Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 10: Movement

Movement: Major to the Sixth Dominant

Episode 35 · 17:07 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

In the second episode on what Barry calls movement, Chris builds lines on I major going to the VI dominant (F to D7) and on into G minor to C7. Running F major down to the third of D7, he strings together the half-step rules, the 5-4-3-2 phrases, pivoting and the diminished, then varies where the phrase starts so the movement becomes a feel.

Step by step

  1. 0:34The change: F major to D7, then G minor to C7, sometimes two beats each, sometimes a full bar each.
  2. 1:11Run F major up and down to the third of D7, F sharp, in several places on the neck.
  3. 2:21Start on the tonic and descend with one half step between 6 and 5.
  4. 2:53At the fourth, use its rule: jump to the second and come up chromatically to the third.
  5. 3:35At the third, pivot a triad up: drop its top note an octave.
  6. 5:21From the third of D7, come up the four-note diminished and end on D (fifth of G minor, second of C7).
  7. 6:36Treat G minor to C7 as C7: two half steps, second to tonic and tonic to flat 7.
  8. 7:51Or go down to D and on to C, the tonic of C7, and use one half step between tonic and seventh.
  9. 9:17Start the same idea on beat two, leaving less time on F major.
  10. 10:36Practise out of tempo, then in tempo; try Bud Powell’s six notes of the diminished.

Barry’s own words on this

10.1 Be a movement player7.3 Getting through changes5.7 Coming down to the fourth6.7 Pivoting

In the course

Up and down to the third ofFeel how long each chord lastsThe half-step rules for the major scaleTriplets and the half-step rulesPivotsNap back5-4-3-2Come up a diminished from the thirdNotes in common and notes that surroundI to the VI dominantMake your own vocabulary

