Which approach do you use the most for understanding chord progressions: Barry Harris or Pat Martino? 😎7 Hard Guitar Skills That Pay Off Forever ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TSXJe7YkI_k.html
My approach is similar to what you describe, chunking out shell voicings and learning the melody by ear and trying to combine them while reducing or expanding the notes on the chord and pretending to be Barney Kessel or something. And remember Joe Pass saying that you need to break anything down to its simplest form to better understand it. Singing the song or humming the melody can help a great deal so you don't get lost in what the arranger wrote which seldom has anything to do with what the guitarist needs.
Jens, this is one of the best lessons I've seen about 'simplifying' chord progressions for soloing. I find both Barry and Pat's methods a little rigid, but you have given us a very practical way of incorporating them in a sensible way based on the actual song itself, and the melody. Thanks a lot!
I've only just dipped my toe into jazz, and I've been totally in the dark as to why a composer chooses the chords he does. Your explanation does make things clearer and more understandable. Thanks.
This is another very important lesson Jens. Its funny, I practice voice leading arpeggios through a progression to help get the changes in my ear. But when I'm actually playing that all goes out the window and I just try to follow the melody in my head. It seems to work well enough for me. I'm working through the materials of a guitarist named Robert Conti. He also teaches a method of reducing chord progressions but to a series of I's. Some of his phrases are typical bebop ii V I, but many are just longer phrases over the key. He also teaches how to superimpose the same phrases over minor, or to get a Valt sound. At first I didn't like it, I thought it was crude to think only of the tonal center and ignore the changes. But after working with the material for awhile I realized my ear natural gravitates to phrases that fits the changes without consciously doing so. And when I learn his transcribed solos I see he definitely does that as well. You can hear the changes in his solos but he claims he is just thinking of tonal centers. I believe him. Conti is a different cat than you Jens, very "street" in his approach to jazz, and probably not as polished as you are. But I learn a lot from you both :D
Fantastic lesson as always Jens. I'm still learning to read the "words" and hear the "sentences" but am sure that will come with focused practice. A couple of things that always cracks me up is when youtube guitar gurus say that playing Pentatonic position 1 at the 5th fret is "THE" Am pentatonic scale, as if that's the only place to play it 🙄 and those annoying ads that say "you don't need to know scales or complicated theory" to play great solos. That's okay if you want to keep your playing at "grade school" levels but I believe in "going to college" so to speak. When I first started teaching I had a guy come up to me and say "I finished school already, I don't need to learn anything else" 🤣🤣🤣
I took lessons from a Jazz guitarist. It was 1985. This is great for those interested, I've been using this technique since then. I even use in composing my own songs.
Jens, nice lesson. I think this one of the most important subjects you’ve covered. This opens the door for motif/sequences thru multiple chords so you can play ideas, not isolated scales. Oscar Peterson would play the E7 chord over an AM7 and resolve accordingly. Those notes are either A chord tones or A chord extensions. Thanks for covering this.
Six seconds in ...piece of sheet music... didn't go unnoticed by the residual kid that sometimes dominates my synapses ☺️ And by god, what a pedagogue. Subscribing to you was one of my best RU-vid decisions....
Thank you Jens. Excellent work as always. This lesson will help a lot of people. Your videos are a true gift to the world. I am so fortunate that my first teacher Ethan Fein taught me these concepts when I began taking lessons.
Nice! Musical Cubism. Reduce things to their minimal function. I’ve been hearing the Barry Harris Whisperers repeating “Just play V” forever, and this is the first good explanation I’ve found. The ii is really just an ornament, and if (eg) you just play dm6 over G (‘V’s minor v) you have the dm (ii) covered for free, and you have a better chance of constructing a solid melody with just one scale (in this case dm dim 6 scale.) And Pat’s ‘just think ii’ gives you a very ‘sus’ feel, which is another choice.
Great video @Jens Larsen. I like these sort of high level concept videos where you give enough to us to get the general idea and leave the gritty details to us to experiment with and explore. Keep doing what you are doing.
Great explanation. As a bassist, the 1st trick I pulled with a new chart was to simplify the changes by writing one chord/scale over II Vs like Martino or by finding a substitute chord/scale that would cover multiple bars. Usually, I could walk one scale for entire sections and avoid 4ths against Maj chords. If I landed on the fourth, slide it to the third and smile like I meant to do it. 😃 Unless it was bebop... I always warn others "I can only play post bop jazz."
I'm 55yo, the learning jazz ship has sailed for me, I missed the boat! Now, I can appreciate Jens decades of jazz study, practice & playing. All I can do now is drink a beer with Jens and try not to throw my guitar out the window!🍺🤣
Honestly after years of really struggling to even improvise over basic jazz chords I am finally making progress by doing exactly what you suggest: learn songs and contextualize. One thing I need to do more of is annotating charts when I learn so that I can break them down functionally but this video contains basically everything that a beginner needs to understand how to progress in jazz. Great video as always. Your video quality is becoming more professional by the year! Lighting is great
This video is really, really good! It gives you what you need to simplify and navigate jazz harmony. Personally I find it very hard to flow if I'm thinking about chord extensions. However I can follow the "spine" of the changes and hear functional harmony by using my ear. Then I'm not thinking so much, doing more hearing instead, and able to make music more freely.
