Rest In Peace, Barry Harris. Barry liked to say that “Music is movement”. Today, one of the greatest masters of movement has moved on to the next plane. Barry created so much beauty and taught and inspired countless musicians, imparting invaluable direction and insight that aided and supported the great journey of the exploration of music. His contributions cannot be overstated and we’re indebted and forever grateful for his life’s work and the kind of person he was. Gone but never forgotten! Thank you Chris for all you do to help get Barry’s incredible teachings out in your own great way.
So sorry hearing of Barry's passing - he contributed so much to jazz students and enthusiasts. Thank you for carrying on what you learned from him. We will all miss you Barry.
A week or so ago, I saw your video about the 4 scales of chords (from probably 2 years ago), and I had some questions that this video explained very well. Your creative generosity is just a godsend, man! Keep them coming, you’re doing wonderful things.
I just want to let you know how much I appreciate your respect and care for not only the genius of Barry Harris but for the music itself. Your channel is not about self promotion but about sharing this beautiful gift to the world. Thank you, sincerely.
I keep coming back to this channel and Barry's concepts and each time a little more sinks in. Maybe it will all click one day. Love your channel. Barry must be very proud of his student.
Thank you, Chris. I've been studying Barry's methods for years and only now just realized what he means when he says everything comes from the diminished.
I say what you talking about it all too common today. People do a search or watch a video for an answer and think they know something, they have no idea why it's the answer. Learning anything is a process and when you follow the process you learn all the related data of why something is the answer.
What about all the stuff BH talks about with rhythm? The most you hear is a quick explanation about "extra chromatics." Then you get the workshop book and watch the DVD's. Barry asks his students to scat rhythms and then he immediately plays lines with added chromatics to describe the rhythm. But the RHYTHM comes first. Great video, but I'd love you to join the brave few on CZcams who are talking about jazz from a truly rhythmic primacy. Not talking about playing rhythms and adding random notes stuff, talking about how rhythm TRULY informs line construction and improvisation in jazz, bebop before and beyond. I'm studying with another student and band member of BH and loving every lesson with him. Honestly, you gotta put the GAS away peeps and shell out some cash to study with a true student of BH. TILFBH is worth getting lessons from, real lessons that you actually gotta pay for--worth more than a new axe any day of the WEEK ;)
I found it! Okay, Disk 4 of "The Barry Harris Workshop Video" vol. 1. Barry hints at this amazing nugget of information. He just finished talking to the drummer about the importance of "and's" and the "and before the 4 of the last 4 measures." He starts in with the pianist at 00:05:18 (Disk 4) and says, "We gotta think rhythm." Then he starts scatting rhythms that describe notes--> the way the rhythm sounds dictates your note choice. The rhythm describes the notes--it's NOT about the note first rhythm LAST, that's a concept we don't talk about enough. We gotta get deeper into THAT rhythm BAG. Love the content. But rhythm is still very much UNTAPPED in jazz pedagogy, especially for us "non-drummers."
Rest In Peace to Mr. Barry Harris! The world lost a tremendously talented musician and teacher, to say the least. Chris, it's musicians like you that help carry his message to those like me, that thirst for knowledge and Barry Harris will always be an overflowing well of inspiration! Please, take care Chris.
What a beautiful summary of this genius discovery. It really is that: a discovery. Barry found a secret compartment in the piano that led to a parallel universe of music that hangs together like magic and intersects with existing music theory perfectly; radically simplifying all the loose-ended and overly complicated jazz concepts. It’s such a gift, and your teaching of it is filled with humility and beauty, my friend. It’s really very moving and powerful.
A beautiful and succinct clarification - and articulated with such ease! This is a sign of a great teacher (you) who has real fluency and care. Thanks again Chris!
This was an absolutely necessary contribution to understanding Barry's thinking. There are way too many superficial and therefore inaccurate videos that ultimately lessen the richness and variety of what these scales offer musicians. Thanks for all your work!
WOW. This is incredible! I'm still dipping my toes into all of this, but I can see how amazing these concepts are. Thank you for sharing all of this with us for free! I will be coming back to this again and again.
