There are a lot of classic jazz artists who intentionally or unintentionally never passed on their methodology. It probably ended up hurting the popularity of jazz over the decades because the general public views these greats as a select group of one-offs from a bygone era. Barry Harris was the complete opposite, he wasn't stingy. He did everything in his power to keep the vibrancy of jazz alive by sharing many unspoken theories and methods that those greats often kept to themselves. His love for the music was greater than a desire to feed his ego. He may be gone from this earth rest his soul, but his legacy seems to be getting stronger and stronger as musicians and listeners yearn for great music. What a gift he left us with these videos of his teachings!
A lot of music faculties started teaching "jazz studies" and the academic framework was completely wrong (and derived from classical harmony). Jazz academia definitely played a part there.
the gift he left us are great , i had the privilige to at least be part of the late on line lessons he gave from his apartment i guess , in the late years of his life , as i go on discovering awsome music and interviews from him i'm surprised that he never mentioned Herbie Nichols wich sort of makes me think that i guess there were at lot of jazz pianist and musicians even in those years .........but his playing and teachings are just fenomenal :)
Barry Harris was an icon. There is an real agenda to dumb-down America. Putin republicans ban books, re-write history, and erase our musical culture. You can’t blame the youth. They don’t know what they don’t know. Algorithms steer the ignorant into an American tragedy of greed, selfishness, guns, and self destruction.
I first took a Barry Class in the 80's when I was 19 I didnt understand how this thing would work I later took more classes in 2003 in my mid thirties i understood a little more. But still went back to regular jazz theory now in 2015 i find my self trying to catch everything this man says. Truly there is something to his philosophy and approach. if you only take the time to delve and explore
To me he over complicates things I’m writing a book to help people like you learn jazz in the easiest way. Using the sixty chord system and only two types of voicing. This stuff needs to be simplified to a degree that almost anyone regardless of talent level and natural ability can learn. I think I have figured out something that’s going to be ground breaking.
@@mrquick6775 , Barry does complicate things very much. I am a professional licensed teacher and I find his methods of delivery to be horrible in teaching content, and his manner to which he speaks to people is very unprofessional, and unnecessary.
@@tgrimes175 Could you give an example of both your assertions, please? What is something from Barry’s teachings that you find unnecessarily complex and how would you explain it a more simply? And what is it exactly about his way of addressing students that, from your perspective, should be done more professionally?
This grumpy old man is great! He is giving the world musical gold! He is teaching "motion" not theory. A genius-for sure. Most of us trained classical theory are stuck on rules that don't create "motion." We read the music on paper and we think we improvise using the harmony of the song. That is ok but with his approach of the 6th dim scale beautiful motion is created. Barry is the man
I'm not a jazz musician but I discovered this guy 2 days ago after watching someone else's video, in which they talk about Barry's '6th on the 5th' theory. It's lead me down a rabbit hole of knowledge that has helped me with my songwriting. Personally, I often find Jazz musicians to be distracted by the ego of what it means to be a jazz musician, rather than focused on music itself. Barry's not like that and that's what I like about him the best so far: he speaks plainly and tells it how it is. So much more useful than teachers who teach their opinions as opposed to knowledge. Loving this guy...
Mr. Harris! I BELIEVE IN YOU! :) I really hope somehow that you can read this because... I need you to know... My Dad was born in 1926. Ever since he died, I've been trying to figure out how he got from chord to chord. He was a self-taught piano player - not one lesson in all his 66 years of life. He played all the original jazz music that you play. For yrs., I begged him to teach me how to play. He let me take Royal Cons. lessons but I still couldn't figure out how he got from chord to chord and how he could know what to play even when it wasn't on the sheet. When I was 13 years old and announced that I didn't want to take classical lessons anymore, I started noodling around again about 6 months later but I was frustrated by not sounding like my Dad or playing "his music". He sounded just like you, Mr. Harris! One day, I went over the bench to watch him play. And then I really begged him. He finally showed me what he was doing, reading the guitar chord names and the melody. I knew my chords so I felt like this was an open door to universe I'd only dreamed of. For over 40 years, I've been playing his way but still never knowing how he got from chord to chord. How does he know what chords to play in between? I've been watching your lectures on TH-cam on and off for years and years, not understanding a thing you're saying. And then tonight it came to me in a flash of inspiration. Diminished. 3 of them. "Only 3 diminished 7 chords." The one thing my Dad taught me that didn't fit with anything else was that there are only "3 dim7 chords". I've always thought he only told me that as a cool thing. "Look, there are only 3 in the whole world". I've been playing them in isolation all my life!!!!! I think he knew what you know, Mr. Harris, and he just didn't know how to teach it to me. I'm now going to the piano but I wanted you to know. I'm white and I don't hate black people and I believe in you and everything you've been trying to tell us for decades. (I wonder what my Dad would think of this. I'll bet he'd just say, "Yes. That's how it's done." :) Ever grateful for you.
I actually agree with him. You gotta build up from the foundations and and be true to yourself in a melodic sense. And also you need to stick to your aural intelligence, learning from records and figuring stuff out with your ear in a proper, down to earth fashion. I've led myself astray with dozens of silly theory books. Now all I do is ear training and transcribing the greats (I even stopped writing solos down now) and I'm finally developing a satisfactory jazz vocabulary.
The theory is only silly without the practice. Literacy isn’t inherently bad, just when it’s used as a prescriptive catch-all. But for darn sure listening is a huge piece
His book The Barry Harris Approach to Improvised Lines & Harmony: An Introduction has helped me more than any other resource. He explained jazz to me in 30 pages.
Since I picked up his harmonic approach, the guitar does feel much more connected and open. I don't have to memorize specific inversions or slash chords at all, the scale gets me where I need to get, smoothly. Wonderful concept
Barry's still alive at this writing, which is a relief. That means I have a chance to meet him. The use of the diminished chord and it's scale source (dim and dominant diminished) appear to be the dirty little secret in jazz improv as executed by Barry and his cohorts. Clarity on it's universality and "owning it" is the holy grail if you were taught jazz harmony with a focus on melodic minor modes, and is a really exciting use of shed time. Barry seems to avoid melodic minor theory, and that's consistent with my early jazz teachers. When I remarked about this to Matt Harris (Jazz chair, CSUN), he said "Jeff, a lotta guys just didn't know about that perspective." Barry's observation about 2-5-1 cadences being secondary to the more basic 4-5-1… that's true too. He get's dark at the end, and I wish someone had just asked him to review the "four scales". But they're probably detailed elsewhere on youtube. Barry's dense voicings, scale sources, and root choices are mind blowing.
You're right. Jazz at Lincoln Centre has a series of TH-cam videos of him teaching his theory of the dim7chords, including his take on the "real major scale", all of which I find fascinating. I'm about try out for the first time what I think I've just figured out after years of listening to these lectures of his and not understanding a thing he's saying! Wish me luck!
