Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 10: Movement

Movement: I Major to IV Minor

Episode 36 · 13:48 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris continues the movement series with I major going to IV minor, which Barry hears as C major going to B flat 7. Using Yardbird Suite’s opening, he links the two scales through shared notes, the important minor arpeggio on the fifth of the dominant, chords, half steps and Barry’s chromatic scale, and stresses that the result should be your own phrases.

Step by step

  1. 0:35Hear C major to F minor 7 as C major scale to B flat 7 scale.
  2. 1:14On Yardbird Suite it’s one bar of each: run C major up, then B flat 7 up.
  3. 1:51Find two C major notes, the 3 and 5, that surround a note that is also the 5 of B flat 7.
  4. 2:30Come down B flat 7’s important arpeggio, the minor one on its fifth, then land on the third of C major.
  5. 4:12Try coming up a triad from the five, surrounding the tonic, then down a chord from the second of B flat 7, ending on the fifth of C.
  6. 5:05Notice that the second of C major is already the third of B flat 7, and run down to its flat seventh.
  7. 6:24Feel a bar of each and start on the third of C on beat one, coming down with no half steps into B flat 7.
  8. 7:32Also try hearing the F minor with a major seventh.
  9. 8:39Use Barry’s chromatic scale from the fifth of C, then a chord up from the third that comes down into B flat 7.
  10. 12:29Lady Bird stretches the move: two bars of C major, then a bar each of F minor 7 and B flat 7.

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

Line1:51
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C4EGC5
  1. E
  2. G

Barry’s own words on this

10.7 Movements classical pianists know7.3 Getting through changes6.1 Arpeggios on every degree; the three important arpeggios of a dominant scale6.10 Barry’s chromatic scale (chromatic runs with chord tones on the beat)

In the course

Scale outlinesFeel how long each chord lastsBarry’s chromatic scaleThe three important arpeggios of a dominantThe important minorNotes in common and notes that surroundI to IV minorFreedom and your own voice