Chris, hope you're okay, thank you for introducing me to Barry's philosophy, my relationship with music has been changed forever by you both. Thank you
I think the issue is that most CZcams content creators are borrowing heavily from other CZcamsrs rather than citing Barry’s concepts more directly. It’s likely that most of the information is fragmentary and incomplete at best…
Love it man! Thank you so much for turning me on Chris man! I think iv'e heard joe pass referred to for that 6th diminished scale (Joe Pass Scale). Anyway you know, the first lesson I ever took from an actual teacher taught me that exact c6 chord you showed in that example. He did not mention Barry ever but his teacher Chuck Wayne (guitar) taught criss cross chords. Thats where you take the middle four like that c6 and you either go right or left top or bottom for the 2 other sets of 4 on tops and bottoms. Just think cool it was the one he started with. Can be a stretcher for a while! Then of course you can get other types of chords by bringing up the second string down up an octave ETC. I learned almost enough to never run out of things to practice! He got parkinsons and had to quit but I miss those lessons. I did not know that one yet about that c6 being pieces of the other two diminished chords! Have you tried Pat martinos Octavistics lesson? I thought it was a little interesting.
Please do make a video about how to apply these scales. Perhaps you could apply it to Autumn Leaves as it contains minor 7, major7, dominant7 and minor7 flat 5.
Excellent Chris, as are all your videos. Clear and concise! I do have a question though. When improvising chord solos on a C7 to F progression, I find when using the C7dim scale, the Ab note on top can sound odd or maybe I should say I would really like an A natural in those lines at times. Maybe i should say Ab sounds great in some lines but others to my ear want A natural. Have you ever found this and if so what is your solution when thinking C7dim?
I've noticed this too. I almost feel like you have to switch scales-of-chords in anticipation of the harmonic change in order to make it sound the way you might expect. So when you want one sound you're in a scale-of-chords relative to the 5, and when you need the other sound the scale-of-chords is relative to the 1. There is another option, of course - that my ears are not as hip as Dr Harris's. It's taken me some time to come around to using, for example, Ebmin6/dim on a D7. And sometimes I still feel like I'm not hip to it. I'll bet it's a sound I've heard 100s of times without realizing it, and then when I execute it myself I'm just doubtful so I can't pull it off. I will say an Ebmin6 arpeggio sounds great over a D7 during a lead, to me anyway.
Great video, Cris. If you do another on these, I wonder if you could touch on how the three diminished relate to functional harmony. I know BH says that music isn’t ii-V, but for a century that is how other composers thought. Tonic, subdominant, dominant. I see a fakebook and it’s all ii-V’s. Is there a systematic way to think in terms of BH’s family of diminished. Something like: “tonic sounds are built with the root diminished borrowing two notes from a neighbor diminished, while dominant are the root diminished with only one borrowed note.” I just made that up as an example, but I wonder if BH has ever laid out real rules like that?
It’s not easy to develop a quick, thorough, and comprehensible explanation of such a big idea: each of the 4 chord structures (C6, Cm6, C7, C7(b5) have their own “V sound” (Ddim7) that creates an 8 note scale by combining the 2 structures. But while G7 can be produced by the Ddim7 borrowing a G from C6, G7 also possesses its own diminished scales… And G6 diminished can be superimposed over the C6 chord… which is the equivalent of Cmaj13 It’s far easier to listen, observe, and appreciate the borrowing of colors in music than to translate the “movements” (as Barry calls them) into traditional theory.
I have the same question. I have a basic handle on the chords of scales and how the scales function, but when I try to apply the chords to a reharmonization of any jazz standard I am a little lost. Likewise with soloing, I get confused because about how to get to the V chord after playing the scale of chords that goes with the ii.
@@JAYDUBYAH29 my understanding is that learning the musical language does involve analysis in a sense of how do any of the 12 notes relate to the Root of a chord: R,b9,9,#9/b3, 3,4,#4/b5,5,#5/b6,6,b7,7 Without developing that information into your hands, it’s very easy to be lost
@@joshuamarks1129 that's exactly right. I have studied music for 30 years, some of that at a music college. I am merely saying that Barry cracked a code that side-steps a lot of labyrinthine roads that most go down in an effort to understand jazz harmony. that's why he's a genius. it's elegant and out of left-field with regard to existing music theory.
