2018, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by Tdoloco

Hi everybody this is my first post. I have been reading through some of these posts and a few people referred to a guy named Roni Ben Hur. My question is, does he play in the style of Barry Harris or is he just a good jazz musician in general? I'm asking because before I purchase his lesson material I just would like to be clear on that. Any info would be great

**M2AX** · 10-17-2018, 05:21 PM

Hi, I have been wondering about Barry's approach to dominant chords. I know that min7 chords are viewed as maj6 chords and that maj7 chords are viewed as maj6 chords and I know the correlating Sixth Diminished scales but when it comes to dom. chords I am at a loss. If anyone could shed some light on this it would be appreciated.

**pcjazz** · 10-17-2018, 05:25 PM

Originally Posted by M2AX

Hi, I have been wondering about Barry's approach to dominant chords. I know that min7 chords are viewed as maj6 chords and that maj7 chords are viewed as maj6 chords and I know the correlating Sixth Diminished scales but when it comes to dom. chords I am at a loss. If anyone could shed some light on this it would be appreciated.

m6 on the 5th of the dominant for regular dominant chords;
m6 a half step up from the root of the dominant for altered dominants;
mix and match diminished notes to taste.

**M2AX** · 10-17-2018, 05:30 PM

Thanks pcjazz.

**christianm77** · 10-17-2018, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by M2AX

Hi, I have been wondering about Barry's approach to dominant chords. I know that min7 chords are viewed as maj6 chords and that maj7 chords are viewed as maj6 chords and I know the correlating Sixth Diminished scales but when it comes to dom. chords I am at a loss. If anyone could shed some light on this it would be appreciated.

Improvisation or harmony (or both?)