Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 10: Movement

IV Minor (Just Friends)

Episode 88 · 13:34 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris isolates the IV minor going back to I at the start of Just Friends in F: B flat minor is thought of as its flat-7 dominant, E flat 7, which must resolve to F major instead of A flat. He practises dominant material on Eb7 with this new resolution, explains the diminished-family link behind it, and compares Barry’s and Frans Elsen’s favourite notes on that chord.

Step by step

  1. 0:35Map the opening: two bars of B flat major, two of B flat minor (think E flat 7), then F major.
  2. 1:13Practise everything you do on a dominant on Eb7: thirds, triads and chords up.
  3. 1:51Resolve it to F major: find close connections, like the flat 7th, D flat, falling to C, the fifth of F.
  4. 3:08Know the family: Eb7, C7, F sharp 7 and A7, the four dominants from one diminished chord.
  5. 4:31Play chords up from the fifth, third and seventh of Eb7 into F.
  6. 5:50Use half-step rules and pivots: run tonic to fourth, add one half step, pivot, and surround the third of F.
  7. 7:05Use the important arpeggio on the root of Eb7.
  8. 7:41Use the important arpeggio on the fifth (B flat minor), coming down from its fifth and from its root.
  9. 8:58Use the important arpeggio on the flat 7th, starting from the second with two half steps.
  10. 10:16Compare sounds: Barry liked the fourth of Eb7, Frans Elsen the major 7th over B flat minor; also try B flat minor 6.

Barry’s own words on this

10.7 Movements classical pianists know8.3 Four dominants from every diminished chord8.4 Playing with the family6.1 Arpeggios on every degree; the three important arpeggios of a dominant scale

In the course

Which rule applies after a run or a leapThe three important arpeggios of a dominantSurroundsBarry’s creation theoryThe family of dominantsI to IV minorSmall things