For the longest time I struggled with Barry’s concepts that I knew had to be correct since they evolved from the chromatic scale which included all tones. Segmenting the chromatic scale by play and skip notes was an easily absorbed concept which yielded the two whole-tone scales as mentioned above, however building the three diminished chords still mystified me. Dr Harris did use a DNA parable to clarify but it didn’t work for me. Only when I returned to the chromatic scale and segmented by play a note skip two notes ( i.e. divide by thirds ) did the idea set in my mind…be that wrong or right. My problem now is where did the Dd go? None of the four 6 chord-dim sets includes a Dd. Only when we SAY the C-6 dim set IS F 9 dim set, does the Dd come back via its’ dim on the major 7 interval. Perhaps I’m incorrect in assuming a harmonic system built on the chromatic scale would include all the tones.
Chris Your teachings are great, thanks for sharing your study of BH system, really beautiful to practice it. But I’m not sure how we gonna apply the dom7 dim and dom7b5 dim.
I see c6, c-6, c7, c-7b5. I understand c6dim would work on cMajor7, but not C-6dim working on C-7 because of the A and no Bb. So wouldn't this require a 5th scale extraction? not just 4 scales, but also C and Eb from Co7, G and Bb from Dbo7, and Do7 to make C D Eb F G Ab Bb B ?
After your explanation, my thinking was: there are more ways to combine notes from Co and C#o. So i tried them: Co: C, Eb, Gb + C#o:Bb gives Cm7b5, which is an inversion of Ebm6, so covered. Co: C, Gb, A + C#o: E gives a rubbish C chord, but it's an Am6 (or F#m7b5), so also covered. Co: C, Eb + C#o: G, B gives Cm7. That one doesn't seem to be covered. Why is that not one of Barry's scales?
It describes it, but it doesn't explain how it was created. There's an Adam Neely video that talks about how you can examine (for example) Indian music through the lens of 18th century European composers, but you lose much in translation in doing so, and vice versa. If you want to just look at the notes of the scale you can, but that's almost more like describing the concept by its shadow instead of its shape.
where do the note choices come from? you seemed to randomly pull two notes from the c diminished and db diminished chords. it makes sense but i dont see the reasoning behind just keeping and taking the notes
As the channel's name implies, it is dedicated exclusively to the teachings of Barry Harris, who had a very particular way of conceptualizing music and also was a great educator. And as far as I know, neither Wes or Coltrane did ever attempt to spread their knowledge.
Yes please! A video of how to apply all 4 of Barry's chordscales to all diatonic chords!
Fantastic, brother. So clearly stated. Barry's creation theory is one of the most beautiful musical concepts I've ever seen
Chris, I just ears that Barry passed on. I’m sorry. You’ve introduced many people to how special he was. Thanks so much man.
Cheers to Barry.
Rest In Peace, Barry Harris.
Barry liked to say that “Music is movement”. Today, one of the greatest masters of movement has moved on to the next plane. Barry created so much beauty and taught and inspired countless musicians, imparting invaluable direction and insight that aided and supported the great journey of the exploration of music. His contributions cannot be overstated and we’re indebted and forever grateful for his life’s work and the kind of person he was. Gone but never forgotten! Thank you Chris for all you do to help get Barry’s incredible teachings out in your own great way.
RIP Barry Harris. Thank you Chris for spreading his teachings
So sorry hearing of Barry's passing - he contributed so much to jazz students and enthusiasts. Thank you for carrying on what you learned from him. We will all miss you Barry.
Men, you save me! You save knowledge!!
Sending you and the community love today. Keep spreading the message of his music. ❤️
A week or so ago, I saw your video about the 4 scales of chords (from probably 2 years ago), and I had some questions that this video explained very well. Your creative generosity is just a godsend, man! Keep them coming, you’re doing wonderful things.
Wow I almost missed this break down. I saw episode 108 but didn’t get the break down from the beginning. I’m so glad I did.
I just want to let you know how much I appreciate your respect and care for not only the genius of Barry Harris but for the music itself. Your channel is not about self promotion but about sharing this beautiful gift to the world. Thank you, sincerely.
