Chris Parks · Stage 9: Sixth chords and the scales of chords

Comping for How High the Moon

Episode 16 · 11:36 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris comps the first four bars of How High the Moon with Barry’s sixth diminished scales of chords in drop 2, turning two bars of G major into movement instead of one held chord. He moves G6 inversions through the diminished, adds D6 over G (the major key’s second sixth chord), and uses the C6 to C sharp diminished to G6 change heard from Bud Powell. He ends on Barry’s insistence on rhythm: where you come in matters as much as the chords.

Step by step

0:36Take the first four bars: two bars of G major, then G minor 7 to C7. For scales Barry thinks G major into C7; for comping, use the scale of chords
1:16Comp the two bars of G with G6 inversions and the diminished between them, ending on G minor for bar 3
1:58Vary it: start on the diminished, or surround a G6 with the chords above and below; it is still only G6 and its diminished in drop 2
2:29Barry also plays D6 over G major: it gives G’s fifth, ninth, major third and major seventh
3:06Practise D6 moving to G6 in a rhythm, in every inversion, always taking the closest G6 voicing
4:17Slip a diminished chord in between the D6 and the G6, as Barry sometimes does, and try different rhythms with it
5:28Another change from Bud Powell and Barry: C6 to C sharp diminished (the raised fourth) to G6, still over G; know it in single notes and as chords, then chain it with D6 back to G6
7:56At fast tempos, keep just the notes that move: a two-note version of the same movement
9:23Then work the same movements on the next four bars, a whole step lower in F
10:08Rhythm first: try coming in on one, on the ‘and’ of four, or right on four, anticipating the next chord as Barry does in his solos

Barry’s own words on this

9.2 Two sixth chords for every major chord (6 on the 1, 6 on the 5)9.4 Playing the scale of chords (block chords up and down the 6th dim scale)10.1 Be a movement player 11.6 Comping

In the course

Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm Think the dominant: put the ii away Anticipate the next chord Be a movement player IV6, raised IV diminished, I Six on the fifth: two sixth chords for a major chord Least movement: find the closest voicing Comping with movement How High the Moon / Ornithology Small things