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 88 of Things I Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would talk about this one particular movement, which is four minor, back to one. So it’s something that happens in a lot of different tunes. And I thought we would isolate just the spot in a famous standard called Just Friends. So Just Friends is usually played in F, but it starts on the four chord, which is B flat. I mean, I think Bird with strings is in A, but it starts on the four chord, which is B flat. A flat, but let’s do what normally people play. I think Barry plays it with Sonny Stitt in A flat
  2. 0:35too. But let’s do it in F, which means the song starts in B flat major, and then goes to B flat minor, and then goes back to F major. So that’s the whole beginning. Two measures of B flat major, so we would play B flat major scale up and down. Then two measures of B flat minor, which we as Barry people think the flat 7 dominant, or E flat 7 in this case. And then back to F major. The next part usually does, I think it would be like D flat 7, up and down, but we won’t
  3. 1:13go that far. Let’s just stay with the first part. And I actually won’t even play the first chord. Let’s play the second chord, so we’ll pick it up at about bar 3. So now what’s interesting is this Eb7 going to F major, there are a lot of little connections that we have to learn. But the first thing we should know how to do is all the things that we do on a dominant scale. So the scale in thirds, the scale in triads, the scale in chords, and all these are going to work.
  4. 1:51The only difference is now we’re going to resolve to F major. Like, for instance, usually E-flat resolves to something in A-flat, or if we’re thinking in the tritone, it will resolve to something in D. But this E-flat 7 is going to resolve to something in F major. So, like, we have to see little connections between what two notes surround this. So, for instance, if we took E-flat, or if we take, let’s take the flat 7, which is D-flat, The flat 7 is the note closest to it for F major would be the fifth of the F.
  5. 2:32So, like, for instance, if we wanted to do a run starting any place and then ending up on this note. There’s one. So I just put in two half steps starting from the 3. And then I came up with an important arpeggio for the line. So the point of this, though, is to show you that everything you practice for E-flat 7, yes, it should be done to resolve to A-flat, but this also can be done to resolve to F-major, which is really beautiful.
  6. 3:08But this goes back to playing with the family. So the family are these four dominants, E-flat 7, C-7, F-sharp 7, and A-7. all those are family. So Barry always has us try to play with family first. So that E flat 7 is an important one because it’s part of this family of those four dominants. And coincidentally, that’s where you come up with, if you think about it, those four family members, the E flat 7, the C, the F sharp, and the A make up a diminished themselves. So if you think about it, those four
  7. 3:52notes make up a diminished, and those actually originate from, let’s say, if we said E diminished. If we took E diminished and we lowered a note a half-step, you’re going to find all four of those dominants. So E diminished, lower one note, you’ve got E flat seven. E diminished, lower the next note you got a7, e diminished lower the next note you got c7, e diminished lower the next note you have a G flat 7 or a F sharp 7. So when you do that then you also have this scale which is the diminished scale that Barry doesn’t like when you call it half step whole step
  8. 4:31because he thinks that that’s not where it comes from. You have to describe where it comes from. And half step, whole step is just describing the degrees. So anyway, back to the E flat seven. So we have to learn how to do things on E flat seven. So E flat seven, one of the things we do is a chord up. Maybe let’s try that one, which is a chord up from the fifth. Then maybe we’ll end on the major seven. So let’s see. One, two, three, four, two, two, three four, one two three four three. That’s a nice one. Let’s do the chord up from the third. One two
  9. 5:14three. So here’s the four major. Here’s the four minor. It’s a nice one. Just a chord up. Beautiful. Let’s do a chord up from the seven. That’s a nice one. So one, two, three, four. Two, three, four. That’s a nice one too. So that’s just chords up.
  10. 5:50What if we do some half-step rules? So let’s start to create lines using some of the half-step rules or pivots. So let’s start on the E-flat. Let’s run up to the fourth. That’s a nice one, and then we’ll pivot. So we’ll start in the tonic of the E flat 7. We’ll run it to the 4th. Put it in one half step on the way back, which would be between tonic and flat 7. And we’ll do a pivot. So now we say, let’s see.
  11. 6:29There’s a nice phrase, because we ended. And then I just surrounded the 3 of the F with the 5 and the 4 of the E-flat. So let’s try that again. Run with my A. Oh, how do we do it? That’s a nice one. Let’s start on the 2nd. And we’ll run up to the 5th. That’s a nice one.
  12. 7:05One, two, three, four. Now. Very nice. How about some of the important arpeggios? So the important arpeggios on the dominant are on the root. That’s a nice one. So let’s do that one. The important arpeggio on the root. So let’s try that one. One, two, three, four. So I started it with that and then I did some other things around it.
  13. 7:41How about the important arpeggio found on the fifth which would be the Bb minor. So let’s say... That time I came down the important arpeggio from the fifth but starting from its fifth. But I put a half step. That’s a nice one. That’s a really nice one.
  14. 8:20How about if we do the important arpeggio? We’ll still do it from the, I guess, let’s try it from the root of the important arpeggio from the fifth. So we’ll try from B flat. Let’s come down to B flat. That’s nice. That’s pretty. That’s a really nice one.
  15. 8:58How about the other important arpeggio is from the flat 7th. So maybe we’ll do it from the flat 7th. Maybe we’ll start on the 2nd. We’ll put two half steps. That’s a nice one. We’ll come down the important arpeggio from the 7th. So let’s say... Oh wait. 1, 2, 3, 4. So that’s how I came in on the third beat. So 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10.
  16. 9:41Very nice also. So the idea is, I mean, I’m just messing around with E foot 7. but you see how important it is to think of E flat 7 running into A flat major which is normal 5 to 1 but then this flat 7 dominant running into F major instead of A flat and it all has to do with practicing family first. Barry talks about it all the time. You play with family first and the family are those four dominants that are connected through that one diminished.
  17. 10:16So the E diminished, or however you want to refer to it, E diminished, D flat diminished, B flat diminished, or G diminished. It’s all, all those four dominants come from that diminished. Now, another thing that I think Barry used to talk about, see, because Barry likes this, if you think about E flat 7, then you think about this note, which is the fourth. which he likes. But then he said, Franz Elson, who is the piano player from Holland,
  18. 10:52who is the professor at the conservatory, who’s responsible for all those Barry Harris videos going up, and Franz was the one who was responsible for having Barry go to Holland in the first place. He liked to play the major seven. So in other words, he would like to play. He liked that major 7th sound. Which is really nice too.
  19. 11:25So if you want to think about that major 7th sound, it’s nice also. Very pretty sound. But it’s funny because when talking to Barry, when you ask him like which one do you prefer he prefers both he likes to have the option of being able to say before that that thinking of of the sorry thinking yeah thinking of the fourth or thinking of this which is what Franz thinks of as the major seven of that B flat mine that’s a pretty sound too I
  20. 12:03I mean, there’s nothing wrong with thinking of it that way. And you can also think of it as B-flat minor 6. Which is also nice. B-flat minor 6. Also pretty. So you see how many options you have of just thinking about that 4 minor going back to the 1. and it makes you realize that you know you don’t even have to think about sometimes they talk about the modes Barry doesn’t think about modes and I don’t
  21. 12:40really know that much about no modes except what I learned in rock music but I haven’t had to think about that using all these different ideas so it’s just just something to keep in mind we talked about it’s it’s about ten minutes of talking about four minor going back to one but really when you’re in Barry’s class he can talk about four minor of one for hours just all the different variations and all the different options that you can try so it’s something to consider and if you think about it practicing these little small things if you’re playing becomes a series of these little small things that you’ve really
  22. 13:20put together and really worked on your playing is only going to benefit immensely from it. So just something to keep in mind. Anyway, until the next time, have fun practicing your four minor. Thanks.