Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 7: Building phrases over changes

Barry’s secret to playing through changes

Episode 153 · 12:46 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris shares a remark of Barry’s that changed how he plays changes: when one scale moves to the next, you land either on a note in common or on notes that surround a new note. He checks this note by note on the first bars of a B flat blues, for B flat 7 to E flat 7 and to the tritone E7, and builds connecting lines, noting that it holds for any tune.

Step by step

  1. 0:38Barry’s outline for the first four bars of a B flat blues: B flat 7 up, E flat 7 up, B flat 7 up and down; between scales you have notes in common and notes that surround.
  2. 1:12Compare B flat 7 with E flat 7: every note is in common except D, and C and D surround E flat 7’s D flat.
  3. 3:06In common: put two half steps between the second and tonic so you land on F, the second of E flat 7, then come down the important arpeggio.
  4. 3:51Surround: on beat 4 surround the new note so the first beat of E flat 7 lands on D flat.
  5. 5:11Know what you like to do from each degree of each scale, and connect the two scales.
  6. 6:31Barry’s tritone rule: a dominant going a fourth up can use its tritone, so B flat 7 can become E7.
  7. 7:47B flat 7 and E7 share only the third and seventh, which swap roles; the other notes surround E7’s notes.
  8. 9:09New outline: B flat 7 up, E flat 7 up, B flat 7 up, E7 up, into E flat 7 for bar 5.
  9. 9:48Surround E7’s second with F and G, or land on B flat 7’s flat seventh, which becomes E7’s third, and pivot a chord.
  10. 11:37The same works in any tune; Giant Steps opens with B major to D7.

Barry’s own words on this

7.3 Getting through changes6.5 Surrounding notes (approach from above and below)8.5 The tritone4.4 Scale outlines

In the course

Puzzle piecesScale outlinesThe descending half-step rules for the dominantSpace, the most important puzzle pieceThe three important arpeggios of a dominantPivotsThe tritoneNotes in common and notes that surround