Just heard the news, I am so sorry, please don’t stop showing us his legacy, much respect to you
I watch this video and episode 108 5 times in a day.
I keep coming back to this channel and Barry's concepts and each time a little more sinks in. Maybe it will all click one day. Love your channel. Barry must be very proud of his student.
I just found out. Deepest of condolences, we lost a great human being, artist, and teacher
Thank you, Chris. I've been studying Barry's methods for years and only now just realized what he means when he says everything comes from the diminished.
Curiosity is what brought me here. I still have so much to learn. This is the third time I’ve watched it and it’s finally beginning to seep in
Omg we do owe him to get it right. The hairs on my arms just stood up.
I say what you talking about it all too common today. People do a search or watch a video for an answer and think they know something, they have no idea why it's the answer. Learning anything is a process and when you follow the process you learn all the related data of why something is the answer.
What about all the stuff BH talks about with rhythm? The most you hear is a quick explanation about "extra chromatics." Then you get the workshop book and watch the DVD's. Barry asks his students to scat rhythms and then he immediately plays lines with added chromatics to describe the rhythm. But the RHYTHM comes first. Great video, but I'd love you to join the brave few on CZcams who are talking about jazz from a truly rhythmic primacy. Not talking about playing rhythms and adding random notes stuff, talking about how rhythm TRULY informs line construction and improvisation in jazz, bebop before and beyond. I'm studying with another student and band member of BH and loving every lesson with him. Honestly, you gotta put the GAS away peeps and shell out some cash to study with a true student of BH. TILFBH is worth getting lessons from, real lessons that you actually gotta pay for--worth more than a new axe any day of the WEEK ;)
I found it! Okay, Disk 4 of "The Barry Harris Workshop Video" vol. 1. Barry hints at this amazing nugget of information. He just finished talking to the drummer about the importance of "and's" and the "and before the 4 of the last 4 measures." He starts in with the pianist at 00:05:18 (Disk 4) and says, "We gotta think rhythm." Then he starts scatting rhythms that describe notes--> the way the rhythm sounds dictates your note choice. The rhythm describes the notes--it's NOT about the note first rhythm LAST, that's a concept we don't talk about enough. We gotta get deeper into THAT rhythm BAG. Love the content. But rhythm is still very much UNTAPPED in jazz pedagogy, especially for us "non-drummers."
Rest In Peace to Mr. Barry Harris! The world lost a tremendously talented musician and teacher, to say the least. Chris, it's musicians like you that help carry his message to those like me, that thirst for knowledge and Barry Harris will always be an overflowing well of inspiration! Please, take care Chris.
What a beautiful summary of this genius discovery. It really is that: a discovery. Barry found a secret compartment in the piano that led to a parallel universe of music that hangs together like magic and intersects with existing music theory perfectly; radically simplifying all the loose-ended and overly complicated jazz concepts. It’s such a gift, and your teaching of it is filled with humility and beauty, my friend. It’s really very moving and powerful.
A beautiful and succinct clarification - and articulated with such ease! This is a sign of a great teacher (you) who has real fluency and care. Thanks again Chris!
This was an absolutely necessary contribution to understanding Barry's thinking. There are way too many superficial and therefore inaccurate videos that ultimately lessen the richness and variety of what these scales offer musicians. Thanks for all your work!
RIP Barry Harris.
WOW. This is incredible! I'm still dipping my toes into all of this, but I can see how amazing these concepts are. Thank you for sharing all of this with us for free! I will be coming back to this again and again.
Eye-opening video, looking forward to the part 2 you alluded to.
Thanks for another great video, Chris. The basics always bear repeating -- sometimes the simplest things are the most easily forgotten!
Thanks Chris. FYI The volume on this video seems extremely quiet. At least on my device...
Yes to a video applying this to diatonic chords!!!
This explains a lot. Thank you for this generous lesson. And you’re right, not enough people (including myself) explain this correctly
Crystal clear looking foward to the next one! Nice preaching btw
Chris, hope you're okay, thank you for introducing me to Barry's philosophy, my relationship with music has been changed forever by you both. Thank you
I think the issue is that most CZcams content creators are borrowing heavily from other CZcamsrs rather than citing Barry’s concepts more directly. It’s likely that most of the information is fragmentary and incomplete at best…
Like the books of the Bible. Lolz
super clean explaining! now to practice them!
thx man!!!
