Volume II · LinesStage 5 of 15
5
The added-note (half-step) rules
The engine of Barry’s lines: extra notes that put chord tones on the beat.
- 5.1 Why add a note Chord tones on the beat (the half-step practice model) Barry’s half-step (or extra-note) rules add a note to a scale run so that the chord tones fall on the beats. He said the real point is rhythm: you practise feeling where the extra note has to go.
- 5.2 Major scale descending The half step between 6 and 5, from every degree Coming down a major scale, Barry’s basic added note goes between the sixth and the fifth, so the notes of the major sixth chord land on the beats. He then had students run the scale from every degree with the added note moving along.
- 5.3 Dominant 7th scale descending Rules by starting degree Barry’s dominant-scale rules for running down from the beat depend on the starting note. From 1, 3, 5 or 7, add one note between the tonic and ♭7 (or three, from 3, 5 or 7); from 2, 4 or 6, none or two.
- 5.4 Off the beat, pickups and triplets Which rule applies The half-step rules assume the run starts on the beat. Start on the ‘and’ and you use the opposite rule; after pickups, use the rule for the note that lands on the beat; when you start with a triplet, follow its second note.
- 5.5 Rules from every degree, ascending rules, several added notes, harmonic minor Take any rule and play it from every degree of a scale, on harmonic minor and other scales, going up as well as down, and with several added notes. It breaks habits and gives you more ways to play.
- 5.6 The added note need not be a half step Barry’s ‘half step’ is shorthand for one extra note. Where two scale tones are already a half step apart, put in another note, often a scale note such as the second; and in general the extra note can be any note.
- 5.7 Coming down to the fourth Jump to the second, climb chromatically to the third A small rule Barry gave for any dominant or major scale: coming down, when you reach the fourth, skip to the second and climb chromatically to the third. Sometimes, on reaching the third, keep climbing chromatically.
- 5.8 Rule drills in time Add and drop notes so a phrase starts on every beat and every ‘and’ Barry’s drill for feeling every part of the bar: play a phrase again and again, taking one note off the front each time so it starts on every beat and every ‘and’, then put the notes back. Keep strict time throughout.