Truly, Maestro Harris is A Most Remarkable Genius who freely shares his Incredible Talents and Knowledge with us. What a Kind and Generous Soul he is!! I am DEEPLY GRATEFUL. THANK YOU Sir for posting this. I BELIEVE!!
I feel fortunate to hear what he said about guitarists and musicians in general, what we should know and learn from. Thank you. I will take these wise words and continue to grow as a musician.
Someone said this already, I'll say it like this: No matter the field of work or craftsmanship, you have to master the foundations to be the best, produce the best...I don't know much about reading writing or playing music, But that's the Universal Principle, the secret to everything.
I'm so happy Barry didn't hold back...it was amazing how his facial expressions showed so much of disgust for the state of jazz education and the new generation of players...
this kinda video is actually better than what i learned from music college back in my 20's. i mean, you don't need to pay huge amount of money to the music college now . thank TH-cam.
I agree with Mr Harris on one point: The so-called great music schools don't teach you how to connect things together the way he does. The "lost art of tonal improvisation" is no longer a myth, thanx to him. An approach based on number theory that enables easy-to-think chord-melody progressions in a tonal context would be his trademark. What I do not like though is his way of describing other musicians and teachers in a negative way, such as Herbie Hancock, whose carrer choices are so personnal. I would be very interested in hearing Mr Harris playing Herbie's tunes from 1965...how much insight does he have regarding what some people call "modal jazz"? "Maiden Voyage" would be a perfect example of this kind of composition, with very specific chord figures and colors, very far from be-bop and tonal music. To conclude; I do think he is an expert in his very specific field, but in no way an expert on judging other people's music and esthetic choices. Would it be so hard for him not to humiliate other teachers when realizing they don't "know it all"? That is a very common ego-related communication issue with musicians, wether great ones or not. By the way, Pat Metheny was a teacher once at Berkley (Boston) Jazz school. Would Mr Harris consider his teaching as crap? :) Well, I wouldn't, since that teaching (got it from one of his students afterwards) got me into serious Jazz guitar playing and helped me develop my style. So please Mr Harris: humility! Kindness, are the trademarks of the greatest artists and human beings, as Marc Chagall once said. Throwing shit at people's faces, especially in front of cameras, is not the best way to overcome that "ambient ignorance" of the musical fact.
I completely agree with you and, to get it out of the way - I do admire Mr. Barry Harris and his pedagogy, he has helped me tremendously. However, I really feel that (as cheesy as it may sound) he didn't catch up with the times and became, in a way, irrelevant. That's probably the reason why he has so much resentment against "modern jazz" and how the genere has evolved. Mr. Harris calls the music he teaches: real music, alongside classical, but go and ask a conservative classical musician about jazz and he/she would laugh at your face. What I'm trying to say is that all of his points of views on what is real music is are nothing more than opinions. The problem is that he wants everyone to believe that they are objective truths.
People are entitled to express their opinions. Including Barry. Remember that Barry came up in an era in which Bird and Bud Powell were playing. He is entitled to not be impressed with Coltrane, or Herbie or Davis. He witnessed the dumbing down of harmony from that expressed by Bird - into "modal" playing - which is limiting a melodic line to a minor seventh chord. No wonder he isn't impressed. It is not a matter of humility as you said. Barry is obviously a humble person. He has a right to express himself. You are the one "throwing shit at peoples' faces - and at Barry. You are the one lacking humility.
@@alainjames9556 Contemporary jazz is far more complex harmonically than bebop, which was by and large based on dominant language and ii-V relationships - in fact that reduction of functional harmony is embedded in Barry's diminished 6th scales. Most bop standards were contrafacts of previous popular tunes (Donna Lee for Indiana, Anthropology and dozens of others for I Got Rhythm, blues etc etc). Much has happened since modal jazz, so to describe the evolution of jazz as a harmonic dumbing down, implying modal jazz is somehow contemporary, is unforgivably dishonest and reminiscent of windbags who talk about twelve-tone serialism as the curse of "modern" classical music as if it's the latest trend or even relevant today. Anybody who seriously believes that characterisation would do well to actually listen to some Shorter (beyond Footprints), Kenny Wheeler, Jonathan Kreisberg, Metheny etc and can be promptly dismissed as not knowing what they're talking about. Also hilarious inclusion of Coltrane, considering something like Giant Steps is infinitely more complex than just about every bebop standard excluding some Monk tunes. Barry is a legendary educator and a great pianist, but his opinions on other pianists can be ridiculously poor, especially when he presents them on the basis of what jazz "should" be. Culturally, he's clearly out of touch, which to be fair isn't such a surprising fact at the age of 91. It's amazing he's still playing and teaching as brilliantly as he does.
Dead post, I guess. But if you have the problem with what Barry says about those other people, you actually do not understand his point. Many of the people you mentioned were jazz musicians that stopped doing jazz music and started doing “jazzy music” but still trying to call it jazz. His point is, those developments are valid. But they are not jazz. He might sound like a grumpy old man, but the truth is that the same thing happened to classical music where people compose weird things and still try to call it classical music. Which is why right after the twentieth century, people simply cannot understand what is going on with classical music.
"Go listen to guitarists and try to find one of them that sounds like they know about the scale of chords". 3:45 of Gone With The Wind on the album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery sounds like some Ab and Bb major 6th diminished stuff is very intentionally happening in this chord solo but I might be wrong.
@ 20:14, talking about the 4 dominant chords contained in the diminished 7th chord was something I heard years ago from Pat Martino. Maybe he got it from Barry, but probably not.
Pat Martino started the 1st chapter of his book "Creative Force (1993)" on the diminished concept (as describe here by BH) and PM made it so simple on the guitar fingerboard.
I loved his playing and his demonstration of a 'chance composition' tool (random selection of cards with numbers standing for the notes in the scale). But... Wisdom shines brightest when not clouded by disrespect, condescension and self-indulgence. I would love to have learned more from Mr. Harris about the musical concepts that he criticizes others for not understanding.
Thanks! Tonight I think I've finally seen the light. I wrote my whole big story and then scrolled down to see that I had posted 10 months ago! Haha! What a dolt I was! Mr. Harris deserves more respect than my comment gave him. I think I understand better now why he's so frustrated. Really? Is he still teaching there?You sure I could go?
@@SureFeelsGoodLate response, but Barry was a bebop purist. Miles and Coltrane went on to explore other forms of Jazz. I happen to enjoy it but I guess it wasn't for Barry.
@@johnrothfield6126 this...alot of people want to learn but they are unteachable. Without that belief in the teacher how you gonna learn from them. We use the word 'Maestro' for a reaction. If a maestro tells me something i DON'T accept it blindly but what i accept is the maestro has told me this for a reason. And i might not be ready for this lesson but I will try my best to get SOMETHING from it.