I have watched all of your videos... precious staff!
God bless you. You are SO right.
Great explanation of how these all relate to each other! 👍🙂👍
RIP Barry Harris 💔
Thanks so much for posting this))
Excellent in-depth lesson thanks 🎸👍👌🎸🎶👍
Excellent, so clearly explained and demonstrated. Thank you.
RIP barry
Love it man! Thank you so much for turning me on Chris man! I think iv'e heard joe pass referred to for that 6th diminished scale (Joe Pass Scale). Anyway you know, the first lesson I ever took from an actual teacher taught me that exact c6 chord you showed in that example. He did not mention Barry ever but his teacher Chuck Wayne (guitar) taught criss cross chords. Thats where you take the middle four like that c6 and you either go right or left top or bottom for the 2 other sets of 4 on tops and bottoms. Just think cool it was the one he started with. Can be a stretcher for a while! Then of course you can get other types of chords by bringing up the second string down up an octave ETC. I learned almost enough to never run out of things to practice! He got parkinsons and had to quit but I miss those lessons. I did not know that one yet about that c6 being pieces of the other two diminished chords! Have you tried Pat martinos Octavistics lesson? I thought it was a little interesting.
big up the few who are locked in to Barry Harris' teachings.
can't believe this video has just 6000 views
Yes!
Beautiful. Thank you for all your insights!
Always appreciate this insight! SO much information in these videos!!! 😉👍
Brilliant!
Great incredible! Thanks for sharing
good stuff chris
Please do make a video about how to apply these scales. Perhaps you could apply it to Autumn Leaves as it contains minor 7, major7, dominant7 and minor7 flat 5.
Look at labyrynth
love you
Excellent Chris, as are all your videos. Clear and concise!
I do have a question though. When improvising chord solos on a C7 to F progression, I find when using the C7dim scale, the Ab note on top can sound odd or maybe I should say I would really like an A natural in those lines at times. Maybe i should say Ab sounds great in some lines but others to my ear want A natural. Have you ever found this and if so what is your solution when thinking C7dim?
I've noticed this too. I almost feel like you have to switch scales-of-chords in anticipation of the harmonic change in order to make it sound the way you might expect. So when you want one sound you're in a scale-of-chords relative to the 5, and when you need the other sound the scale-of-chords is relative to the 1.
There is another option, of course - that my ears are not as hip as Dr Harris's. It's taken me some time to come around to using, for example, Ebmin6/dim on a D7. And sometimes I still feel like I'm not hip to it. I'll bet it's a sound I've heard 100s of times without realizing it, and then when I execute it myself I'm just doubtful so I can't pull it off. I will say an Ebmin6 arpeggio sounds great over a D7 during a lead, to me anyway.
If you want the A natural then use Gm6-Diminished scale
Brilliant
Great video, Cris. If you do another on these, I wonder if you could touch on how the three diminished relate to functional harmony. I know BH says that music isn’t ii-V, but for a century that is how other composers thought. Tonic, subdominant, dominant. I see a fakebook and it’s all ii-V’s. Is there a systematic way to think in terms of BH’s family of diminished. Something like:
“tonic sounds are built with the root diminished borrowing two notes from a neighbor diminished, while dominant are the root diminished with only one borrowed note.”
I just made that up as an example, but I wonder if BH has ever laid out real rules like that?
It’s not easy to develop a quick, thorough, and comprehensible explanation of such a big idea:
each of the 4 chord structures
(C6, Cm6, C7, C7(b5)
have their own “V sound” (Ddim7) that creates an 8 note scale by combining the 2 structures.
But while G7 can be produced by the Ddim7 borrowing a G from C6,
G7 also possesses its own diminished scales…
And G6 diminished can be superimposed over the C6 chord…
which is the equivalent of Cmaj13
It’s far easier to listen, observe, and appreciate the borrowing of colors in music than to translate the “movements” (as Barry calls them) into traditional theory.
