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Bebop Improvisation 101: The 2 Concepts From Barry Harris That Transformed My Playing Overnight — Transcript

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0:00barry harris is a living legend and the
0:02greatest jazz educator on the planet my
0:05name is Bill Graham and today we're
0:07going to talk a little bit about Barry's
0:08ideas about bebop improvisation
0:15the two concepts were gonna be talking
0:17about today completely transformed my
0:19playing overnight we're gonna be talking
0:22about his concept for adding extra half
0:24steps to descending scale lines and his
0:27concept of the family of four dominance
0:30let's get right to it okay so the first
0:33thing we need to talk about is what
0:35Barry calls a dominant seventh of scale
0:37so let's say we were in the key of F
0:39major
0:47well the five chord in the key of F is a
0:51c7 right so if we play in the key of F
0:56just starting and ending on the C
1:05we get what Barry calls a C dominant
1:08seventh scale you could also look at it
1:11as a major scale with a lowered 7th
1:14degree if you're a more modally oriented
1:17thinker you'll probably want to call
1:18that a mixolydian scale so let's talk
1:21about Barry's extra half-step rules for
1:24descending lines rule number one is if
1:28you start on the root 3rd 5th or 7th of
1:31the chord you can put an extra half step
1:34in between the root and the 7th so let's
1:37say we're on c7 and instead of just
1:40coming straight down the scale we're
1:44gonna put an extra half step in between
1:46the root and the 7th and when we do that
1:57we end up with a chord tone on every
2:00strong beat one and two and three and
2:04four and one we've got the root and the
2:08seventh the fifth the third and then the
2:12root again okay we can do that from the
2:14third
2:20or from the fifth or from the seventh
2:26[Music]
2:32rule number two is that if you start on
2:35the second fourth or sixth you had no
2:38half steps starting from the fourth and
2:47starting from the sixth
2:52or you can add two half-steps between
2:55the second and the root and then between
2:58the root and the seventh
3:00[Music]
3:12rule number three is that if you start
3:15on the third fifth or seventh of the
3:18chord you can add three half steps
3:20between the third and second second and
3:24root and root and seventh so if we start
3:27on the third or starting from the fifth
3:37or starting from the seventh
3:43so let's practice all of those starting
3:46with rule 1 from the root 2 A 1 2 3 the
3:57seventh rule 2 from the second
4:02from before
4:04from the sixth the second with extra
4:08half steps and the fourth from the sixth
4:15okay here's Rule three with extra half
4:18steps from the third to a one two three
4:21four from the seventh
4:27[Music]
4:30let's try that whole sequence on f7 to
4:33a12
4:35[Music]
5:10great go around the circle of fifths and
5:13practice that in every key so let's stay
5:16on f7 firm in it and talk about the four
5:19arpeggios that Barry shows us are inside
5:21at the f7 chord and f7 scale so
5:25obviously there's an f7 arpeggio and
5:30then there's also an arpeggio that
5:32starts on the 3rd of the chord
5:36now that looks like an a minor 7 flat 5
5:38right and so when you see an a minor 7
5:42flat 5 chord you can actually think f7
5:45over it you can also play this arpeggio
5:49over an f7 chord next if we go up and
5:53start an arpeggio from v we get what
5:57looks like a C minor 7 chord and it is
5:59so Barry shows us that when you're
6:02playing a 2 5 just think 5o so when
6:05you're on C minor 7 just think F 7 okay
6:10and lastly there's an arpeggio on the
6:127th which is E flat major 7 so now let's
6:18play each of these arpeggios into a
6:21descending scale line using the rules so
6:25let's start with an F 7 arpeggio and if
6:30we resolve down from there we end up on
6:33the sixth degree of the scale so we're
6:36gonna apply rule number two which is no
6:38half steps
6:44or we could apply the other version of
6:47rule 2 which is two half steps between 2
6:50& 1 & 1 & 7
6:55what if we resolve the arpeggio up okay
7:02well now we're on the route so let's
7:03apply rule number one cool what if we
7:11resolve the arpeggio up another third so
7:15what if we said now we're on the second
7:19so we're gonna apply Rule two again or
7:25the other version of Rule two
7:30great
7:31okay how about if we start our appeal
7:34from the third
7:37well if we resolve it down we're back on
7:40the route so we're gonna apply rule one
7:42[Music]
7:46okay if we resolve it up now we're on
7:51the third of the chord so we could apply
7:53rule one
7:57or rule three which is a half set
8:02between 3 & 2 2 & 1 & 1 & 7
8:10and if we resolved it up another step
8:16now we're on the 4th so we're gonna
8:18apply Rule two
8:21or the other version of Rule two
8:27great let's try an arpeggio from the 5th
8:30of the chord which if we resolve down we
8:35end up on the 3rd so we're gonna apply
8:37rule number 1
8:43or we could apply rule number three