Just listen. Then go dig deep on what he teaches. As a guitar player, he's spot on and he's not talking about the upper echelon players. Barry's way is the way for me and has taught me more in about a year than I've learned in a long long time. Guitar players - search Things I Learned From Barry Harris. Dig deep and confront yourself and don't skip until you've learned that concept (which you know by putting it to real music).
I don't totally agree with all of Barry's opinions and likes and dislikes-for instance, I love much of John Coltrane 's music-powerful and tremendously soulful. And I respect Coltrane's courage and search for his own music- Yet I also love Barry's sincerity and his straightforwardness-Barry is direct and honest in his feelings-a beautiful quality! And not so common either. Also , Barry knows bebop like nobody else alive today-Barry is a true and pure jazz musician and has truly lived and practiced what he is talking about. I am so happy that Barry is still alive and still plays so beautifully-long live Barry Harris!
Can someone tell me more about the two whole tone scales 'making' three dimished chords? (6:00) Is he just saying a G diminshed chord has two notes from G whole tone and two from Ab whole tone? Or is there more? Did he mesh whole tone and dimished scales in ways that we should know more about?
You've got the right idea. There's a couple of videos about Dr Harris's "creation myth" story about where scales and chords are derived, the TH-cam channel "Things I've Learned From Barry Harris" has a couple. That whole channel is priceless, really. The TLDR of it is - you start with the chromatic scale. Split in half, call it two whole tone scales, C whole tone and Db whole tone - man and woman if you like. They "go to bed" and make children; as you said, two notes from one scale a b5 apart and two notes from the other scale a b5 apart two make a diminished seventh. You get three distinct diminished chords this way, C, Db, and D; any other dim7 chord is just an inversion of these. This sets the stage for all of Dr Harris's scales of chords, which you can learn much more about at the aforementioned "Things I've Learned From Barry Harris" channel. Some other folks teach this stuff too but TILFBH stands out as he took from Harris for 20-some years whereas many other channels are a step or two removed from the source (and tbh a lot of them just incorrectly regurgitate TILFBH's material at the end of the day)
+Dan Kolle I just did a bunch of searches for this and I think that's the recording he's talking about. Depending on when the vid above was taped, ""Bud Powell: Live At Birdland 1957" only recently came out as an import (2013/4). Dr. Harris also mentions it in an article on allaboutjazz.com www.allaboutjazz.com/barry-harris-iconic-jazz-pianist-and-keeper-of-the-flame-barry-harris-by-victor-l-schermer.php
In my opinion he's a 100% right about learning from the guitar . I think all guitars should be designed with the notes engraved on the neck you need to know the notes. The notes on the guitar neck spells out music theory. It's perfect I think a left hand person should play a right hand guitar and right hand person should play a left hand guitar why because it takes a lot of strength to fret . I eat, sleep and drink the piano but I'm glad I gave the guitar a chance.
Barry Is so right about tenor players these days. Hawk, Prez and Webster have been overlooked by Trane. It'd be great to hear big cat play like the old horn players.
Daniel Barry hell all I've been doing for the past year is straight up copying piano players. I don't think Berry knows how hard it is to play chord scales like he does on a guitar.
In all Barry's performances, the bass player is always in the centre. I'm not sure what he means by the bass player is always by the piano's left hand. Does he mean the bass player can always see what the pianist is doing?
*"See, we used to dance to the music. We danced to the music. You see, jazz musicians been gettin' away with murder; they ain't got no people dancin' to the music and they just do anything they wanna' do. And you couldn't dance to it if you wanted to, the way some of them sound. Then they go out on you and call it 'avant-garde.' Right now we in the dark ages. The golden age passed. We are in the dark ages. It's time for a renaissance."* - Barry Harris from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague
There are four and only four diatonic scales that can be arranged in thirds : Major : C E G B D F A C Harmonic Major : C E G B D F Ab C Melodic Minor : C Eb G B D F A C Harmonic Minor : C Eb G B D F Ab C These scales come from thirds....so they are the chords tones arranged as scales...the scales are the arpeggios. They are the origin of harmony. Period. Most musicians are unaware of harmonic major and its importance. www.adamcoulombe.com/ facebook.com/TertianHarmony/ Cheers....
There are 3 families of 4 scales. The families are formed from the diminished 7ths. So one family is the C, Eb, Gb, A. Each scale is the major 6 chord and the diminished 7th that these scales share. In this case they share the D dim 7. So the scale of chords for C is C maj 6 and D dim 7 up the inversions. Eb: Eb maj 6 D dim 7 up the inversions. And so on. And because they share that dim 7, you can switch between very smoothly.
When he says about the major scale and it being “8 degrees, but it should be 9”… - anyone ever heard him talk about what that 9th degree should be? I’ve experimented with the scale of chords that include b2, b3, b5, b7 added singularly to his 8 note scale. I have an idea which might be correct. Some are more symmetrical. b7 I discounted because it confuses the harmony function. I’d need to check my notes; but I think I settled on b3 because that is the blue note that is added to the major pentatonic to make the ‘blues scale’. (If minor pentatonic it’s the b5). Has anyone else had a go at sounding it out? Or heard more info from Barry in his classes?
@@dr34mr11 thanks. I’m aware of the added flat 6 to his 8 degree scale. But he once mentioned that it should be 9 degrees but didn’t mention which other note to add. ⬆️
@@fraserkyle4880 since he talked about the vanilla major scale having 8 I think he counted the octave note too, so his major dim6 scale would count as 9
I'm a relatively young musician mostly within the Gospel music arena that often references a lot of jazz. I agree with many points but the biggest issue I have with the older directors and musicians is they call other styles and methods "wrong" or "incorrect". This makes me cringe because Mr. Harris just contradicted himself. He said music is math and therefore limitless. So, how can you say something is "wrong"?? It would be better to say that he simply doesn't like it or feel it's incorrect from his viewpoint. NO ONE approaches music the same way...that's what makes it unique to the artist. I get so worn out hearing the tunnel vision talk.
+kennygsmooth83 Are you really that thin skinned that you cringe if you hear a Master say that something you like might be wrong or corny? Grow up! Secondly, I don't think Barry Harris needs your advice so as to not hurt someones feelings. Again, grow up! Lastly, why would he have to clarify by saying "In my opinion." Of course it's his opinion, he's the one saying it!
So all of this is pretty left field to me and I was under the impression that Davis, Coltrane and Hancock were fairly typical examples of jazz music. Is this a common perspective in the jazz community? He spoke about 'modal music' as well, and I was wondering how he contradicts this mode of jazz composition and what his alternative is. Also what the diminished scale is, because I'm quite clear on what it is not but not quite certain what it is. If anybody could help me out that'd be great.
mineral if you've got a decent ear, go listen to mr Harris's work, and the work of the guys he speaks of in a good light in this video, and then listen to Davis and Coltrane. You'll hear the difference, even if you can't articulate it. And Herbie i think would admit he's more of a fusion guy, not strictly jazz.