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 153 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought I would share with you this really interesting way of looking at going from one scale to another scale, or as Barry would refer to it as one movement to another movement. And the thing is, he would say this just like it wasn’t that big a deal, and he didn’t really emphasize it, but it changed the way I looked at changes or movement for forever. What it was, was he said, if we take a look, let’s say, at the blues,
  2. 0:38and he used to have scale-out lines for the blues, but in B-flat, his scale-out line for the first four bars would be B-flat 7 up, E-flat 7 up, B-flat 7 up and down. There’s our scale outline for the first four bars of the blues. That means we have two scales. We have B flat 7 and we have E flat 7. Now the brilliant thing that he said was he would say, when you play a movement from B flat 7 to E flat 7 in this case, you only have two possibilities. Notes in common and notes that surround.
  3. 1:12And by that he meant, if we have a measure of B flat 7 and then a measure of E flat 7, when we connect from the Bb7 to the Eb7 let’s say in the first beat of the second bar you’re either going to land on a note in common or a note that surrounds well I like to surround before that first beat but that’s the method so I’ll show you what I mean if we take Bb let’s take all the notes of Bb7 you got Bb Bb is an in common note
  4. 1:45it is also the fifth of Eb You have C, which is an in-common note. The second of B-flat is the sixth of E-flat. The next note, D-natural, that would be the third of the B-flat 7, but that’s a major 7 for the E-flat 7. Obviously, E-flat 7 has a D-flat in it. So there’s our first surround. The C and the D surround the D-flat of the E-flat 7. See? So there you go. there’s our first surround then you have e-flat which is the fourth of b-flat that’s an uncommon note it’s the root of the e-flat the six which is the f is uh the second of the e-flat seventh
  5. 2:27the g which is the sixth of b-flat is the third of the e-flat seven and then the a-flat the flat seventh of the b-flat is the fourth of the e-flat so what’s interesting about this first change of blues there’s only one note that’s not in common and that is a note that we can actually surround with two notes that are in common the c and the d so i’ll show you what i mean let’s do two examples let’s do um an example of in common okay so let’s start on the second of b flat seven well let me see let’s see
  6. 3:06that’s what I’ll start we’ll start on the second beat one and we’ll put two half steps between the second and tonic which is one of Barry’s rules for the half steps second and tonic tonic and flat seventh and that means on the first beat of the E flat I’m going to be hitting F so now that’s an uncommon note that’s easy now the only thing I have to decide is what do I like to do from the second of a dominant so maybe I’ll come down the important arpeggio that’s a nice one so let’s see see how pretty that is so that’s running down to the second of the e flat seven so it immediately
  7. 3:51switched from the fifth of the b flat to the second of the e flat perfect now that’s an uncommon one Let’s do an example of a surround. So we’ve got to surround that E-flat since it happens. So we’ll say, ah. Let’s see. Oh, that’s a nice one. One, two, three, hey. That’s a really nice one. So all I did was once it hit the, I surrounded it right before so that right on the first
  8. 4:28beat of the E flat 7 I had already there’s an E flat 7 note which was the D flat so the surround happened on the fourth beat uh previous so the first the first measure on the fourth beat I surrounded the first note the first beat of the E flat 7 but do you see how that’s such a brilliant way to look at it is that oh yeah obviously you only have notes that are in common and notes that surround so now b-flat 7 to e-flat 7 is kind of an easy one because you do have all those connecting things so all those things are in common so that’s fine so you just have to learn the the trick is you
  9. 5:11have to say okay what do i like to do from this degree of the scale for this dominant and then once it turns into this other degree for the e-flat 7 what do i like to do from that degree so that’s another thing you should know how to do you know we’ve talked about this on this channel in an open studio all the time. First we say B flat 7. What do I like to do from B flat 7? Well you have to know a bunch of things. I have to know scale up and down, scale in thirds, scale in triads, scale in chords, pivots. I have to know my half step rules. I have to know my important arpeggios. I have to know maybe my chromatic scale. Same thing is true of E flat 7. Oh I got to learn my scale up and down, scale in thirds, scale in triads, scale in
  10. 5:50chords, pivots, half step rules, important arpeggios. All those things. Same things for each one and then I have to learn how to connect those two things because I don’t want to play like okay here’s my b-flat 7 here’s all my b-flat 7 stuff okay now here’s my e-flat 7 here’s all my e-flat 7 stuff I have to find a way to connect those two things to make music out of them and this way is so slick notes in common and notes that surround just it’s it’s brilliant I can’t even tell you how much it’s helped me but it still means that when I get to a note in common let’s say for the E flat 7. I have to know once I get to that note, okay, maybe I could take a breath. But what
  11. 6:31if I wanted to continue a line? That means from that point in the E flat 7, if I’m on the third, if I’m on the fourth, if I’m on the fifth, if I’m on the sixth, I have to have a whole bunch of stuff I know how to do from that degree of the scale. And I’m prepared for it. Now, an even better one to look at is Barry also had this rule for the tritone. And this was his rule for the tritone. He would say, if you’re on a dominant that’s going home a fourth higher, you can use its tritone. So, for instance, we’ve got Bb7, which is going a fourth higher to Eb7.
  12. 7:09So, therefore, we can use Bb7’s tritone, which is E7. That means you have to know everything about E7. Scale up and down, thirds, triads, chords, all those things. pivots everything half step rules chromatic scale important arpeggios all those things about e7 okay but now let’s discuss b flat 7 and e7 in common in notes that surround now this one’s nice because it’s really only going to have two notes that are in common watch so you got b flat is not in common
  13. 7:47with e the c and i know it’s the flat fifth but i’m just saying plain e7 scale i’m not i’m not messing around with the fifths or anything. So we got B flat seven. B flat is not in common. C is not in common, but B flat and C surround the B, which is the fifth of the E seven. So that’s already, we got one surround. Okay. Next note, D. D is the flat seventh. So that’s the, that’s one of the two in common notes. Then we have E flat, which is not in E seven. That’s the major seven. We have F, which is not in E7, but interestingly enough, E-flat and F surround the root, the E.
  14. 8:33So those are another surround, okay? So we already said F, now we have G. G is not in E7, but G and F surround F-sharp, which is the second of E7. There’s another surround. Now we have the flat seventh of B-flat, which is A-flat. That is the third, or G sharp, that is the third of the E. So that’s an in common. So we have two in common notes. We have the third and the seventh. The third of B flat is the seventh of E,
  15. 9:09and the seventh of B flat is the third of E. So those are the two in common notes. So that’s nice, but all the rest of them surround. So now, watch. Now you can turn your blues into, here’s the first four bars again. E flat 7, E flat 7, B flat 7 up and down. Or if we want to use the tritone, watch, this is a slick way to use it. You’ve got B flat 7 up, E flat 7 up, B flat 7 up, E 7 up. That’s really nice. Into E flat 7 for the next, for bar 5 and 6. So now that we know that, let’s try a phrase where we’re doing that.
  16. 9:48So let’s say, uh, but see, so I used the F and the G to surround the second of E of E7. You see? So I already was thinking the, the, the, the, um, the notes that surround. Now let me try to do a note in common. So let’s say, watch. Let’s see.
  17. 10:22Okay, I’ll try to do it with scale. One, two, eight, eight. See, that time I played a note in common, which was the flat seventh, but then I turned it into, I made it into the third of the E7, and I like to, sometimes from the third of the E7, I like to pivot a chord. So that’s what I did. Whatever I did after that. But see, that’s the connecting point. And now I’m running through changes like it’s nothing. See? So the first step
  18. 11:01is I got to know a bunch of stuff to do on this scale. I got to know a bunch of stuff to do on that scale. But that’s not what our music is. Our music is how do we connect those two things and make it sound effortless. So the listener has no idea that there’s any notes that are different. It all sounds like one thing. So whether I’m going from B flat seven to E flat seven, which is only one note that’s different, or B flat seven to E seven, where five notes are different, it shouldn’t be different at all. It should just sound smooth. And this is the way to do that. Now,
  19. 11:37Now this is, I’m just showing you an example for the beginning of the blues. For the one dominant going to the four dominant. But this could be for any song. The same principles hold true for any song. So if we’re playing, if we were playing giant steps, the first two changes are B major and D7. So you have to know what are the notes in common with B major and D7. And what are the notes that surround B major that surround D7. You see? so you have to like sit there and figure out each thing but I can’t even tell you first of all it helps you to figure out your scales in a much more in-depth way
  20. 12:15second of all it connects you to the changes in a much deeper way it’s so brilliant and like I said this is something that like Barry didn’t even really emphasize it that much he just said it a couple of times he didn’t say it all the time but it had a profound impact on me and my playing and hopefully it’ll help you too. So anyway, until next time, enjoy your notes in common and notes that surround. Take care.