Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 4: Running scales over tunes

Scales for How High the Moon

Episode 14 · 8:55 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris maps How High the Moon (the changes Bird used for Ornithology) in G with Barry’s scale outlines: one scale per chord, the ii chords folded into their dominants, and turnbacks run down to the third of the next chord. He then picks out two tricky spots to practise: running G major straight into C7, and the E flat major to A half-diminished to D7 bar, which Barry hears as major, diminished, then the relative minor with its seventh and then its sixth in the bass.

Step by step

  1. 0:36First half: G major 7 scale, C7, F major 7, B flat 7, E flat major up, then F7 down to the third of D (F sharp)
  2. 1:18Then G minor 6 up and down (it holds both the flat 6 and the major 6), G major 7 up and down to the third of E (G sharp), and D7 up and down
  3. 1:51Play the first half through in time; the second half repeats the same scales, up to E flat major up and F7 down to the third of D
  4. 2:31The ending: G major up into F7 up, then two turnarounds of G major up, D7 up; play the whole tune with the metronome near 85 on 2 and 4
  5. 3:57Tricky spot one: after two bars of G, the G minor 7 to C7 is just C7, so practise running the G major scale straight into the C7 scale
  6. 4:34Come down G major with half steps; D, the fifth of G, is also the second of C, so keep descending from there into C7. Do the same from F major into B flat 7
  7. 5:10Tricky spot two: E flat major to A half-diminished to D7. Barry’s movement: E flat major, diminished, E flat 6 with C in the bass, C minor 7 with B flat in the bass, then A half-diminished (C minor 6 over A) to D7 and G minor
  8. 5:57Make little phrases from that move: something on E flat major, then the diminished, then the minor
  9. 6:53Drill it as a short two- or four-bar movement, major to relative minor to the minor with the seventh then the sixth in the bass; it turns up in many songs

Barry’s own words on this

4.4 Scale outlines7.3 Getting through changes8.2 A half-diminished chord means the dominant whose third it is9.6 Half-diminished = minor with the sixth in the bass; major -> relative minor -> minor/6

In the course

Scale outlinesUp and down to the third ofA half-diminished means the dominant whose third it isRun one chord into the nextMajor to the relative minorThe minor 6 diminished scaleHow High the Moon / OrnithologySmall things

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 14 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. Today’s episode and probably the next few episodes are going to be centered around the standard How High the Moon or Charlie Parker’s Onnithology. I think today we’ll look at the scales for it and then in the upcoming episodes we’ll talk about how to comp using Barry’s six diminished scale of chords. So okay let’s get started. So the first scale you’re going to need to know how to
  2. 0:36play since it’s in the key of G is a G major 7 scale. Then you’re going to have to know a C7 scale. Then you’re going to have to know an F major scale, F major 7 scale. Then you’re going to have to know a Bb7 scale. Then it’s going to play Eb major scale up. Now this is where it gets a little different. It’s going to be F7 down to the third of D. And then we’re going to play a G minor 6 scale up.
  3. 1:18And remember the G minor 6 has the flat 6 and the major 6 in it. And we’re going to play that up and down. Now that’s going to be... Then we’re going to play G major 7 up and down to the 3rd of E. And then we’re going to play D7 up and down. Okay, so that’s going to be the first half of How High the Moon. So if we played it together, it would be...
  4. 1:51One, two, three, and... Now the next half of the song is going to be identical. G major up, G major 7 up and down, C7 up and down, F major 7 up and down, B flat 7 up and down, E flat major up, F7 down to the third of D.
  5. 2:31But now instead of playing G-6, you’re going to play G major scale up, and then you’re going to play F7 scale up. So the end of that would be... Then G major, F7. And now it’s just going to be two turnarounds, so you’re going to play G major up, D7 up, G major up, D7 up. Okay, let’s try it with the metronome. We have it at about 85. So remember that’s two and four. At least that’s how I like it. So, two, one, two, three, and...
  6. 3:57Okay, so that’s the scales. Now, like with anything else, you have to learn the little tricky spots within the song. One of the tricky spots right away is running a G major scale into a C7 scale. That’s the very first change. So you’ve got G major for two measures, and then it goes right to G minor to C7. But through Barry’s method, you just think G major running into C7. So that’s one of the tricky spots that you have to learn how to look into.
  7. 4:34So if we said... So I think I started half steps. And then when I got down to the fifth of the G major, it had already turned into C7. so I just, the fifth of the G is also the second of the C, so I just ran down two more half steps and then I did something from the flat 7, I don’t remember exactly what it was. But that’s a way to run G major into C7. And then you’re going to do the same type of thing running F major into B flat 7.
  8. 5:10It’s the same idea, it’s just down a whole step. Now, this tricky spot where you’re playing E flat major and then all of a sudden to A half diminished to D7, Now here’s a really important movement. Barry says this movement is E flat major, diminished, E flat 6 with a 6 in the bass, C minor 7 with the 7 in the bass, and then A half diminished, which is like C minor 6 to D7 G minor. So listen to that change.
  9. 5:57So on that little spot is where a lot of these little nice little phrases come from. where you can actually play E flat major, then a diminished, and then a minor. So let’s see if I get up to it. Let’s see, starting on. Anyway, but the point is playing this change is what’s important.
  10. 6:53So, you work out all little pretty ways to play. It’s like E flat major, going to the relative minor, ending up in the relative minor, putting him a 7 in the bass and then putting a 6 in the bass. Super important change, happens in a lot of songs. It’s a really nice movement to practice playing. I don’t know who told me this, somebody told me once, and I’ve never heard it, but somebody said that there is a practice tape of Bird practicing, and he’s practicing little 2 and 4 bar things. So I can only imagine that this is probably the kind of thing that, I mean, I wouldn’t claim
  11. 7:30to know what he would be thinking, but this is kind of, I bet this is the kind of thing that he’d be looking at, you know, like running through these movements. Very interesting. So there’s a lot here to look at for How High the Moon. Now the next episode we’re going to get to, I’m going to talk about the quartz and comping behind it. And I think those are also, those will be helpful because I noticed in some of the comments that people were wondering how to use the scale of chords when comping. So this will be an example. I used it earlier in some earlier episodes to talk about yesterdays,
  12. 8:08but now we’ll talk about using it for how high the moon, which is a very popular standard. And that means you’re going to have to know a lot of different scale of chords. You have to know G6, you’re going to have to know D6, you’re going to have to know Bb6, you’re going to have to know a lot of things. So anyway, I wanted to keep this one short because I plan on a second episode coming pretty fast. But anyway, enjoy practicing your scales for How High the Moon. And I hope that was a little bit helpful. And again, you can leave a comment or a suggestion in the bottom. I read them and I’m really enjoying this. So yeah, enjoy practicing your scales for How High the Moon.
  13. 8:48Thanks. Hmm?