The diminished scale he is talking about is just a fully diminished 7 chord with its related dominant root notes. C° is C, Eb, Gb, Bbb (A) Moving the C down a half step creates a B7, Moving Eb creates a D7, Gb creates F7, A down creates Ab7. So the scale becomes C, D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, A, B. Yes it's the same as a WH dim scale, he just thinks of it differently I guess. Saw it in another BH vid
@@schoolmusic3507 I feel the same way. Love Barry, but I also love Herbie. Over the years of listening to Herbie and really digging into his entire body of work, he is as complete of a musician as Barry...from the theory standpoint to the practical. I don't know what Barry has or hasn't heard of Herbie's, but I've heard Herbie play it all from Classical to Bebop to Pop. The only style I haven't heard him play is Gospel, but I wouldn't be surprised if he hits some before he dies.
And nothing but respect to Barry - his 6th Diminished lessons really changed my life on piano. Growing as a drummer, my piano learning was coming along pretty naturally, but it wasn't clicking. Those 6th Diminished lessons filled in so many gaps.
+Mike Mckendrick It is. This whole subject of learning jazz they way they did back in the day VS learning in schools is a lot more complicated / nuanced that some would have you believe. Are the schools there to make money? Absolutely. Is learning jazz by listening to records, finding people to play with who are better than you, playing with others every chance you get, being part of a scene, being mentored etc. the way to go? Of course! Does anyone really think that one can just go to a jazz school and passively be taught to play worth a damn? Of course not! Music schools get blamed for a lot of stuff undeservedly. Just because some rich kid gets mommy & daddy to fork over the dough to send him through school, even though he never listened to jazz, never loved it beyond the Sadowsky JH model jazz box his parents bought him and his hipster threads and "making the scene", and he comes out of there telling people that they taught him to "play Dorian over the ii7, Mixolydian over the V7..." etc. ***DOESN'T*** mean that THAT was what they're teaching in that school! I've seen a ton of videos right here on TH-cam of classes / Master Classes done in a variety of the big name and not so big name schools and I'm seeing guys like Hal Galper lay down the truth on these kids - the truth about how all their hip note choices don't amount to squat if they don't have that time feel, about taking the stuff off records, about playing all the time - really putting in the time! And though times have certainly changed, and there isn't mentoring like there used to be, there's not enough "hangs" and all of that, the ones that end up to be great players are still basically doing it the same way. They're at school so they can be around OTHER players, so they can play with OTHERS, all the time! They network! They're LISTENING to the music.
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Pf❤
There are a lot of classic jazz artists who intentionally or unintentionally never passed on their methodology. It probably ended up hurting the popularity of jazz over the decades because the general public views these greats as a select group of one-offs from a bygone era. Barry Harris was the complete opposite, he wasn't stingy. He did everything in his power to keep the vibrancy of jazz alive by sharing many unspoken theories and methods that those greats often kept to themselves. His love for the music was greater than a desire to feed his ego. He may be gone from this earth rest his soul, but his legacy seems to be getting stronger and stronger as musicians and listeners yearn for great music. What a gift he left us with these videos of his teachings!
A lot of music faculties started teaching "jazz studies" and the academic framework was completely wrong (and derived from classical harmony). Jazz academia definitely played a part there.
@@xxczerxx saddly I confirm your comment... Greetings all the way from México
Absolutely!! Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
the gift he left us are great , i had the privilige to at least be part of the late on line lessons he gave from his apartment i guess , in the late years of his life , as i go on discovering awsome music and interviews from him i'm surprised that he never mentioned Herbie Nichols wich sort of makes me think that i guess there were at lot of jazz pianist and musicians even in those years .........but his playing and teachings are just fenomenal :)
Barry Harris was an icon. There is an real agenda to dumb-down America. Putin republicans ban books, re-write history, and erase our musical culture. You can’t blame the youth. They don’t know what they don’t know. Algorithms steer the ignorant into an American tragedy of greed, selfishness, guns, and self destruction.
Barry is still teaching…❤
Hard to lose such a teacher, but great to have this document of his wisdom.
I first took a Barry Class in the 80's when I was 19
I didnt understand how this thing would work
I later took more classes in 2003
in my mid thirties
i understood a little more. But still went back to regular jazz theory
now in 2015 i find my self trying to catch everything this man says.
Truly there is something to his philosophy and approach.
if you only take the time to delve and explore
Where are you now with his teaching methods 5 more yrs down the line?
To me he over complicates things I’m writing a book to help people like you learn jazz in the easiest way. Using the sixty chord system and only two types of voicing. This stuff needs to be simplified to a degree that almost anyone regardless of talent level and natural ability can learn. I think I have figured out something that’s going to be ground breaking.
@@mrquick6775 where will this be available? It is a powerful system, little chords
@@mrquick6775 , Barry does complicate things very much. I am a professional licensed teacher and I find his methods of delivery to be horrible in teaching content, and his manner to which he speaks to people is very unprofessional, and unnecessary.
@@tgrimes175 Could you give an example of both your assertions, please? What is something from Barry’s teachings that you find unnecessarily complex and how would you explain it a more simply? And what is it exactly about his way of addressing students that, from your perspective, should be done more professionally?
listen to this guy!!!!!! He's got it right
I do Belive on you Mr.Barry..
''Once you've learned it it's not going to be hard.''
This grumpy old man is great! He is giving the world musical gold! He is teaching "motion" not theory. A genius-for sure. Most of us trained classical theory are stuck on rules that don't create "motion." We read the music on paper and we think we improvise using the harmony of the song. That is ok but with his approach of the 6th dim scale beautiful motion is created. Barry is the man
2+2 really does equal four, doesn’t it?
I'm not a jazz musician but I discovered this guy 2 days ago after watching someone else's video, in which they talk about Barry's '6th on the 5th' theory. It's lead me down a rabbit hole of knowledge that has helped me with my songwriting. Personally, I often find Jazz musicians to be distracted by the ego of what it means to be a jazz musician, rather than focused on music itself. Barry's not like that and that's what I like about him the best so far: he speaks plainly and tells it how it is. So much more useful than teachers who teach their opinions as opposed to knowledge. Loving this guy...
Hah, i feel you. I discovered him yesterday and binge watched him for hours. There is something very fascinating about him.
@@pianochad yeah for sure man!
Very well did
I am so glad I discovered you Mr.Harris. R.I.P.
He was the real deal...he spoke his truth and to hell with the naysayers!
