Barry HarrisThe method
Volume IV · Piano, voice and tunes Stage 13, tunes as the curriculum Idea 2 of 512345
13.2

Rhythm changes (‘seven songs in one’)

With the blues, rhythm changes was a staple of Barry’s teaching: map it with plain scales, know the chords players vary in bars 3–4, break up the bridge with the rules of the 5, 4 and 3, and phrase through it from any note.

In plain words

Both of Barry’s workshop videos work through rhythm changes. The first gives a scale outline, the ‘important minor’ and Parker’s Anthropology; the second adds phrase building, turnbacks for the A sections, solos that start in different bars, and a section titled ‘seven songs in one’. Barry’s own explanation of that phrase is not in any recording or text in this archive.

Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video ¶17Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶8Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶16

In a 1998 class Barry said the opening bars of rhythm in B♭ are usually heard as a plain B♭ major phrase, and that players start to differ in bars 3 and 4, where the G minor often becomes G7. He had the band play three chords that move down by half steps at that spot, noted that some of them faked instead of playing them, and pointed out that the first is made of two triads, one a D minor.

The 1998 workshop, part 143:1344:5345:2746:3747:1247:46

He expected a player to phrase through the form from anywhere: start on any note and play rhythm in B♭, without thinking chord by chord. The form itself had to be right. As a young player in Detroit he was told that two blues choruses with a Rhythm bridge in the middle are not I Got Rhythm, and someone showed him how to play it properly.

Giant Steps in the piano class1:081:44Interview: Detroit and after2:56Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶32Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶149

Vera Marijt’s notes on Barry’s workshops reduce the A section to one chord a bar (B♭, F7, B♭, F7, B♭7, E♭7, B♭, F7) and give the bridge as D7, G7, C7, F7; Tom Cleary’s outline runs each of those seventh scales up and back down. The bridge scales are then broken up with the rules of the 4 and the 5, then the 5, 4 and 3 together, and turned into lines.

Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶268Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶270Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶274Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶283Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶287Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶289Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Simple Paris Dancers: a bop-style rhythm changes ¶4

Step by step

  1. A sections, one scale a bar: B♭ major up | F7 up | B♭ major up | F7 up | B♭7 up | E♭7 up | B♭ major up | F7 up (the last A ends on B♭ major). A II–V takes the V’s scale, and ‘up’ runs from the tonic to the seventh.

    Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶268Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶270Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶272Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶134

  2. Bridge: D7, G7, C7, F7, two bars each, so each dominant scale goes up and down.

    Bridge, bars 1–2: D7 up and down
    𝄞♯♯
    1. D
    2. E
    3. F♯
    4. G
    5. A
    6. B
    7. C
    8. B
    9. A
    10. G
    11. F♯
    12. E
    13. D

    Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶274Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶134Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Simple Paris Dancers: a bop-style rhythm changes ¶4

  3. Know the bar 3–4 variants and play them cleanly: G minor turned into G7, or three chords sliding down by half steps, the first containing a D minor triad.

    The 1998 workshop, part 144:5346:3747:12Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶278Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶279

  4. On the bridge, break the dominant scales up with the rules for breaking up the scale (the rule of the 4, the rule of the 5, then the 5, 4 and 3 combined) and make lines from them.

    Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶283Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶285Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶287Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶289

  5. With the three chords in a row, choose what to play: run the first and land on the third, run the first and land on the second, ignore the first two and go for the third, or ignore the first and play the second.

    The 1998 workshop, part 158:3359:0859:481:00:28

How he said to practise it

  • Start a phrase on any note and keep playing rhythm in B♭ from there; Barry thought you should almost be able to treat Giant Steps the same way.

    Giant Steps in the piano class1:081:44

  • Get the bar 3–4 chords under your fingers, moving down by half steps, instead of faking through them.

    The 1998 workshop, part 146:37

  • With the band playing, take the run-and-skip choices one at a time, in time.