8:49how about if we resolve up a step well
8:54now we're on the fifth of the chord so
8:56we can apply those same two rules
9:01or
9:06and what about if we resolved up another
9:09step from there
9:12well now we're on the 6th of the chord
9:14so we're gonna use rule 2
9:19or the other version of Rule two and
9:25lastly how about an arpeggio from the
9:28seventh of the chord so if we resolve
9:32down we end up at the fifth and so we're
9:35gonna apply rule number one
9:44or rule number three
9:54okay if we resolve it up a step
9:59then we're on the 7th of the court so
10:02we've got the exact same two rules to
10:03apply
10:08or and if we resolve it up another step
10:18that we're on the route so we have to
10:21use rule one all right let's try all of
10:28those combinations in a row to a one two
10:31three
10:32[Music]
11:28let's try all those combinations in
11:30b-flat now 2 A 1 2 3
11:35[Music]
12:30all right so those are Barry's models
12:33for adding extra half steps to
12:34descending dominant seventh scales
12:36if you've spent any time at all checking
12:38out the playing of bebop masters like
12:40Charlie Parker Bud Powell or berry
12:43himself
12:44you should already be recognizing some
12:45of these sounds from their solos the
12:48next concept we're going to talk about
12:49is what really changed my playing
12:51forever this is what Berry refers to as
12:54the family of four dominance so the
12:58concept of the family of four dominance
13:01revolves around the diminished 7th chord
13:03so let's take a be diminished 7th chord
13:06for example the notes in a B diminished
13:117th chord are B D s and a-flat so if you
13:18take any one of these four notes and
13:20drop it by a half step you get a
13:23dominant seventh chord let's start by
13:25dropping the B to a b-flat and now we
13:30have a B flat seven chord let's move it
13:34back now let's move the next note D down
13:38a half step now we have a D flat seventh
13:43chord let's move it back
13:45[Music]
13:46the next note s let's move that down a
13:50half step to e and now we have an e7
13:55chord to move it back and finally move
13:59the last note a flat down a half step to
14:04G and now that is a G seventh chord
14:09so this B diminished chord gave us B
14:14flat seven D flat seven D seven and G
14:22seven let's take a look at the roots of
14:24those chords B flat D flat and G well
14:32those form another diminished 7th chord
14:34that's a half step away from the first
14:37diminished seventh chord right so you
14:40could look at that as forming a
14:42diminished scale so because those four
14:56dominant chords are related together
14:58through that diminished chord Berry
15:01calls them a family and shows us how we
15:03can substitute them for one another or
15:05superimpose them over one another as
15:08chord voicings arpeggios or full scale
15:12lines so let's go back to our diminished
15:15chord and build those for dominance and
15:18see how they relate to one another in a
15:19key so if we let's go the other way so
15:24let's take the top note and drop it down
15:26and that gives us g7 so g7 is the five
15:31chord in the key of C
15:34if we go back to our be diminished and
15:37drop the next note down we get an e
15:39seven which is the five chord in the
15:42relative minor of C which is a minor
15:46let's go back to our diminished chord
15:49and drop the next note down so now D
15:53flat seven is the tritone substitution
15:57for G seven so that means it's the
16:01tritone substitution for the five chord
16:04in the key of C and then lastly if we
16:09drop our lowest note we get a B flat
16:11seven now B flat seven is the backdoor
16:16dominant chord or the flat seven
16:19dominant chord in the key of C and it's
16:23also the tritone substitution for the
16:27five chord in the relative minor a minor
16:32another way I like to look at that
16:34backdoor dominant chord is as the five
16:37chord in the relative major of the
16:40parallel minor right so we're in C major
16:44the parallel minor of C major is C minor
16:49the relative major of C minor is e flat
16:55major and the dominant chord the five
16:58chord in the key of E flat major is B
17:02flat seven so that's how B flat seven is
17:06related to the key of C major
17:09let's try superimposing all of those
17:11chords from the family over a G seven
17:13shell so if we start with a G seven v
17:18just a plain unaltered g7 chord let's go
17:21to the next member of the family which
17:24is a B flat seven
17:27now what that gives us is a g7 with a
17:30sharp 9 and a flat 9 how about a D flat
17:357 over g7 this gives us a g7 with a flat
17:415 and a flat 9 and the next chord up is
17:46e 7 so to play a seven
17:52and a flat 9 so this is a G 13 flat 9
17:57and we can of course also just play the
17:59B diminished chord over a g7 and that
18:03gives us a g7 flat 9
18:08let's try putting this in the context of
18:10a two five one so Barry tells us that on
18:13a two five one we should just think the
18:16five chord going to the one or we can