This brought tears to my eyes
Mr. Harris! I BELIEVE IN YOU! :) I really hope somehow that you can read this because... I need you to know... My Dad was born in 1926. Ever since he died, I've been trying to figure out how he got from chord to chord. He was a self-taught piano player - not one lesson in all his 66 years of life. He played all the original jazz music that you play. For yrs., I begged him to teach me how to play. He let me take Royal Cons. lessons but I still couldn't figure out how he got from chord to chord and how he could know what to play even when it wasn't on the sheet. When I was 13 years old and announced that I didn't want to take classical lessons anymore, I started noodling around again about 6 months later but I was frustrated by not sounding like my Dad or playing "his music". He sounded just like you, Mr. Harris!
One day, I went over the bench to watch him play. And then I really begged him. He finally showed me what he was doing, reading the guitar chord names and the melody. I knew my chords so I felt like this was an open door to universe I'd only dreamed of. For over 40 years, I've been playing his way but still never knowing how he got from chord to chord. How does he know what chords to play in between? I've been watching your lectures on TH-cam on and off for years and years, not understanding a thing you're saying. And then tonight it came to me in a flash of inspiration. Diminished. 3 of them. "Only 3 diminished 7 chords."
The one thing my Dad taught me that didn't fit with anything else was that there are only "3 dim7 chords". I've always thought he only told me that as a cool thing. "Look, there are only 3 in the whole world". I've been playing them in isolation all my life!!!!! I think he knew what you know, Mr. Harris, and he just didn't know how to teach it to me. I'm now going to the piano but I wanted you to know. I'm white and I don't hate black people and I believe in you and everything you've been trying to tell us for decades. (I wonder what my Dad would think of this. I'll bet he'd just say, "Yes. That's how it's done." :) Ever grateful for you.
I actually agree with him. You gotta build up from the foundations and and be true to yourself in a melodic sense. And also you need to stick to your aural intelligence, learning from records and figuring stuff out with your ear in a proper, down to earth fashion. I've led myself astray with dozens of silly theory books. Now all I do is ear training and transcribing the greats (I even stopped writing solos down now) and I'm finally developing a satisfactory jazz vocabulary.
Agreed!!!! Lost much time too with all those silly advises. Listening is the only way....the hard way .
The theory is only silly without the practice. Literacy isn’t inherently bad, just when it’s used as a prescriptive catch-all. But for darn sure listening is a huge piece
So well said. You could spend hours "improvising" but if you aren't using your musical ear then there's no point to it
I've had the emence pleasure of hanging with Barry a few times.He's the real deal!
SICK SICK SICK! thank you BARRY! beautiful love of the music
so right about jazz schools
His book The Barry Harris Approach to Improvised Lines & Harmony: An Introduction has helped me more than any other resource. He explained jazz to me in 30 pages.
That’s by Fiona Bicket
@@brothercaleb Thanks for author attribution, Brother Caleb
Since I picked up his harmonic approach, the guitar does feel much more connected and open. I don't have to memorize specific inversions or slash chords at all, the scale gets me where I need to get, smoothly. Wonderful concept
Yes! The moment I realised harmony and melody come from the same place or "pattern" was a game changer.
Hi, what would you recommend to me, guitarist as well, to discover this matter (I am intermediate/advanced )
Brgds
Antonio Astorino couple TH-cam channels I suggest you should watch. "Things I learned from Barry Harris" and "labyrinth of limitations ".
Barry fires me tf up
Barry Harris passed away on December 8th, 2021, at 91 years old. We will never get another like him. Ever.
Sad to read that. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.
Through media, we have access to his life and accomplishments. These Cherished Ones are the Treasures that are sought. Thank You 🙏
Barry is awesome. I can disagree with him plenty but I can learn plenty more from him.
Barry's still alive at this writing, which is a relief. That means I have a chance to meet him.
The use of the diminished chord and it's scale source (dim and dominant diminished) appear to be the dirty little secret in jazz improv as executed by Barry and his cohorts. Clarity on it's universality and "owning it" is the holy grail if you were taught jazz harmony with a focus on melodic minor modes, and is a really exciting use of shed time.
Barry seems to avoid melodic minor theory, and that's consistent with my early jazz teachers. When I remarked about this to Matt Harris (Jazz chair, CSUN), he said "Jeff, a lotta guys just didn't know about that perspective."
Barry's observation about 2-5-1 cadences being secondary to the more basic 4-5-1… that's true too.
He get's dark at the end, and I wish someone had just asked him to review the "four scales". But they're probably detailed elsewhere on youtube.
Barry's dense voicings, scale sources, and root choices are mind blowing.
You're right. Jazz at Lincoln Centre has a series of TH-cam videos of him teaching his theory of the dim7chords, including his take on the "real major scale", all of which I find fascinating. I'm about try out for the first time what I think I've just figured out after years of listening to these lectures of his and not understanding a thing he's saying! Wish me luck!
Hope you got a chance to meet him :(
the four scales are the Major 6 bebop scale, the Minor 6 bebop scale, the dominant 7 bebop scale and the dominant 7b5 bebop scale
Truly, Maestro Harris is A Most Remarkable Genius who freely shares his Incredible Talents and Knowledge with us. What a Kind and Generous Soul he is!! I am DEEPLY GRATEFUL. THANK YOU Sir for posting this. I BELIEVE!!
Thank you, Barry. Realistic truth. Peace
I feel fortunate to hear what he said about guitarists and musicians in general, what we should know and learn from. Thank you. I will take these wise words and continue to grow as a musician.
All the things you are has ta be one of the nicest tunes I have ever heard. I wished I had known him in 50 years ago.
Someone said this already, I'll say it like this: No matter the field of work or craftsmanship, you have to master the foundations to be the best, produce the best...I don't know much about reading writing or playing music, But that's the Universal Principle, the secret to everything.
I'm so happy Barry didn't hold back...it was amazing how his facial expressions showed so much of disgust for the state of jazz education and the new generation of players...
I can listen to this man drop words of wisdom forever
this kinda video is actually better than what i learned from music college back in my 20's. i mean, you don't need to pay huge amount of money to the music college now . thank TH-cam.
I agree with Mr Harris on one point: The so-called great music schools don't teach you how to connect things together the way he does. The "lost art of tonal improvisation" is no longer a myth, thanx to him. An approach based on number theory that enables easy-to-think chord-melody progressions in a tonal context would be his trademark. What I do not like though is his way of describing other musicians and teachers in a negative way, such as Herbie Hancock, whose carrer choices are so personnal. I would be very interested in hearing Mr Harris playing Herbie's tunes from 1965...how much insight does he have regarding what some people call "modal jazz"? "Maiden Voyage" would be a perfect example of this kind of composition, with very specific chord figures and colors, very far from be-bop and tonal music. To conclude; I do think he is an expert in his very specific field, but in no way an expert on judging other people's music and esthetic choices. Would it be so hard for him not to humiliate other teachers when realizing they don't "know it all"? That is a very common ego-related communication issue with musicians, wether great ones or not. By the way, Pat Metheny was a teacher once at Berkley (Boston) Jazz school. Would Mr Harris consider his teaching as crap? :) Well, I wouldn't, since that teaching (got it from one of his students afterwards) got me into serious Jazz guitar playing and helped me develop my style. So please Mr Harris: humility! Kindness, are the trademarks of the greatest artists and human beings, as Marc Chagall once said. Throwing shit at people's faces, especially in front of cameras, is not the best way to overcome that "ambient ignorance" of the musical fact.