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 36 of Things I Learned from Barry Harris. Today I thought we would keep on the idea of working on movement and in this episode we’ll discuss the movement of the I chord to the IV minor chord. Now sometimes there’s the one chord to the one dominant to the four major to the four minor which happens in songs. But other times there’s just the one chord which is major into the four minor.
  2. 0:35Now the way Barry likes to look at it, if we did in the key of C, the chords that you’re comping are like C major and then F minor 7 to be the four minor. Barry thinks of that as C major scale, and we’ll decide how long we’re going to do them for in a second. And then for F minor 7, he sees that as B flat 7. So there’s your two scales that you have to know. Now, depending on how long the actual chord change is, this is where it gets a little bit, you have to become familiar with how to feel how long it is.
  3. 1:14For instance, if we were taking Charlie Parker’s Yardbird Suite, which starts on the I chord, right away it goes into it. So it’s a measure of C major, and then right away a measure into F minor, or Barry thinks of a measure of Bb7. So if we were going to do the scales to that little first part, it would just be C major up, and then right away Bb7 up. Now that gets you into the mindset of what you have to play. So let’s just take Yardbird Suite for a second.
  4. 1:51And we’ll say, okay, so how do you tackle playing that movement from 1 to 4 minor? So one way that Barry likes to do it is he’ll say, okay, well, what two notes of this surround this? Or what two notes of the C major scale? So if we take, for instance, in C major, we’ll take the 3 and the 5. Now the note that that surrounds would be the 4 of the C major true, but it would also be the 5 of the Bb7 or the tonic of the F minor.
  5. 2:30We’ll just think of it as 5. Now one of the important things that he talks about is on a dominant, again I reviewed these in one of the earlier episodes, there’s important arpeggios and what he considers an arpeggio is a triad with them with the bottom note repeated on top. Those are arpeggios. So what he says is on a dominant there’s an important arpeggio found on the 5. And that 5, that important arpeggio, is a minor arpeggio. So keeping that in mind, if we said, and we ended on this, we could conceivably say, okay,
  6. 3:15well let’s just come down the arpeggio. So there’s a phrase already. So if we say 1, 2, 3, ah. So I ended by saying. And then I ended the 6 of the B-flat 7. Came down to the 5. And then I came down to the 3rd of C major. Because now we’re already back to C major.
  7. 3:48So we played C major for a measure. We played F-7 for a measure. with Bb7 for a measure, and then we played back into C major. So if we try it, one, two, three. But that little movement is what I want you to try to focus on. Another thing, let’s say if we came up a triad from the five. So let’s try that one. 1, 2, 3, 2, 3.
  8. 4:28So now I came down, I surrounded the tonic, and then I came down a chord from the second of the Bb7. And I could have added two more notes. And maybe did it twice. and then ended on the fifth of C major. So let’s see. One, two, three, four. One, two, three. So now we’re using the things that we know for C major
  9. 5:05and the things that we know for B-flat 7. So maybe let’s do let’s do let’s do five so let’s see what that sounds like one two three so that was nice so it’s when we finished five now once we get to the two of the C major that’s already now the three of the Bb7 so I just played down to the flat seventh of the Bb7.
  10. 5:45So let’s try that again. One, two, three, four. Maybe we’ll finish it up with... Which would be six, five, six, and then sliding into the major third of the C major. So, one, two, three, four. Now, what I’m hearing in my head is this. See, I’m hearing that in my head.
  11. 6:24So, I’m feeling one measure of C major, one measure of F minor 7, or one measure of B flat 7, or two beats of Fm7 to Bb7, but it’s still the same sound to me. So I try to create phrases from exactly that. Let’s say we start on the three of the C major, right on the first beat. One, two, three, four. That would have been perfect if we started on the first beat. So I came down the C major scale.
  12. 6:57No half steps. And then I ended on the 4 of the Bb7. And I came down a chord. And then I hit the major third of the Bb7. So 1, 2, 3, 4. Not the prettiest phrase in the world, but I just want to show you that that’s what you can do. Maybe let’s put a half step in and see what that sounds like. Okay, that’s another little thing that sometimes people do. I’ll show you.
  13. 7:32One, two, three, four. So sometimes, besides B-flat 7, Franz Elson used to talk about this with Barrett too, which is this F minor, he doesn’t see as having a minor 7th, he likes to see as having a major 7th. So he likes to hear this sound. There it is. So he likes that sound. That’s a nice phrase actually.
  14. 8:04One, two, three, two, two. But probably triplets would be nicer with it. Let’s see. That’s nice. Two, three, four. Let’s see. Nice phrases. But this is how you’re supposed to tackle playing a movement. You say, I really have to know my C major things.
  15. 8:39I really have to know, you know. So anything that you normally practice, triads, let’s try Barry’s chromatic scale. So let’s say one, two, let’s do the chromatic scale, which for those of you who don’t know, it’s in one of the episodes earlier, it’s labeled Barry’s chromatic scale. So let’s say Barry’s chromatic scale. Let’s try it from the five, which would be...
  16. 9:16So let’s try that one. Let’s see what we do after that. One, two, three, four. Oh, okay. So let’s see. So all I did was... And once I got to the tonic, then I played the four of the B-flat-7. So... So now, again, triads, playing a chord up. What if we played a chord up from the three?
  17. 10:02Let’s see. So we did a chord up from the three of the C major. And then when we came down, when we got down to the fifth, we thought of that as the sixth of the B-flit seventh, so we came down a chord. Let’s see. So we put in one half step between six and five. So, again, taking C major and practicing things in Bb7.
  18. 10:46Let’s do some half steps with Bb7. Let’s say... Maybe we’ll do a prettier one than that. Let’s see. Let’s try... So I started my half steps from the three of the Bb7. And I surrounded the three of the C major.
  19. 11:18So I said... So that was one half step between tonic and seven. Of the Bb7. But see, these are just... This is the reason that you have to know all the previous things and all the previous episodes that we worked on. It’s because once you get those in your fingers, now it starts to come alive in your hand. Now you say, okay, now I can start to run one thing into the next thing. Now, some of those phrases are not the greatest thing in the world, but those are mine. Or there’s something that’s influenced by somebody else, and it’s all influenced by Charlie Parker and Bud Powell and, of course, Barry.
  20. 11:56but this is my creation that I’m trying to come up with. Now maybe Barry’s played some of those or maybe Bud Powell’s played some of those but I’m really trying to keep it to just things that I like to do. Same thing for you. That’s what I want everybody who’s watching these videos to be able to do. That’s why his method, I feel like, is the greatest method. It’s because it allows me to know the same information as you yet if we played together we would come up with totally different phrases and we could play all day. And play totally different things.
  21. 12:29And not play Charlie Parker licks or Bud Powell licks. We could play our own licks. Things that we’ve worked on. Things that we’ve checked out. That’s very important. Now just to close, you could also play, let’s see, there’s another song that does one to four minor, which would be in, what is that called? Lady Bird. Now that’s a little bit longer. That’s C major for two measures, and then F minor 7 for a measure, B flat 7 for a measure.
  22. 13:09So now you have twice as long to mess around with C major and then running into F minor or running into B flat 7. So that’s a whole other thing for you to think of now in your head. Okay, now I have two measures of each thing. So maybe we’ll talk about that in a future episode. but that’s longer. So you got two measures of C major and two measures of F minor 7. Anyway, I hope this episode was helpful. Enjoy practicing your 1 to 4 minor. I hope to make a few more within the next couple of weeks. Anyway, thanks again. Appreciate it.