    The 1998 workshop, part 158:331:00:28

In Barry’s words

Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.

I was playing two choruses of the blues, then played the ‘Rhythm’ bridge, and then a chorus of the blues — which is all wrong.

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM. On WKCR, remembering a Detroit tenor player who told him to learn I Got Rhythm. ¶32

If I started here and I wanted to play some rhythm in B flat, I should be able to play rhythm in B flat.

Giant Steps in the piano class, The Hague, 1989–98. A piano class on Giant Steps: phrasing through a form from any starting note. 1:08 Watch on YouTube at 1:08

Where you start hearing a difference is on the third and fourth bar... So they change the G minor to G7.

The 1998 workshop, part 1, The Hague, 1989–98. A 1998 class on rhythm in B♭: where players’ versions part company. 44:53 Watch on YouTube at 44:53

On rhythm, there’s a lot of horn players that fake on that part. Anyway, a lot of good horn players, too.

The 1998 workshop, part 1, The Hague, 1989–98. Same class, while working on a hard spot in rhythm in B♭. 35:46 Watch on YouTube at 35:46

Where this comes from

Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.

Every moment he teaches it10 moments in 5 recordings

Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.

The 1998 workshop, part 1

The Hague, 1989–98 — 80 min On YouTube

  1. 44:53

    Rhythm in B♭: versions differ in bars 3–4, where G minor often becomes G7.

    Watch on YouTube at 44:53

  2. 43:13

    The opening bars of rhythm are generally heard as a plain major phrase.

    Watch on YouTube at 43:13

  3. 46:37

    Has the band play three chords down by half steps; some players fake them.

    Watch on YouTube at 46:37

  4. 47:12

    The first of the three chords is two triads; asks for the D minor triad and its inversions.

    Watch on YouTube at 47:12

  5. 35:45

    On a hard spot in rhythm in B♭: many players, good ones too, fake through it.

    Watch on YouTube at 35:45

  6. 58:33

    Drill on the three chords: run the first to the third, run it to the second, ignore the first two.

    Watch on YouTube at 58:33

Giant Steps in the piano class

The Hague, 1989–98 — 14 min On YouTube

  1. 1:08

    A player should be able to start anywhere and play rhythm in B♭, not think in chords.

    Watch on YouTube at 1:08

Interview: Detroit and after

New York City, 2004 — 18 min On YouTube

  1. 2:56

    Detroit story: two blues choruses around a Rhythm bridge is not I Got Rhythm.

    Watch on YouTube at 2:56

Rhythm changes: scales, not chords

Spain, 2007–08 — 12 min On YouTube

  1. 6:19

    At a rhythm-changes clinic in Spain: we deal in scales, not chords; chords come from scales.

    Watch on YouTube at 6:19

The last train to Monk: an interview

various, 1987–2019 — 34 min On YouTube

  1. 21:08

    Monk wrote tunes on standards; they learned his melodies, then he said play rhythm.

    Watch on YouTube at 21:08

From the lessons1 lesson, 2 points

Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.

Rhythm changes in B flat

  1. Idea

    On Rhythm changes in B flat, the opening bars usually get a plain B flat major phrase. Players start to differ in bars three and four, where the G minor is often changed to G7. Barry adds that many players fake their way through part of these changes.

    The 1998 workshop, part 135:4543:1344:53

  2. Exercise

    Barry expects a player to be able to start on any note and just play phrases through Rhythm changes in B flat. Practise starting from different notes and phrasing your way through.

    Giant Steps in the piano class1:081:44

In writing8 notes

What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.

How other teachers explain it12 videos, 9 series episodes

Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.

In the teaching series

Episodes on this idea in the long series by other teachers. Each name opens that whole series in order.

Bebop-JazzGuitarTV at NYC

Connor Jones

Isaac Raz

Mike Hayes Guitar

Things I’ve Learned From Barry Harris

Read further6 links

These open on the web.

Free to read

Books and paid courses