I completely agree with you and, to get it out of the way - I do admire Mr. Barry Harris and his pedagogy, he has helped me tremendously. However, I really feel that (as cheesy as it may sound) he didn't catch up with the times and became, in a way, irrelevant. That's probably the reason why he has so much resentment against "modern jazz" and how the genere has evolved. Mr. Harris calls the music he teaches: real music, alongside classical, but go and ask a conservative classical musician about jazz and he/she would laugh at your face. What I'm trying to say is that all of his points of views on what is real music is are nothing more than opinions. The problem is that he wants everyone to believe that they are objective truths.
People are entitled to express their opinions. Including Barry. Remember that Barry came up in an era in which Bird and Bud Powell were playing. He is entitled to not be impressed with Coltrane, or Herbie or Davis. He witnessed the dumbing down of harmony from that expressed by Bird - into "modal" playing - which is limiting a melodic line to a minor seventh chord. No wonder he isn't impressed. It is not a matter of humility as you said. Barry is obviously a humble person. He has a right to express himself. You are the one "throwing shit at peoples' faces - and at Barry. You are the one lacking humility.
@@alainjames9556 Contemporary jazz is far more complex harmonically than bebop, which was by and large based on dominant language and ii-V relationships - in fact that reduction of functional harmony is embedded in Barry's diminished 6th scales. Most bop standards were contrafacts of previous popular tunes (Donna Lee for Indiana, Anthropology and dozens of others for I Got Rhythm, blues etc etc). Much has happened since modal jazz, so to describe the evolution of jazz as a harmonic dumbing down, implying modal jazz is somehow contemporary, is unforgivably dishonest and reminiscent of windbags who talk about twelve-tone serialism as the curse of "modern" classical music as if it's the latest trend or even relevant today. Anybody who seriously believes that characterisation would do well to actually listen to some Shorter (beyond Footprints), Kenny Wheeler, Jonathan Kreisberg, Metheny etc and can be promptly dismissed as not knowing what they're talking about. Also hilarious inclusion of Coltrane, considering something like Giant Steps is infinitely more complex than just about every bebop standard excluding some Monk tunes.
Barry is a legendary educator and a great pianist, but his opinions on other pianists can be ridiculously poor, especially when he presents them on the basis of what jazz "should" be. Culturally, he's clearly out of touch, which to be fair isn't such a surprising fact at the age of 91. It's amazing he's still playing and teaching as brilliantly as he does.
He's become like most old men, and im sure he's played the diminished 7 b5 in the snow, uphill....both ways 😂
Dead post, I guess.
But if you have the problem with what Barry says about those other people, you actually do not understand his point. Many of the people you mentioned were jazz musicians that stopped doing jazz music and started doing “jazzy music” but still trying to call it jazz. His point is, those developments are valid. But they are not jazz.
He might sound like a grumpy old man, but the truth is that the same thing happened to classical music where people compose weird things and still try to call it classical music. Which is why right after the twentieth century, people simply cannot understand what is going on with classical music.
I'm in one of Mr Harris's class. No music sheets. He tells you what to play. Great teacher. I record his class and studied it that night.
Put up some of your vids online YT... share them
did you post the class recordings?
what he talks about at 21.00 onward (diminished scale, dom 7ths and guitarists) is the whole basis of Pat Martinos guitar method !
"Go listen to guitarists and try to find one of them that sounds like they know about the scale of chords". 3:45 of Gone With The Wind on the album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery sounds like some Ab and Bb major 6th diminished stuff is very intentionally happening in this chord solo but I might be wrong.
May this jazz master and educator, Barry Harris rest in peace. 🙏❤🎹🎼🎶
He's right! Wonderful and inspiring!
@ 20:14, talking about the 4 dominant chords contained in the diminished 7th chord was something I heard years ago from Pat Martino. Maybe he got it from Barry, but probably not.
Playing the 6 count over the 4 count is quite interesting! Thanks!
Man, Barry really has opened my ears to a lot of what I didn't understand.
I believes in you Sir Harris
This man is special I wish he was my teacher!
Pat Martino started the 1st chapter of his book "Creative Force (1993)" on the diminished concept (as describe here by BH) and PM made it so simple on the guitar fingerboard.
He is, what I consider to be, the original Rolling Stone.
I loved his playing and his demonstration of a 'chance composition' tool (random selection of cards with numbers standing for the notes in the scale). But...
Wisdom shines brightest when not clouded by disrespect, condescension and self-indulgence.
I would love to have learned more from Mr. Harris about the musical concepts that he criticizes others for not understanding.
You can still. He teaches every Tuesday 244 W54th street 10th floor. His concepts are beautiful regardless of what instrument you play.
Thanks! Tonight I think I've finally seen the light. I wrote my whole big story and then scrolled down to see that I had posted 10 months ago! Haha! What a dolt I was! Mr. Harris deserves more respect than my comment gave him. I think I understand better now why he's so frustrated. Really? Is he still teaching there?You sure I could go?
RIP to one of the GOATs
You can believe in Barry when you hear his examples
I love Miles’ some day my prince will come.. my favorite Miles Album.. and I’m a Jazz Head...
I love that tune as well, actually my favorite album .. I’m a jazz head and pianist… lol
I'm not a musician and only a novice jazz fan but can you explain why barry didn't like miles or coltrane's music?
@@SureFeelsGoodLate response, but Barry was a bebop purist. Miles and Coltrane went on to explore other forms of Jazz. I happen to enjoy it but I guess it wasn't for Barry.
Thankfully Barry gets it
Thank you for this!!
chords from scales. he can be rigid at times . theory is theory .i do learn from him and admire his concept
55:30 he mentions Bach and Chopin misleading us what exactly does he mean by this?
That Bb7sus instead of Db7 on There Will Be Another You is really nice!
Wow, what a treasure this guy is!
The greatest in jazz peaked around 1959. So many greats were pushed aside back rhen.
Oscar Peterson was intimidated by Art Tatum who was like a God..Art being so cool told Oscar..'You got this!'
I believe in Barry Harris
This needs to go viral
his point about Miles, Coltrane and Herbie regarding modal playing- they are not the end-all-be-all definers of Jazz music
I can't read music or play piano but I have been drawn to Mr. Harris' videos and can't stop.
