Chris, I love these. I don't understand how Barry is making these outlines. This may just be repetition for you to memorize certain songs, but have you ever done a lesson on how to make a scale outline like this for any tune? I know there are basically 4 scale forms used: XMaj7, X7, XMaj7 down to the major 3rd of the relative minor, and Major 6th Diminished with no 7. I know you typically start by going from the root to the 7 (or 6 for minor) up for one measure, and from the root to the 7 (or 6 for minor) and back down to the root (or b2) and rest for 1/8 note for two measures. I can't tell if this is more related to the chord progressions, or the melody. This is also the first tune (I think) where you go up one scale and down another. Can you give us a lesson on how this process works if you have figured that out? Thanks for everything! These lessons have changed my playing for the better! Barry would be proud.
Just wanted to throw this out randomly to see if it relates in any way I wrote a piece where I used the e major scale but the scale had both c and c# I made triads from this new scale And I realized every chord change felt like tonic - diminished - tonic - diminished - tonic - diminished… for ever! Is that related to Barry Harris’s approach? Every chord change had some new colorful and tonal pull to it suddenly
Were your triads E G# B / F# A C / G# B C# ... etc? If so, sure... because every odd number triad (as in from I, from iii, etc) is a fragment of the Emaj6 (E G# B C#) chord and every even number triad (from ii, from iv, etc) is a fragment of the F# (or C)dim7 (F# A C Eb). Barry thinking: That Cdim7 is a B7 chord with an added b9 (and the same thing applies across all the minor thirds - C, Eb, F#, A dim7 = B, D, F, or Ab dominant 7 with added b9) The reason for the tonal pull you observed (compared to just running triads in Emaj, like Emaj F#- G#- Amaj...) is that you're alternating a 'tonic / Imaj6' sound with that Cdim7 / V7b9 each chord change. Tonic-Dominant-Tonic. Barry's method of arriving at this is different from what you built, and his method nests into other things as well (opening doors to the Cmin6 Diminished scale and other tools to use), but yeah man... your construction fits the maj6 diminished! Would love to hear that tune some time.
You might want to discuss the different types of harmonic contexts these triads can be applied. Ex: minor, dom7#11, etc.. Learning a concept without its various applications is fruitless.
love the content! just wanted to let you know the audio is a bit off, can barely hear the vocals and the vocals are only on the left channel, hope that's an easy fix! thanks again!
I've learned more from Chris then anyone..endless things too work on regardless of level..it's amazing the details in fundamentals w can always pull from and incorporate.. 💯
This is a great lesson, Chris. How to create beautiful lines by systematically embellishing the triad tones.The keys to the kingdom. BTW, that is a beautiful guitar. What year is it?
that guitar sounds great, looks great, is it an old Gibson or current production model or something else all together? Once again thanks for the great content.
Can someone point something out to me? I'm assuming that Am6 diminished is from the Parent scale of G Major, being that 1. a minor sixth chord can only exist diatonically on the two chord of a major scale and that 2. the presence of the f#? Second part of that question, is that do the others follow the same logic? Is the G Major sixth diminished scale also a GM6 and. B diminished , and the D7 and D7b5 dimished scales also including the Bdim? And if so, does one simply take the third degree of the associated major scale and then build a diminished from its root?
I should let Chris answer this, but as far as I understand it. You don't want to make these leaps from Diminished 6th theory to Diatonic theory. There is an F in the Am6 Dimished scale -- you can do something called "borrowing" to use it within a chordal context. The idea of sharing the same diminished is what I believe is called "Family". The diminished always falls on the 2, 4, #5/b6, and 7 of the scale (regardless of its quality Major/Minor 6, b7, b7b5) Apologies if this is incorrect ( I will delete or edit whatever is discussed later). One thing though, why is there not a Wikipedia article for this? Seems odd that something so developed hasn't been honored in that way.
You made a leap there, associating the Am6 diminished with the G6 diminished. For the Barry 8 note scales, take your 4 note chord then add a diminished a whole step above the root (you can look at this differently because of the min3rd symmetry of the diminished, but ultimately doesn't matter). Everything from root: G Maj6 Diminished G B D E + A C Eb Gb = G A B C D Eb E F# (behaves like any major scale) Min6 Diminished G Bb D E + ACEbGb = G A Bb C D Eb E F# (behaves a lot like Melodic Minor) Dominant Diminished G B D F + ACEbGb = G A B C D Eb F F# (works well on V resolving to i or I) Dominant b5 Diminished G B Db F + dim = G A B C Db Eb F F# (works best on V resolving to i, probably the least used of the 4x Barry scales) ## ## ## Hopefully the above helps with spelling these? Directly to your questions: 1) even though diatonically a vi chord doesn't have a maj6 interval, that's really the tonic minor sound. Think like Melodic Minor - that's the perfect application for the Min6 Diminished scales. Anything can work anywhere, but min6 diminished is less suited to the ii in a ii-V than it is to a tonic minor. 2) Gmaj6 Diminished is built from G6 + Adim; D7 Diminished is built from D7 + Edim (E G Bb Db); and same for D7b5 Dim.
@@ccat9354 I always wondered why he went with the 7b5 as the last scale. Why not the 7#9 or 7#5? I guess the chromatics just work. I love the scale regardless, just seems odd he chose this 1 altered dominant chord. Could you do his scales with a maj7b5 or maj7#5 as well?
@@eric_james_musicthe way BH builds the scales of chords there can only be 4; maj6, min6, dom7, dom7b5. It is because they're based on the three fully diminished chords and using 2 of them to create the tonic chord and the one you don't borrow from is the diminished you use in the scale. For example the C6/diminished scale; you take your three dim7 chords Cdim7, C#dim7, Ddim7. From the Cdim7 chord, keep the tonic and 6 (C and A). From C#dim7, keep the b3 and b5 (E and G). The diminished we don't borrow from is Ddim7, and that's the other chord in the C6/dim scale of chords.
Little question kind of off topic but when you did the half step rules you did descending. Can they be done going the other way? I have not ever really worked on that. I dont mean can they be done but rather was that in Barry's teaching.
Barry Harris yes great man I took one lesson than tworkshop in New York and he would repeat lines you know and teach a tune he would start off with small phrases like that and then you play the whole melody would've learned the whole bop head but he's so deep that I am trying to learn visa little improvisational tricks and is kind of difficult because Guitar the basic books really don't teach all that stuff the way a lot of people learn in the past is just listen to the records and try to mimic the records. There was no method to design improvisation like this so I'm gonna be checking out these videos.
Hmm bridge is a couple 251s, is this done on a lot of tunes? I wasnt aware of this alternative... Its just a minor 4 chord instead of 2/5 isnt it? If you are saying A half diminished you are saying a C 4 minor with the six in the bass... thinking a bit further, 4 minor is important minor of F7 so that explains the scale choice a bit
barry seemed to have this way of mastering simpleobjects and applying simple transformations and rules to them. Wish I met him, but i feel that, in a way, trough chanels like this one, I kind of have... Anyways, the more I learn, the more I know the extent of my ignorance. And the more i'm excited about that!