Transcript

0:00Hello and welcome to the things I’ve learned from Barry Harris. This is episode 16. We’ll be talking about comping or ideas for comping over the standard how high the moon, which in a previous episode we talked about the scales. and the episode before this we talked about practicing your scale of chords six diminished major in a couple of different keys we did G6 diminished we did C6 diminished but another one you’re going to need to know is D6 diminished
0:36now we’re just going to focus on the first four bars of comping so we’ll say it’s G major for two measures then it’s a G-7 to C7 now when we’re doing scales, Barry just says think of it as G major and then C7. But when we’re comping we think of it in a slightly different way using some of the ideas that he’s given us with our scale of chords. So just to take the first part we’ll just say we’ll do we’ll just do a couple of G6 we’ll do a couple of G6 inversions with the diminished in between and we’ll see how that sounds. So here’s our tempo
1:16one, two, one, two, three. So I just did a couple. Another diminished, but then I ended on G minor. Okay, so let’s try another one. So let’s say one, two, three, four. Okay, so that’s just another little two-bar thing, or four-bar thing to take us into the F major. So that was another inversions of G6 diminished.
1:58Now this time let’s start on a diminished. Let’s see what happens. One, two, one, two, three. Still works. See? Or maybe we’ll surround. One, two, one, two, three. Those are just different ways to look at it. And all I’m playing is either a diminished or a C6. That’s it.
2:29In drop two. I’m sorry, G6. In drop two. That’s it. Slight different variations. You know, I mean, they’re just different ideas. I don’t know if I’ve ever played those before, but just trying to give you an example of what you’re supposed to think of when you know that. Now, one movement that Barry plays, that he talks about, is the G6, obviously, is important. But also, over G major, he likes to play D6. Because D6 brings in, there’s the 5th of G, there’s the 9th of G, the major 3rd, and then there is the major 7.
3:06So, he likes to play D6 over G major, which is nice. But a nice little movement you could play is G6, or I’m sorry, D6 into G6, which would be, here’s a D6, and here’s a G6. So here’s your D6 again, and here’s your G6. So if you do it rhythmically, let’s say one, two, one, two, three, four, three. It’s a pretty little movement.
3:40D6 to G6. So you should know all the inversions of D6 to G6. And once again, like the closest way to get to it. There’s another D6. There’s G6. Here’s the change again. Here it is here. D6 to G6, another one. So those are all little things you can do. Same thing for F.
4:17Little things to practice. Now, in between D6 and G6, Lowering the whole step. So what’s interesting is, if you lower them a half step, now you have another diminished. So sometimes he adds that. See, they all work.
4:54And if you do them for each one, so let’s say, So you’re just trying to figure out different rhythmic things to do with it. So that’s D6 with a diminished, and then the G6, which is a pretty little thing. Now, there’s another change that he plays sometimes that you can hear Bud Powell play and different piano players play it. we talked about it in one of the episodes
5:28in talking about the first four bars of the blues and that is this, a C6 to a C sharp diminished to a G6 so you get this change so now if you play that But in single note form, you should also know how to do it in chording. So here’s your C6.
6:00And remember, this is still over the first two bars of Gmaj7. So he’ll say 1, 2, 3, 4. So now I did C6 to the C sharp diminished to G6. And then I did our D6 back to G6. Now do you see just within that little framework of just the two bars, all those different little movements that I put in instead of just playing one chord, which is fine, you can play one
6:34chord, but this is what I’m talking about. If you know all these little movements, you can make your comping a lot more interesting. I find that Barry’s, his solo work obviously is wonderful. His soloing is fantastic. But his comping behind people, like in his recordings with Coleman Hawkins, is so beautiful. I mean, any time he’s comping, but the ones with Coleman Hawkins in particular are really beautiful. But see, these are kind of little movements that he plays all the time. And his thing, once again, is always talking about movement.
7:09this little movement, that little movement, and really practicing a lot. So anyway, we just did this, the C6 to the C sharp diminished to G6. So we should know all the inversions of that. See, and you should be able to do any one of them. so we’ll say let’s say one two one two three so I did it again I did the C6 diminished and then I did to the G6 and then a D6 back to the G6 I could have
7:56done I could have done with the diminishing between but all those little little movements. And what’s kind of hard is, obviously, if a tune is fast, it’s hard to throw in all those different chords. So maybe sometimes you just do them in, you know, you learn what’s the move, what notes are moving. So you play the sixth instead, so you say, or even in this case, here’s the movement. Because sometimes it’s easier to just do two notes so I’ll try that one two okay so now that is the first just the first
8:45four bars of playing how high the moon and if you think about it just to learn how to practice G6 diminished, C major 6 diminished, and D major 6 diminished. And you see all those little things that we’ve practiced, plus you have the movement of going from D6 to G6, which uses a different diminished. Then you have the exercise of playing C6 going to G6, but using that diminished in between, between, which is really pretty. It’s a raise four diminished, really pretty. So all those different
9:23movements. And there’s a bunch of others too, obviously, that I’m, you know, either not that good at or haven’t really researched that much. But I’d love to hear them if you guys have a different way of approaching the first four bars. That’s great. I’d love to learn more about them. But anyway, I think that’s pretty good if you just work on the first four bars. And then obviously, move it down a whole step. And then see what you get from there. But that’s the kind of thing you should be thinking about when comping instead of just thinking about playing one chord for, you know, two bars or whatever the case may be. The other thing is, and I can’t stress this enough, is that Barry always talks about rhythm. Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. So even if you practice
10:08something small, like just playing G6, but seeing where it feels, let’s say, if you’re coming in on, obviously you can come in on one, one, two, three, four, one, but Barry likes to come in on the end of four sometimes, one, two, three, four, see, there’s the end of four, sometimes he comes in on four, one, two, three, one, two, three, right on four, it sounds early, but that’s okay, it’s also, he does that with soloing too, where instead of playing just this particular scale over the chord that’s actually happened, he starts to play that already, that chord, maybe two
10:50beats beforehand. So he’s already anticipating that change. So those are other things to think about. This is what I mean about his method being totally limitless. There’s no way you can practice all the things. So that’s why you take your small little thing, whatever you want to practice, and really work on it a lot, get it all over your instrument so that it becomes part of your language. So, okay, anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. A little taste in comping and trying to get some of these six diminished scale chords together. And yeah, enjoy practicing comping for How High the Moon.
11:29Thanks again.