Therefore, this must be Chinese to you...🤔
Very good lessons ❤🎉
Gracias.
8:45 Barry Harris is the only person allowed to say "I am jazz"
33:32 when they stopped improvising over here (
This is the greatest thing ever. I wish this man were a grandfather of mine :)
Barry is speaking 1 billion percent facts
that s ridiculous kkkkk love him!
"You've got to believe in me"
😂 otherwise you’re wrong...
You have to believe in a teacher, or else it may be difficult to learn... Then go your own way.
@@johnrothfield6126 this...alot of people want to learn but they are unteachable. Without that belief in the teacher how you gonna learn from them. We use the word 'Maestro' for a reaction. If a maestro tells me something i DON'T accept it blindly but what i accept is the maestro has told me this for a reason. And i might not be ready for this lesson but I will try my best to get SOMETHING from it.
Just listen. Then go dig deep on what he teaches. As a guitar player, he's spot on and he's not talking about the upper echelon players. Barry's way is the way for me and has taught me more in about a year than I've learned in a long long time. Guitar players - search Things I Learned From Barry Harris. Dig deep and confront yourself and don't skip until you've learned that concept (which you know by putting it to real music).
The first chord of Stella by Starlight is.....34:47
I don't totally agree with all of Barry's opinions and likes and dislikes-for instance, I love much of John Coltrane 's music-powerful and tremendously soulful. And I respect Coltrane's courage and search for his own music- Yet I also love Barry's sincerity and his straightforwardness-Barry is direct and honest in his feelings-a beautiful quality! And not so common either.
Also , Barry knows bebop like nobody else alive today-Barry is a true and pure jazz musician and has truly lived and practiced what he is talking about.
I am so happy that Barry is still alive and still plays so beautifully-long live Barry Harris!
I believe in you Barry!
Beautiful cat!
Can someone tell me more about the two whole tone scales 'making' three dimished chords? (6:00) Is he just saying a G diminshed chord has two notes from G whole tone and two from Ab whole tone? Or is there more? Did he mesh whole tone and dimished scales in ways that we should know more about?
You've got the right idea. There's a couple of videos about Dr Harris's "creation myth" story about where scales and chords are derived, the TH-cam channel "Things I've Learned From Barry Harris" has a couple. That whole channel is priceless, really.
The TLDR of it is - you start with the chromatic scale. Split in half, call it two whole tone scales, C whole tone and Db whole tone - man and woman if you like. They "go to bed" and make children; as you said, two notes from one scale a b5 apart and two notes from the other scale a b5 apart two make a diminished seventh. You get three distinct diminished chords this way, C, Db, and D; any other dim7 chord is just an inversion of these.
This sets the stage for all of Dr Harris's scales of chords, which you can learn much more about at the aforementioned "Things I've Learned From Barry Harris" channel. Some other folks teach this stuff too but TILFBH stands out as he took from Harris for 20-some years whereas many other channels are a step or two removed from the source (and tbh a lot of them just incorrectly regurgitate TILFBH's material at the end of the day)
Incredible,
thank God there is some one to give this information to keep the integrity of the compositions
James Jamerson studied under him which means, we ALL studied under him!! WOW!!
THE THRUTH !!! Горькая Правда
"It's not that easy.. I changed your thought; I changed your thought"
Take that
Is the album he is talking about "Bud Powell: Live At Birdland 1957"?
+Dan Kolle I just did a bunch of searches for this and I think that's the recording he's talking about. Depending on when the vid above was taped, ""Bud Powell: Live At Birdland 1957" only recently came out as an import (2013/4). Dr. Harris also mentions it in an article on allaboutjazz.com
www.allaboutjazz.com/barry-harris-iconic-jazz-pianist-and-keeper-of-the-flame-barry-harris-by-victor-l-schermer.php
What a profound ending
20:44 Barry Harris says guitar is the best instrument, and that we should learn from guitar players.
In my opinion he's a 100% right about learning from the guitar . I think all guitars should be designed with the notes engraved on the neck you need to know the notes. The notes on the guitar neck spells out music theory. It's perfect I think a left hand person should play a right hand guitar and right hand person should play a left hand guitar why because it takes a lot of strength to fret . I eat, sleep and drink the piano but I'm glad I gave the guitar a chance.
Barry Is so right about tenor players these days. Hawk, Prez and Webster have been overlooked by Trane. It'd be great to hear big cat play like the old horn players.
You have to believe in Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Chostakovitch, Prokofiev, and Barry 😎
stuff he says bout guitarists is heavy as hell...usually no one believes in the guitarist
mrfish4lyfe yeah I was blown away by that
Daniel Barry hell all I've been doing for the past year is straight up copying piano players. I don't think Berry knows how hard it is to play chord scales like he does on a guitar.
Pizaz0 look for Pasquale grasso he do that pretty well he is a Barry Harris disciple I would say and he plays guitar
kabala youri thank you, I'll check him out.
I used to feel that way to until I heard guys like Pat Martino and John McLaughlin.
In all Barry's performances, the bass player is always in the centre. I'm not sure what he means by the bass player is always by the piano's left hand. Does he mean the bass player can always see what the pianist is doing?
*"See, we used to dance to the music. We danced to the music. You see, jazz musicians been gettin' away with murder; they ain't got no people dancin' to the music and they just do anything they wanna' do. And you couldn't dance to it if you wanted to, the way some of them sound. Then they go out on you and call it 'avant-garde.' Right now we in the dark ages. The golden age passed. We are in the dark ages. It's time for a renaissance."*
- Barry Harris from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague
I saw that video and it's probably my favorite quote by BH!
@51:20 Joe Pass or Peter Bernstein don't know about the scale of chords? I SERIOUSLY doubt they don't know that..
28:04 "How can it have limits? Does math have limits? Can you say there is an end to math? Hell no. And music is math."
Funnily enough math actually has ''limits'', but I know what you mean.
There is much mathematics in music, but there is little music in mathematics.
It’s the only thing that’s math, science, and art.
@@henkdevries2002 human limits, yes. LOL!
@@henkdevries2002 😂😂😂
I believe
WHAT IS THE SCALE OF CHORDS HES TALKING ABOUT AND WHAT ARE THE 4 SCALES
There are four and only four diatonic scales that can be arranged in thirds :
Major : C E G B D F A C
Harmonic Major : C E G B D F Ab C
Melodic Minor : C Eb G B D F A C
Harmonic Minor : C Eb G B D F Ab C
These scales come from thirds....so they are the chords tones arranged as scales...the scales are the arpeggios. They are the origin of harmony. Period.
Most musicians are unaware of harmonic major and its importance.
www.adamcoulombe.com/
facebook.com/TertianHarmony/
Cheers....
