Everything Barry Harris taught, in the order he built it
Barry taught for more than sixty years, from Detroit in the 1950s to Zoom classes from his New Jersey home in 2020. Here is his method in 16 stages and 91 ideas, from swinging by yourself to the sixth-diminished scale. Every point leads back to the moment he says it.
None of them played it all. Nobody played it all. There’s a whole lot left for you to play.
The method
16 stages in five parts, each printed in its own colour. Read them in order, or start with the part you need.
Foundations
Stages 0 to 4
How a class ran, rhythm first, and Barry’s logic: twelve tones, scales, and the scale every chord comes from.
Lines
Stages 5 to 7
The rules that turn a scale into bebop: added notes, then arpeggios, surrounds, pivots and triplets, then whole phrases over changes.
Harmony
Stages 8 to 10
Thinking dominant, the sixth-diminished scales of chords, and making chords move.
If you know how to move it, oh man, it’s so much fun once you get started.
Piano, voice and tunes
Stages 11 to 13
Two hands and the left hand, singing the line, and the tunes he taught it all through.
You can’t play the piano from the fingers.
Practice and philosophy
Stages 14 and 15
How to drill, and what Barry believed the music is and where it came from.
We supposed to practice every simple thing, you know.
Hear him teach
Barry’s own classes and talks, gathered by where and when he taught: 312 recordings, about 37 hours.
Search everything he said
Try pivot surrounding notes drop 2 Stella by Starlight swing by yourself sixth diminished