I have the same question. I have a basic handle on the chords of scales and how the scales function, but when I try to apply the chords to a reharmonization of any jazz standard I am a little lost. Likewise with soloing, I get confused because about how to get to the V chord after playing the scale of chords that goes with the ii.
@@JAYDUBYAH29 my understanding is that learning the musical language does involve analysis in a sense of how do any of the 12 notes relate to the Root of a chord:
R,b9,9,#9/b3, 3,4,#4/b5,5,#5/b6,6,b7,7
Without developing that information into your hands, it’s very easy to be lost
Fortunately in jazz, any note can be used as a simple chromatic pickup or passing note
@@joshuamarks1129 that's exactly right. I have studied music for 30 years, some of that at a music college. I am merely saying that Barry cracked a code that side-steps a lot of labyrinthine roads that most go down in an effort to understand jazz harmony. that's why he's a genius. it's elegant and out of left-field with regard to existing music theory.
For the longest time I struggled with Barry’s concepts that
I knew had to be correct since they evolved from the chromatic
scale which included all tones.
Segmenting the chromatic scale by play and skip notes was an
easily absorbed concept which yielded the two whole-tone scales
as mentioned above, however building the three diminished chords still
mystified me.
Dr Harris did use a DNA parable to clarify but it didn’t work for
me. Only when I returned to the chromatic scale and segmented by play a note
skip two notes ( i.e. divide by thirds ) did the idea set in my mind…be that wrong or right.
My problem now is where did the Dd go?
None of the four 6 chord-dim sets includes a Dd.
Only when we SAY the C-6 dim set IS F 9 dim set, does the Dd come back via its’ dim on the major 7 interval.
Perhaps I’m incorrect in assuming a harmonic system built on the chromatic scale
would include all the tones.
NICE!!!! Would really love the tabs for those chords. Thanks in advance Chris, LOL!!!!
Chris Your teachings are great, thanks for sharing your study of BH system, really beautiful to practice it. But I’m not sure how we gonna apply the dom7 dim and dom7b5 dim.
Fantastic. Where does music come from?
I see c6, c-6, c7, c-7b5. I understand c6dim would work on cMajor7, but not C-6dim working on C-7 because of the A and no Bb. So wouldn't this require a 5th scale extraction? not just 4 scales, but also C and Eb from Co7, G and Bb from Dbo7, and Do7 to make C D Eb F G Ab Bb B ?
Okay TILF 108 clarified that C-7 = Eb6dim
After your explanation, my thinking was: there are more ways to combine notes from Co and C#o. So i tried them:
Co: C, Eb, Gb + C#o:Bb gives Cm7b5, which is an inversion of Ebm6, so covered.
Co: C, Gb, A + C#o: E gives a rubbish C chord, but it's an Am6 (or F#m7b5), so also covered.
Co: C, Eb + C#o: G, B gives Cm7. That one doesn't seem to be covered. Why is that not one of Barry's scales?
Cm7 is Eb6
Cm7 is an inversion of Eb6, so you would play A major diminished scale
@@ltifimedikbel4148 this is incorrect Cm7 is Eb
@@CarlKaroyan Ah yes Eb6 (not A6), i see it now! Thanks for your help ;-)
Btw, I made a typo, Co: C,Eb + C#o: G,Bb (not B) for the Cm7
Isn't the traditional major/minor system equivalent to Maj 6 dim? IE combine A harmonic minor and C
major. Major plus relative minor.
It describes it, but it doesn't explain how it was created. There's an Adam Neely video that talks about how you can examine (for example) Indian music through the lens of 18th century European composers, but you lose much in translation in doing so, and vice versa. If you want to just look at the notes of the scale you can, but that's almost more like describing the concept by its shadow instead of its shape.
where do the note choices come from? you seemed to randomly pull two notes from the c diminished and db diminished chords. it makes sense but i dont see the reasoning behind just keeping and taking the notes
Jesus Christ
I wonder why you never talk about Wes or Coltrane and so many more.Jazz is not only Bird,Bud Powell and Barry. Open up your limits my friend.
As the channel's name implies, it is dedicated exclusively to the teachings of Barry Harris, who had a very particular way of conceptualizing music and also was a great educator. And as far as I know, neither Wes or Coltrane did ever attempt to spread their knowledge.