I agree. Actually, a player named Don Mock got my lightbulb lit years ago. He’d just start with the key, then learn to play the scale for each note in the harmonized scale all over the fingerboard. Eg…For C major, play C major scale, Dm, Em, etc. After all, they all have the same notes. This way, your muscle memory got used to playing that anywhere. Then just alter the single notes you’re playing by ear in your solo to fit the chord going by if you need to accent something. It starts out sounding lame, but keep it up over the harmony while keeping the melody in your mind, and soon….
so many music teachers just hammering triads and explaining how they process this info this fast and no one has every admitted that they aren't actually doing that
I use none of these approaches, but Barry Harris is imho better in most situations. And I certainly do not literally take into account every chord on a lead sheet, except those I worked out myself. The way of thinking of Pat Martino and several other self educated jazz players often comes from the intention to play minor melodies everywhere, and reuse the same ones over different situations. Maybe it's an easy way to simplify things in your head, but you lose mental connection with the original underlying harmonic flow. A ii - I is functionally very, very different from a ii - V - I or V - I. That's why I vote for Barry. Of course, if you throw away the functional aspect of harmony and just want to play a bunch of possibly unrelated chords (vertical playing) then anything that fits more or less the actually sounding chord will do, because you don't care about what is going to follow, or more precisely, you don't think of neighboring chords as related and connected in a larger structure. Finally, there are no universal rules in music, it's a matter of taste and style.
Back to Sophisticated Lady: would the basic approach to those descending bars of dominant 7th chords be to reduce it the chords to F#7 and Eb7, and Ab7 and F7, for the respective bars? I suppose it would be dependant on the tempo as to how closely to follow the changes without it sounding too busy.
@@JensLarsen that's my challenge for the week - writing licks for the changes in bars 2 and 4. I'm struggling to see the relationship with Bbm7 and Gb7 between bars 1 and 2, but I'll listen to various renditions and see if i can pick out by ear what soloists are doing on those bars.
i like chord fragments that open up possibilities depending on superimposition and combination. why play a whole chord in a band, let the others carry some too XD
As a big fan of Pat Martino, i have always gone the minorization route, firstly in that minor chords and scales just have a richer darker sound and playing V as a ii emphasises the colour of V, i also think minors are just more suited to the physical lay out of a guitar, finally that a dominant 7th of minor root has much greater scope for extensions and alterations and therefore colour
yooooo I got one of em, it's harmonic minor Dm (IV) to E7 (V) to Am (I) And then it goes Fm7 Bb7 instead of E7 and Am, don't get that yet I read the composer sometimes added randomness in his work? Like is this an example, just some random chords to Am?
@@JensLarsen haha yes indeed. it's a term in I learned in a Neuroscience class. Meaning yu are chunking the data instead of the long strong that requires more processing power I've to make my way through the second half of the video yet. I recently just use the numbers for everything pretty much as you do. At least I got that. I barely ever bother with note names. I just use 1-7 and then any exception I just reference it.. like flatten the 7th. Am I limiting myself?
@@JensLarsen thanks for the reach out… no it’s not an obvious choice, I’ve been trying to use the same principle you speak of in the above video and so prepare improvisations to Giant Steps…
I can play the head (partly descending major7 lines with alterations and some quick 2/5/1) … but to actually improvise melodic lines through the fast changing chord progression, I’m just not feeling
@@FredGuits Yes, it is a difficult song, but you are still not answering the question: what were you hoping to achieve? Which principle from this video exactly and what would the benefit be?
Jens puts out the best lessons on the net, and the way he plays, is just wonderful, and his guitar tone is so very jazzy. I wish I had a teacher like him when I was young.
Hej Jens, your videos are getting technically more and more sophisticated, are you editing them yourself? I have been watching your videos since a couple of years. Jazz on!
Hey Jens!!! you put Korean instead of chords 😂😂 thats so funny!! I could finally follow the chord progression!! Im Korean by the way🎉🎉 Thanks for making the lessons :) ❤❤❤
One of the best ways to learn a song is to 1. Sing the Melody. 2. Sing the Root Movement. 3. Simplify most of the Chords into 7th Chords Temporarily. 4. Think of the Chord Progression as a Series of Chord Phrases. 5. Play the Chord Progression in 8th Notes Up and Down from Root to Root, then as you get more Proficient and Comfortable, play it with better Voice Leading and Phrasing from Measure to Measure. Also its important to remember that each Jazz Genre has certain Chord Progression Habits, whether its Dixieland, Swing, Bebop, Cool, Hard Bop, Model, etc. Great Video as Always Jens. Thanks.
This is why I leave Jazz guitar to you savant/genius level players. I’m happy with my guitar tabs and piddling around the neck until something sounds neat…and that is where I start a new song.
@@longtalljay That's okay DocStar. If you can't sing then hum the Melody. Even if you get some notes wrong, that's okay because you'll get better at it the more you do it.