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 35 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. Today I thought we’d continue with the series of talking about movement or Barry Calls Movement. The first episode about movement which is episode 34 we worked on the one major going to the relative minor. Today I thought we would work on the one major going to the six chord. and most of the time it’s 6th dominant chord. So it’s a very basic change.
  2. 0:34If we were in the key of F, it’s F major and then to the 6th chord. So the 6th of F is D. So we’ll say D7 because a lot of changes do that. 1 to the 6th dominant chord. So and then usually after that it goes to the 2 to the 5 or to the 2 to 4 minor, whatever it does after that. But let’s just focus on the 1 to the 6. And in this episode, I know in a lot of tunes it’s just a turn back is usually two beats a piece, but sometimes it’s also four beats a piece. So then you get a full measure of F major and a full measure of D7.
  3. 1:11So that’s a different thing that you have to practice. And feeling the length of time between F major and D7 and then going into G minor to C7. So today, let’s take a look at that. So the two things you’ll need to know. your F major scale up and down to the third of D and by the third of D Barry’s referring to the third of D7 and since it’s this dominant chord it’s going to have a major third so it’s basically F major up and down to the third of D which is F sharp so it’s going to sound like this
  4. 1:47There’s that F sharp, so you do it again. Now, again, as a guitar player, you should be able to do that any place, so... Wherever you end up on your instrument, you should be able to do that. So, before you move on with the episode, make sure you can do that in multiple places. on your instrument so that you’re comfortable with some of the lines that we’re about to
  5. 2:21introduce. So I want to primarily focus on for this particular episode, running it down to that third of the D and then seeing what we can do from the third D. So let’s think about, let’s take some easier phrases and let’s see how we can do it. By easy, I mean just things that are pretty obvious. So let’s say we start on tonic, the F major. And let’s just say, for instance, we run down and we put one half step between the 6th and the 5th. So we’ll say...
  6. 2:53So the half step rules for major I’ve put in previous episodes. You can look them up. But just so you know, when starting on tonic, running down, descending, one half step between 6th and 5th. Now when we get to five, there’s a lot of things we can do, but let’s just see what happens. One, two, three, four. So I did, if we remember the rules for five, four, three, two, which I also left in previous episodes, we did the rule for four, which would be after you hit the fourth, you’re going to come two chromatically to three.
  7. 3:35So let’s try that. one, two, three, four. And then maybe I do, since I did four, the rule for four, maybe once I get to three, I’ll do the rule for three. So let’s see what that sounds like. The rule for three is, after you hit three, you pivot a triad up from C. So it would be this.
  8. 4:13Now the reason that we say pivot, again I’ll just go over this, is this would be the chord up from the third. So these are the notes. So now I’m going to take this note and instead of playing the C here, I’m going to jump down and play it an octave lower. So now you’ve got this. We’ll say. Which is pretty. And you should know how to pivot chords up your whole scale, which we’ve done in previous episodes.
  9. 4:45But yet again, that’s another thing. So if that’s as far as you can go with it, then stop the video now and say, okay, let me go figure out what he was talking about, about pivot. But in the meantime, let’s take that phrase again. Okay. So now we’ll start it on the first beat. One, two, three, four. Now is where, since I’m already on the G, I might move down to the F sharp right at that point.
  10. 5:21So let’s see what that sounds like. One, two, three, four. Now, a lot of times what people do when they get to the third of the dominant, they will come up a diminished. And by diminished, I just mean your four notes of your diminished, which is all in minor thirds. So, if we put that together, it would be like this. One, two, three, four. And then maybe I’ll end on the, depending on how you want to look at it, it’s the fifth
  11. 6:03of G or the second of C7. So let’s see what that sounds like. One, two, three, four. So now that’s just one example of running F major, doing something pretty on F major, like one of the 5-4-3-2s or whichever one we’re doing and then running it into the third of D7 where we came up a diminished and then we ended on we ended on a D which is the
  12. 6:36which is the second of the C7 or the fifth of the G minor whichever way you want to look at it but maybe let’s do this Now what I did there was, I was already thinking, because the next change is G minor to C7, which as we know, Barry just thinks C7. And I just put two half steps between second and tonic, and tonic and flat 7. So now if we put that whole line together, it would sound like this.
  13. 7:11One, two, three, four. Nice phrase. One, two, three, and... Nice phrase. One more time. Three, four. Now, we could have changed it a lot of different ways. Let’s maybe play the same first part, F major.
  14. 7:51Maybe let’s go down to the D. So let’s say. After we get to the third, instead of coming to the diminished, let’s go down to D. So let’s say. And then maybe there we’ll play the flat 7 after that. So let’s see what that sounds like. And the seventh of the D is also the tonic, the C, the tonic of the five chord that we’re going to, G minor to C7. And we know that the C7, if we start on the tonic and we’re descending, we can put one half step between tonic and seven.
  15. 8:44So let’s see what that would sound like. And then after I came down to 7, I went up to the second, or, you know, if we’re thinking C7. So let’s see. Nice phrase. Let’s try another one.
  16. 9:17What if we changed it already? And we said, okay, I keep starting right on the first beat. Let’s start on the second beat. One, two, three, four. Wait, one, two, three, four, one. That time I said, let’s see. That time I didn’t do five, four, three. I didn’t do anything. The only thing I did was put in a half step between six and five again. So I said one, two, three, four, one.
  17. 9:59So I came up with diminished. And then I ended on second tonic and flat seven. Let’s see. One, two, of the C7. One, two, three, four, one. Let’s see. One, two, three, four, one. Nice one also. But see, that time I didn’t have as much time to mess around with F major because I kind of got right to D7 because I started on the second beat. So this sounds complex and like, oh, God, you have to know all these different things about where you feel. But it’s a feel thing.
  18. 10:36So you take a thing and you practice it like this. First, out of tempo to just feel what it feels like. And then make sure you put it in tempo to see what it feels like. And you try to create your own vocabulary, your own lines. Now let’s see, Bud Powell did a thing once. Bud Powell, when you come up a diminished, we were coming up, we played one, two, three, four. We did four notes of the diminished. One time Bud Powell did six notes of the diminished. One, two, three, four, five, six.
  19. 11:10So let’s see what that sounds like if we did that starting on the second beat. one, two, three, four, one. That’s also nice. And when I got to the sixth note of the diminished, which was the A, I just came down a whole step to the G, which is the G minor seven, or it’s the fifth of the C seven. So let’s see if I play that right. One, two, three, four. but see how it triggers you to do other things.
  20. 11:51So again, it’s just taking one little thing, starting on a tonic, then running down, putting one half step, and then we did stuff to it. One time, Bird did a thing like... Or Bird had a song... but it’s in a different key but that’s I think I think his intro for beyond the blue horizon he does something like that so what that is is here’s F major let’s start on the fifth you hit the note you play a half step below you go
  21. 12:32back to note and it’s right on the beat so one two three four so if we did it on everything on F major which would be this but let’s just do from the fifth and the tonic so let’s say one two three four okay let’s try one two three four So let’s try that one. That was...
  22. 13:06So the fifth, half step below, back to the fifth. Tonic, half step below, back to the tonic. But when I got back to this tonic, I came down a five note chord. So a chord is play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note. So that’s five notes. Let’s see if that’s what I did. Wait, one, two, three, four. Yep.
  23. 13:42And then I just played, I went back to five, down to the third of D. So let’s see. And then I came up just one note, or just play three, five, D7, or you could think diminished. And then I surrounded the G, which is the root for the G minor or the more important the fifth for the C7. So let’s see. One, two, three, four. So let’s see. One, two, three.
  24. 14:23I threw in a 16th note triplet to just kind of make it a little less eighth note-y. So I put the 16th note triplet in between the 5 and the 6. So before I didn’t play 4, I didn’t play 5 directly to 4. I put in a 16th note triplet, which is kind of easy for a guitar to do because we have our hammer-on and pull-offs. So let’s say 1, 2, 3, 4. So let’s say...
  25. 15:02Nice phrase. I mean, I don’t think I ever played that before, but it’s just the idea of saying, okay, I’m going to make up a phrase that runs from one to six. And then you really practice that and say, okay, can I do that? Let’s say here’s F. Now, I don’t know if I could do this, but let’s say, can I do it in B-flat? So, B flat. There it is in B flat.
  26. 15:43Well, not very well, but... And then so on. So you take a little thing to feel what it feels like, and you grow on it, and you grow on it. You say, okay, I’m going to expand on it. Now, I think that that phrase is definitely inspired, like you could say it’s a Charlie Parker-like phrase. It’s definitely inspired from his type of sound. It’s definitely a Barry-esque phrase, but Barry’s never played that exact phrase, I don’t think. It’s not like I’m taking it from him. So this is the idea.
  27. 16:16You take these concepts, you practice these scales to get them into your fingers so that eventually you can make music out of it. Somebody left a comment that said, okay, the scales are great, but now how do you make music out of that? And you know what? That was the perfect question. Because the whole point of all these exercises and all these different things to get them in your hands is to create with them, to make music out of it. So after you feel comfortable with playing the scales through or playing the scales for the blues or playing the scales for I Got Rhythm,
  28. 16:53that’s when you say, okay, I have my foundation of where I’m going to pull from. So when I create phrases, I already have the foundation. This is the vocabulary that I’m going to use to make up beautiful sentences or to make...