In plain words
The drill: take a phrase and play it over and over, each time taking one more note off the front, so the same line starts on beat one, then the ‘and’ of one, beat two, the ‘and’ of two and so on through the bar; then add the notes back one at a time. The point, Barry said, is to learn to feel where to start anywhere, because the ‘ands’ are as important as the beats.
It ties into the added-note rules. Barry said the added notes are there so we can practise rhythm, and that the rules assume a start on the beat: begin on the ‘and’ and you need the opposite rule. Taking a note off the front moves a run’s start between the beat and the ‘and’, so the drill brings those off-beat starts into play. He imagined knowing all the seventh scales well enough to take off one note at a time while playing ‘Lover’, and tried it at the piano.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 25:225:576:317:03
Staying in time is the point. Barry took it slowly, had someone play along on a second piano, had everyone sing it, and stopped the class when a start on the ‘and’ of two went wrong. In a school class with a drummer, horn players and singers he ran the same drill on a C7 phrase and called it something to make a habit of: done perfectly without counting, and slowly enough for the singers to join in.
Dropping notes to feel every beat0:351:122:233:054:16Feeling the ‘and’39:2940:0441:11
Some starts are harder than others. The class kept slipping on the ‘and’ of four and the ‘and’ of one. Barry explained that a phrase on the ‘and’ of one sits better after the ‘and’ of four than straight after beat one, which is why the drummer should hit the ‘and’ of four first, and that starting on two feels different again.
Dropping notes to feel every beat3:425:015:346:12Feeling the ‘and’38:55
Step by step
Choose a phrase that starts on beat one and play it in time.
Dropping notes to feel every beat5:01
Take off the first note, so the phrase starts on the ‘and’ of one; then the first two, so it starts on beat two; and so on until it has started on every beat and every ‘and’ of the bar.
Dropping notes to feel every beat0:001:49Feeling the ‘and’41:1141:46
Then add the notes back one at a time, so the start moves back through the bar to beat one.
Dropping notes to feel every beat0:003:42Feeling the ‘and’40:0442:21
With a scale run, keep the rules in mind: Barry’s rules assume a start on the beat, and a run that starts on an ‘and’ takes the opposite rule (see 5.4).
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 25:22
How he said to practise it
Go slowly, get someone to play along on another piano, and sing the phrase as well as playing it.
Keep the time going all the way through at any tempo, and aim to do it perfectly without counting.
Dropping notes to feel every beat2:234:16Feeling the ‘and’41:11
A harder version Barry floated: with the rules for all the seventh scales in hand, take off one note at a time while running scales through a tune (he named ‘Lover’), and see if you can keep it going.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 26:31
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
We took a phrase and took off one note at a time so that we could learn to feel where to start anywhere.
It’s because the ands are just as important as the beats. So you’ve got to fill the ands so you can start on ands sometimes.
It’s almost a phrase that one should make a habit of practicing... you got to do it perfect without counting.
If I knew all the seven... [scales] and I was going to take off one note at a time and I was going to play Lover...
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it12 moments in 3 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Dropping notes to feel every beat
- 0:00
Takes notes off a phrase one at a time, then adds them back one at a time.
- 0:35
Explains the aim, to feel where to start anywhere; slows it down with a second piano.
- 1:12
The start on the ‘and’ of two goes wrong; repeats it.
- 1:49
Works on through the third beat, the ‘and’ of three, the fourth beat, the ‘and’ of four.
- 3:05
Calls it a good way to make people practise; has everyone sing it slowly.
- 5:01
Filling every beat and every ‘and’: the ‘ands’ are as important as the beats.
- 5:34
The ‘and’ of one sits better after the ‘and’ of four; drummers don’t practise it.
Feeling the ‘and’
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 2
From the lessons2 lessons, 9 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
Drills for every beat and every ‘and’
- Exercise
Take a phrase and play it over and over, each time leaving one more note off the front (and later adding them back), so the same phrase starts on beat one, then the ‘and’ of one, beat two, the ‘and’ of two, beat three, and so on. Go slowly, have someone play along on a second piano, sing it as well, and keep it in time all the way through. The aim is to feel every beat and every ‘and’ so you can start a phrase anywhere, because the ‘ands’ are just as important as the beats.
- Exercise
Barry ran the same drill with a band on a C7 phrase: leave off the first note, then the first two, and so on, so the start moves through the bar (adding notes moves it back). He called it a phrase worth practising as a habit, done without counting and done perfectly, the way a horn player should be able to, and slowly enough that the singers could do it too.