18:20think the five chord over the two and
18:22then when we get to the five chord you
18:24can go to one of the other chords from
18:26the family of four dominance
18:28Barry calls this playing with your
18:30brothers and sisters so let's start by
18:33over D minor 7 g7 C major seven we're
18:37gonna think g7 over both D minor 7 and
18:41g7 and then we're going to resolve into
18:43a chord tone of C - I want
18:48[Music]
18:52so what were we thinking there over the
18:56to court d minor 7 we're thinking g7
19:00we're thinking an arpeggio on the fifth
19:02of g7 and that resolves down to the 3rd
19:07so we're gonna use our rule where we can
19:10put a half step between 3 & 2 2 & 1 1 &
19:147 and then we continue down the scale
19:19until we resolve into the fifth of the 1
19:22chord so let's play that slowly
19:30and back up a tempo to a one
19:38good let's try another one this time
19:41we're going to come up from the 7th of a
19:43g7 chord and we applied the exact same
19:50rule so we put a half step between 3 & 2
19:53between 2 & 1 and between 1 & 7
19:56slowly and we ended on the 7th of the 1
20:05chord this time let's try that again a
20:07tempo - a 1 let's try using one of the
20:17siblings over the 5 chord so now we're
20:20still gonna think g7 over the 2 chord
20:23but when we get to the 5 chord but let's
20:25think D flat 7 so over D minor 7 we're
20:29thinking g7 but now on g7 let's think D
20:39flat 7 so this note right here B flat
20:42that we landed on is the sixth of a D
20:45flat seven scale so we're gonna use the
20:48rule where we add a half step between
20:50two and one and a half step between one
20:53and seven
20:58and then we end on the 7th of the 1
21:01chord so that's a great sound that you
21:10would never come up with using chord
21:12scale theory let's try it up to tempo 2
21:19and slow one more time two three four
21:30okay great let's try thinking B flat
21:33seven over g7 okay so we played up a G
21:44seven arpeggio from the seventh and then
21:49we got up to the root so we used our
21:51rule to step between one and seven and
21:54then when we got to our g7 we landed on
21:57a D natural so that's the fifth of g7
22:01but it's also the third of B flat seven
22:04so we came down our B flat seven scale
22:07and used our rule to put a half step
22:10between one and seven and then we
22:15resolved up into the third of the one
22:17chord
22:28again combinations that you would never
22:30come up with with court scale theory but
22:33that you've heard a million times on
22:34Charlie Parker and Bud Powell solos
22:36let's try playing be 700 five chord now
22:41so we're still going to think g7 over
22:43the two and then when we get to g7 we're
22:51gonna think eise Evan so this D which is
22:54the fifth of g7 is also the seventh of a
22:57seven so we're gonna continue down an e
22:59seven scale and then use a rule to put a
23:04half step between three and two and two
23:06and one and then when we get to the one
23:10it's actually the third of the one chord
23:14so one more time slowly
23:23and up to tempo two three four
23:33okay so now let's try running a couple
23:36of these siblings into one another we're
23:38still going to think g7 over the two
23:40cord but now over the five chord we're
23:42gonna try thinking B flat seven to D
23:44flat seven so let's slow that down on
23:55the fifth of the five chord and then we
23:58get to g7 and we come down a B flat
24:03seven arpeggio and then we start coming
24:06down a D flat seven arpeggio
24:08and instead of continuing down we pivot
24:11up an octave and then continue down and
24:16then we resolved into our one chord
24:23back up to tempo two three four let's
24:30try another two so we're still going to
24:32think g7 over the two chord but this
24:35time we're gonna think eise Evan to D
24:37flat seven over the five chord two three
24:45four so what we're thinking there is
24:51over the two chord we're thinking an
24:53arpeggio up from the seventh of g7 and
24:59then walk down our g7 scale but as soon
25:03as we get to g7 we're gonna play down an
25:06inversion of isse Evan and then this B
25:11natural we're gonna elide into a D flat
25:14seven chord so this B was the fifth of
25:17seven but it's also the seventh of D
25:20flat seven so we're gonna continue up a
25:22D flat seven chord and then resolve into
25:27our one chord
25:36let's take that back up to tempo two
25:38three four okay this time over the five
25:45chord let's go back and think B flat
25:47seven to D flat seven again but this
25:49time we're gonna think arpeggios from
25:51the thirds of those dominant chords so
25:55over D minor seven we're again thinking
25:57g7 and over the g7 we're gonna go up and
26:02arpeggio on the 3rd of B flat seven and
26:06then in arpeggio on the 3rd of D flat
26:09seven and then we're gonna resolve into
26:13our one chord so if we look at the
26:20extensions that ends up making is as we
26:22go up our g7 we've got the fifth the
26:27seventh the flat nine the fourth and
26:31then the seventh the flat nine the third
26:36and the flat 13th but instead of having