There are 3 families of 4 scales. The families are formed from the diminished 7ths. So one family is the C, Eb, Gb, A. Each scale is the major 6 chord and the diminished 7th that these scales share. In this case they share the D dim 7. So the scale of chords for C is C maj 6 and D dim 7 up the inversions. Eb: Eb maj 6 D dim 7 up the inversions. And so on. And because they share that dim 7, you can switch between very smoothly.
The 4 scales are :
Major sixth diminish
Minor sixth diminish
Dominante seventh flat five “sixth” diminish
Dominante 7 “sixth” diminish
CDEFGAbAB
Same with Eb
CDEFGAbBbB
Same with Gb
Major dim
Minor dim
Dom7 dim
Dom7b5 dim
All have a Ddim
When he says about the major scale and it being “8 degrees, but it should be 9”… - anyone ever heard him talk about what that 9th degree should be?
I’ve experimented with the scale of chords that include b2, b3, b5, b7 added singularly to his 8 note scale. I have an idea which might be correct. Some are more symmetrical. b7 I discounted because it confuses the harmony function. I’d need to check my notes; but I think I settled on b3 because that is the blue note that is added to the major pentatonic to make the ‘blues scale’. (If minor pentatonic it’s the b5). Has anyone else had a go at sounding it out? Or heard more info from Barry in his classes?
b6
@@dr34mr11 thanks. I’m aware of the added flat 6 to his 8 degree scale. But he once mentioned that it should be 9 degrees but didn’t mention which other note to add. ⬆️
@@fraserkyle4880 since he talked about the vanilla major scale having 8 I think he counted the octave note too, so his major dim6 scale would count as 9
@@charlesperforms ah yes, quite likely.
I'm a relatively young musician mostly within the Gospel music arena that often references a lot of jazz. I agree with many points but the biggest issue I have with the older directors and musicians is they call other styles and methods "wrong" or "incorrect". This makes me cringe because Mr. Harris just contradicted himself. He said music is math and therefore limitless. So, how can you say something is "wrong"?? It would be better to say that he simply doesn't like it or feel it's incorrect from his viewpoint. NO ONE approaches music the same way...that's what makes it unique to the artist. I get so worn out hearing the tunnel vision talk.
+kennygsmooth83 Are you really that thin skinned that you cringe if you hear a Master say that something you like might be wrong or corny? Grow up! Secondly, I don't think Barry Harris needs your advice so as to not hurt someones feelings. Again, grow up! Lastly, why would he have to clarify by saying "In my opinion." Of course it's his opinion, he's the one saying it!
Hey Chris get some Vaseline and use your imagination with that one
+kennygsmooth83 My apologies if I hurt your feelings. I thought I was talking to a grown up.
+chrisparks22 do you know what the "chord scale" he talked about at the end?
+dubdee "scale of chords" and the four scales for guitar?
So all of this is pretty left field to me and I was under the impression that Davis, Coltrane and Hancock were fairly typical examples of jazz music. Is this a common perspective in the jazz community? He spoke about 'modal music' as well, and I was wondering how he contradicts this mode of jazz composition and what his alternative is. Also what the diminished scale is, because I'm quite clear on what it is not but not quite certain what it is. If anybody could help me out that'd be great.
mineral if you've got a decent ear, go listen to mr Harris's work, and the work of the guys he speaks of in a good light in this video, and then listen to Davis and Coltrane. You'll hear the difference, even if you can't articulate it. And Herbie i think would admit he's more of a fusion guy, not strictly jazz.
The diminished scale he is talking about is just a fully diminished 7 chord with its related dominant root notes. C° is C, Eb, Gb, Bbb (A) Moving the C down a half step creates a B7, Moving Eb creates a D7, Gb creates F7, A down creates Ab7. So the scale becomes C, D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, A, B. Yes it's the same as a WH dim scale, he just thinks of it differently I guess. Saw it in another BH vid
m7b5 = "minor with the sixth in the bass" - Monk
minor with the sixth in the bass
Great trick !
Just as much as a Cmaj7 is an Em chord with a #5/b6 in the bass. How "convenient".
Upper structures.
This is actually how I learned half diminished chords. I always thought D half diminished was F minor with D in the bass
is it 6:4 polyrhythm 32:14
we need to humble ourselves and admit that Barry was right! that being said, i still love Herbie.
the master
Never thought I'd hear someone bash Herbie Hancock from a sort of authoritarian standpoint
I love Barry Harris. But when he bashes Herbie and Wayne and say that’s not jazz it makes him sound like a bitter old man. Like he’s just trolling.
@@schoolmusic3507 I feel the same way. Love Barry, but I also love Herbie. Over the years of listening to Herbie and really digging into his entire body of work, he is as complete of a musician as Barry...from the theory standpoint to the practical. I don't know what Barry has or hasn't heard of Herbie's, but I've heard Herbie play it all from Classical to Bebop to Pop. The only style I haven't heard him play is Gospel, but I wouldn't be surprised if he hits some before he dies.
And nothing but respect to Barry - his 6th Diminished lessons really changed my life on piano. Growing as a drummer, my piano learning was coming along pretty naturally, but it wasn't clicking. Those 6th Diminished lessons filled in so many gaps.
I thought learning the 4 associated dom b9 chords with each diminished was standard protocol in any institution of jazz..
Mike Mckendrick nope
+Mike Mckendrick It is.
This whole subject of learning jazz they way they did back in the day VS learning in schools is a lot more complicated / nuanced that some would have you believe.
Are the schools there to make money? Absolutely.
Is learning jazz by listening to records, finding people to play with who are better than you, playing with others every chance you get, being part of a scene, being mentored etc. the way to go? Of course!
Does anyone really think that one can just go to a jazz school and passively be taught to play worth a damn? Of course not!
Music schools get blamed for a lot of stuff undeservedly. Just because some rich kid gets mommy & daddy to fork over the dough to send him through school, even though he never listened to jazz, never loved it beyond the Sadowsky JH model jazz box his parents bought him and his hipster threads and "making the scene", and he comes out of there telling people that they taught him to "play Dorian over the ii7, Mixolydian over the V7..." etc. ***DOESN'T*** mean that THAT was what they're teaching in that school!
I've seen a ton of videos right here on TH-cam of classes / Master Classes done in a variety of the big name and not so big name schools and I'm seeing guys like Hal Galper lay down the truth on these kids - the truth about how all their hip note choices don't amount to squat if they don't have that time feel, about taking the stuff off records, about playing all the time - really putting in the time!
And though times have certainly changed, and there isn't mentoring like there used to be, there's not enough "hangs" and all of that, the ones that end up to be great players are still basically doing it the same way. They're at school so they can be around OTHER players, so they can play with OTHERS, all the time! They network! They're LISTENING to the music.
would you care to explain what chords and what context you're talking about? I'm very interested
Yh man, the minor third axis