@@DanielPodlovics The Ionian Flat 6 Scale or as it's also called the Harmonic Major Scale, the Scale itself as well as its Modes and Arpeggios can be played over any Major Sharp 5 type of Chord or if you want to imply that sound over a Major Chord. All of the above also applies to the Mixolydian Flat 6 Scale, but in relation to a Dominant 7th or Dominant 7th Sharp 5 Chord. For ways to practice this much more, check out the books The Jazz Musicians Guide To Creative Practice and also The Jazz Hanon. Hope this helps. Thanks.
I improvise and play music for a living and briefly studied under Barry Harris. You are ENTIRELY CORRECT. He preached finding the applicable V7 chord and working the hell out of it, melodically. He was a brilliant teacher and had a whole group of us working up and down scales and encirclements on command in front of a live audience, in Milwaukee in the 90's. What an experience and you are honoring that here. Well done. AND - this is the key that unlocked improvising for me. larger chunks of tonal choices. then you can begin to bring the inner chords back in and even reharm on the fly. Very fun.
Wow, I cannot begin to tell you how helpful this video is. I’m not a jazz player. I mostly do country and gospel. But your comments about the cord extensions and have them not to get hung up on that makes me want to take another look at learning chats. I will never be a lead player but I would love to do card solos. As for learning chords in groups, I have always had to do that by default. I am nearly blind and was born that way, so reading music and playing at the same time is never an option. When I play songs with friends at jam sessions and what not, I am asking them about chord groups or chord phrases. Once I have a group of chords for a particular part of a song in my mind then I can follow along but if they just tell me what kids soon and I’m trying to play it by ear it seldom works out except on three chord country songs. I am looking for ways to modify this for dobro style slide guitar. Ce it is a little more limiting because of playing with a steel bar you cannot formulate many complicated extension cords however by knowing the chord groups you can improvise something pretty close to a combination of a rhythm chords solo with accent notes. Once again thank you so very very very much. This is going to completely change how I look at certain chord changes even playing on dobro.
This is one of your best videos. The content is extremely valuable and I need to continually remind myself of paring down almost every tune BEFORE I play the first note!
I found myself follow this approach automatically when I occasionally play jazz (not focusing on extensions at first), but it feels good to see it is an advisable approach by a great teacher. Great insightful lesson. Thanks Jens.
I'm a youthworker and I always tell the teenagers I work with to "forget the numbers" if they struggle with chords. It's a band and someone else will play "the numbers" (me, at least). Basic chords will do just fine and often simple is better. It's amazing how much courage this simple trick gives to beginners! :)
Ha, i'm literally, right now, deep into robbie barnby's hour long vid on the BH 6th dim concept and i was just thinking about how martino reducing to minor was the opposite of BH reducing to dom7's. Anyhow, i literally slow the whole vid down 75% with my Vidami just so i can follow what Robbie's actually saying because he speaks at a bit of a clip. Then i rewind and spend hours on one set of examples or movements. I will be on this vid for 6 months but i'm determined to be able to see and hear this stuff over tunes so gotta do the work. Meantime, will always be checkin in on my man, Jens! 🙂
I recently came to terms with guitar being a minor-centric instrument, including turning the circle of fifths inside out and thinking in terms of minor key centers with the major key being relative. I think it's the standard tuning consisting of an open Em11 that makes this a natural way of thinking about it this way
The more jazz videos I watch the more I just want to lean into Barry Harris, but I feel like it's making me want to skip alot of stuff . I'm a pianist so I have to learn shapes for each key and Barry Harris' method really simplified things for me
Cool how Jens illustrates the confusion of too many complex chords coming at you too fast by replacing the chord symbols with random syllables from the Korean Hangeul alphabet!
It's pretty close to the concept of basso continuo in baroque music. You can't to harmonize each damn note, so as a student I used to do so since a teacher told me: do you wanna kill yourself young man!?' XD
Jens, your videos are treats, the presentation just gets better and better. So much information made easily digestible with wit - you’re pretty much the only guy on the planet that I could listen to *talk* about jazz for 10 mins and really enjoy it.
Whenever possible I always default to V of V. I prefer bebop (40s and 50s) and to my ear this is largely dominant harmony. I absolutely love Martino's playing and am intrigued by his approach, but personally I've found Barry's a little easier to understand and for me more intuitive.
Brilliant way this video instruction progresses. I’m not a jazzman, but I remember teaching my students on a philosophical level what I call “two chord theory” which means the one is a chord and all the others are not. In other words, ii and V are basically the same because they are on a journey towards the one. Anyway, stuff like that. This reminded me of that. Great video, thank you!
Yes man! Those real books helped me understand the idea and familiarize the melodies. Years later and after listening and playing you move way beyond those sheets. Very good video Thank you.
At 4:36, how is Db7 the IVm if Ab is the IV and Eb is the I? And at 4:40, how is Cm the I if Db and Dbm are the IV and IVm? Clearly I don't understand what is meant by "IV IVm I".
There is the opportunity for a book here that to the best of my no one has yet put together. However Jens you verge on it here. What we need is a book that is broken down into sections on the various functional harmonic movements that you touched on here and then gives multiple examples of them as they occur in different standards. This would be an extremely useful addition to the jazz education literature!