26:41to add that up to some fancy scale or
26:43some fancy mode we're just thinking
26:45about the chords that are in the family
26:47of for dominance and messing around
26:49moving back and forth between them we
26:53can also play all of this vocabulary
26:54over minor two-five ones so let's go to
26:57the relative minor we were in C major so
27:00the relative minor of C major is a minor
27:03and the two chord in a minor is B minor
27:07seven flat five
27:08so remember that B minor seven flat five
27:12is the chord you get when you start on
27:15the third of g7 so over this B minor
27:19seven flat five
27:20we're gonna think g7
28:47okay so let's try playing over this
28:49minor two-five one on the B minor seven
28:52flat five we're gonna think G seven and
28:54we're gonna run that into the five chord
28:56e seven and that's gonna resolve into
28:59the one chord a minor so let's try
29:02playing that
29:09so what do we just play on B minor seven
29:13five five we came straight down a g7
29:15scale so we started on the root so we
29:18put our half step between root and seven
29:21and then walked down the scale and then
29:25that connected into the third of isse
29:28Evan where we put our rule where we got
29:32a half step between three and two and
29:34then two and one and then we just came
29:39right up our isse Evan arpeggio
29:43and that resolved into a minor
29:51let's try it up to tempo to a warranty
29:58so now let's try using some of the
30:00siblings over this minor two-five we're
30:04gonna start thinking g7 over the B half
30:06diminished and then when it goes to the
30:08five chord when it goes to e seven we're
30:11just gonna continue to think g7 over
30:14that and then we'll resolve into a minor
30:16so let's see what that sounds like
30:25let's try speeding that up so let's take
30:33a closer look at what's going on there
30:35over B half diminished we're coming up
30:39and our Pesci Oh from the fifth of g7
30:43and that resolves into the third of g7
30:46so we use our half-step roll between 3
30:49and 2 and then between 2 and 1 and then
30:54we're on e7 but we're still thinking g7
30:58above it so we use our half-step rule
31:00between 1 and 7 and then just walk down
31:04the chord or walk down the scale get to
31:07the third jump up one chord tone and
31:12then resolve into a minor
31:22and then back up to speed two three four
31:30this time let's try thinking B flat 7
31:33over the 5 chord so on B minor 7 flat 5
31:36we're still going to be thinking g7 but
31:39when it goes to the 5 chord e 7
31:42now we're gonna think about B flat 7 on
31:44top of that and then that's gonna
31:46resolve into the 1 chord which is a
31:48minor so let's see what that sounds like
31:55let's take a closer look at that over
31:59the B half diminished we're starting on
32:02e natural which is the 6th degree of our
32:05g7 scale so we're just gonna come down
32:09g7 put our rule between 2 and 1 and our
32:14rule between 1 & 7 but when we get to
32:17that 7 the chord changes to e 7 and
32:20we're looking at this F as actually
32:23being the fifth of B flat 7 so let's go
32:27into a B flat 7 arpeggio we go to the
32:313rd we go to the root come down put our
32:35rule in between root and 7 jump up to
32:38the 5th down to the 3rd down to the root
32:42and then that resolves into a minor 6
32:46let's hear that up to tempo a 1 2
32:54this is the last example we're gonna
32:56look at today and this is kinda similar
32:58to something we played in major but now
33:01it's in a different context so over B
33:03half diminished we're still going to
33:05think g7 but when we go to e7 we're
33:08gonna thank B flat 7 to D flat 7 and
33:11then that's gonna resolve into our one
33:13chord a minor so let's hear how that
33:16sounds
33:162 3 4
33:24so let's break that down we're starting
33:27off from the fourth of g7 and then we
33:32put our rule between 2 & 1 & 1 & 7 and
33:36then when we get to e7 we're gonna think
33:40up from the 3rd of B flat 7 and then up
33:44from the 3rd of D flat 7 which we would
33:50never ever think to play an E flat on an
33:54e7 chord right if we were coming from
33:57court scale theory but this efj lat
33:59points up towards an E natural and then
34:05we resolve into our a minor chord so
34:07let's hear that one more time at tempo
34:09[Music]
34:16Barry's theories are incredibly deep and
34:19we just scratched the surface today but
34:22I hope you can tell from just this brief
34:24introduction how valuable this
34:25information really is like I said
34:28learning these concepts completely
34:30changed my playing overnight work on
34:32them and I'll bet they can do the same
34:34for you
34:35that's about it for this episode next
34:37time I'll be looking at applying these
34:39concepts to playing on an actual tune I
34:42hope you enjoyed this video please like
34:45share and subscribe if you have any
34:47questions just leave them in the
34:48comments below thanks for watching until
34:51next time take it easy

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