- Exercise
A group drill: count off, then in the next bar everyone hits only the ‘and’ of one; in the bar after that only the ‘and’ of two; then only the ‘and’ of three; then only the ‘and’ of four. When a class tried it, Barry heard stray echoes on the ‘and’ of four, people playing where they shouldn’t. Aim for one clean hit exactly on the off-beat and nothing else.
Feeling the ‘and’0:00
- Idea
A phrase starting on the ‘and’ of one wants the ‘and’ of four hit just before it, because the ‘and’ of four leads into it; the ‘and’ of one sits better coming off the four than straight behind beat one. So if the horns will enter on the ‘and’ of one, the accompaniment (the drummer, for example) should hit the ‘and’ of four first, and Barry had the band play that set-up louder to make it clear. He complained that drummers don’t practise rhythm enough and mostly hit on one. Starting on beat two feels different again, and all of it needs practice.
Dropping notes to feel every beat5:015:346:12Feeling the ‘and’20:14
- Exercise
When a band played phrases with gaps between them, the time got shaky, especially on entries on the ‘and’ of one, two or three. Barry told them to feel the spaces as if the drummer were still playing time, then had the drummer drop out so the horns had to keep the pulse and place the off-beat entries themselves. Most players feel the ‘ands’ only when someone tells them where they are; the goal is to feel them unaided.
Break your habits with the half-step rules
- Idea
When a rule trips you up, that is the point. Barry said that anything that breaks a habit means you are doing something right. Rules upset pre-laid, pre-prepared plans, and he showed that even he had to stop and work things out when applying a rule to a tune like the 52nd Street Theme.
The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit24:1625:3326:33
- Exercise
- Exercise
Barry’s own routine: take a seventh scale and start on each degree in turn, playing that degree’s rules, and do everything twice. The tonic gets one half step; the second gets no half steps, then two; the third gets one, then three; and so on up the scale. You should be able to do this with every scale, and he reckoned that running all the scales through all the rules takes no more than about 15 minutes. He noted that the no-half-step version, simply going down the scale, teaches rhythm.
- Exercise
Barry gave these drills as precise instructions you must be able to carry out on the spot. For example: start on the third of B-flat 7, put one half step between the tonic and the seventh, run down the scale to the third, then play a chord up. Or: start on the third of B-flat 7, add three half steps and run down to the third. As an experiment he then tried applying his knowledge of all the seventh scales to the tune Lover.
In writing3 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
An exercise don_oz was shown by Pasquale: when running scales through a tune, take one more note off the start of each scale. On a C blues, bar 1 runs up C7 from the tonic on beat one; bar 2 runs F7 from its second degree on the ‘and’ of one. They also did it in reverse, from the end.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Things I learned from Barry Harris Study Group ¶903jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Things I learned from Barry Harris Study Group ¶904jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Things I learned from Barry Harris Study Group ¶905
Charles McPherson says an improviser has to be alive on every subdivision of the bar, the ‘ands’ and the ‘a’s as well as the downbeats, and able to start a phrase on any of them.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Question to Barry Harris Line Building Disciples ¶86jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Question to Barry Harris Line Building Disciples ¶87
In an interview quoted by Brian de Lima, Barry says that throwing a triplet into a run of straight eighths changes the rhythm of the line and forces you to make changes; he agrees it is a tool for making variations.
How other teachers explain it3 videos, 6 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Barry Harris Method: Rhythmic Drill ()
A Barry Harris rhythmic drill (from the title).
4 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Omit 8ths Rhythmic Exercise
Barry’s ‘omit eighths’ rhythmic exercise (from the title).
10 min On YouTube
- Barry’s Beautiful Rhythm Exercise EP 94 TILF Barry Harris
‘Barry’s beautiful rhythm exercise’ (Things I’ve Learned From Barry Harris, ep. 94).
10 min, transcript On YouTube
In the teaching series
Episodes on this idea in the long series by other teachers. Each name opens that whole series in order.
Read further1 link
These open on the web.
Books and paid courses
- The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part Two, Howard Rees: ~4h15, 156-page workbook; chapters Improvisation (49 sections), Rhythm Section (17), Harmony (41)
Barry himself (produced and transcribed by Howard Rees) — Paid workbook with sections on starting a phrase in different bars and on playing upbeats.