Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 1: Rhythm and time

Don’t play chord tones on the beat

Episode 143 · 14:00 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris argues that the ‘chord tones on the beat’ rule, which he never heard Barry state in nearly 30 years, can limit you, and suggests taking everything you practise and starting it on the ‘and’. On B flat major he runs scales, thirds, triads, chords, half step below, arpeggio inversions and pivots from the ‘and’, inspired by a Bud Powell phrase.

Step by step

  1. 0:37The usual B flat major drills (scale, thirds, triads, chords, up and down) all start on the beat.
  2. 1:50Starting on the beat puts every chord tone on the beat; flip it and start the scale on the ‘and’.
  3. 2:25Try the scale from the ‘and’ on the second A of I Got Rhythm.
  4. 2:59Barry said the foot comes up on the ‘and’, closer to heaven; practise things there.
  5. 3:46Play thirds, triads and chords up and down starting on the ‘and’.
  6. 5:09Try half step below a triad, starting it at a different point in the bar.
  7. 6:17Barry’s arpeggio is a triad with the bottom note on top, inverted; Bud Powell starts it on the ‘and’ with a half step.
  8. 7:28Pivots: hit B flat, then drop D, F and A an octave; play them starting on the ‘and’.
  9. 8:45Spend a week ignoring the rule; keep the sounds you like and drop the ones you don’t.
  10. 12:13The goal is to feel every part of the bar, not only the downbeats.

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

Bb major6:17
𝄞♭♭
C4C5DFB♭B♭
  1. B♭
  2. D
  3. F
  4. B♭

Barry’s own words on this

1.3 Feel the ‘ands’7.5 Rhythmic placement6.7 Pivoting5.8 Rule drills in time

In the course

Feel the ‘and’Barry’s arpeggio and its inversionsPivotsMake your own vocabulary

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 143 of Things I Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would talk about a topic that Barry never really touched on. I mean, in the almost 30 years I studied with him, I never remembered him talking about playing chord tones on a beat. I never heard him say that expression ever. and as a matter of fact I think that’s been drilled into us well not for me because I really only studied with Barry but for other people I feel like it’s been drilled in and it it can be
  2. 0:37too limiting for you and maybe I’ll show you a couple of things and see if it can change your mind about it so when we study Barry’s ways to practice the scale let’s if we take B flat major One of the first things we do is we play the scale up, up and down. We play the scale in thirds. We play the scale in triads. Up and down for everything.
  3. 1:13Now, and then we do chords. Same thing up and down. So that’s just a couple of the things that we do. And if you notice, all of those happen to start on the beat. D, ba, do, d, d, ba, do, d, or even the da, ba, do ba, do. Or even the thirds, ba, ba, ba, ba, da, da, everything starting on the beat. Now what’s an interesting thing is, what happens if we start it on the and?
  4. 1:50So if we start, for instance, the B-flat major scale, we play it up. What’s nice about that, a person can point out, is that every single one of the chord tones of a B-flat major is on the beat. You got the root is on the beat, the third, the fifth, and the seventh. So therefore, you’re kind of feeling what that concept is, which is chord tones being on the beat. But suppose you flipped it around and you made it into starting on the end. So let’s start on the end.
  5. 2:251, 2, 3, 4, ah. Now that’s a different feel, and it might feel wrong. But let’s say if we’re playing I Got Rhythm. and we say let’s do the second A I just did it that’s on the and
  6. 2:59see so that works so now does that work in isolation or is that something that we say we have two things we have the down beat and then we have the and which Barry I love used to say when you pat your foot you put your foot down and then your foot comes up for the and and the and is closer to the sky or closer to heaven that’s what he used to say I actually love that I think that’s a beautiful way to feel it and the ands are so hard for me personally to feel because I practice everything on the beat. So the ands are really important. And I would say, let’s forget the idea that we have to
  7. 3:46do everything on the beat. Let’s just do things on the and. Let’s just see what happens. Now, the second thing that we practice is thirds. Right? Thirds. So now if we said, one, two, three, four, there’s something about that that’s beautiful too it might feel funny and feel wrong because you’re not used to playing it like that I love that feel how about triads we say let’s say uh for uh for one Same thing down.
  8. 4:35All those are great. How about chords up? So this is one, two, three, four. Those are beautiful. But now chords on the ends. 1, 2, 3, and... Those are great! Those are just as great. It’s the other side of the coin. It’s so great.
  9. 5:09How about if we do... What’s another thing we do? Oh, we do half-step below. So let’s do a half-step below a triad, let’s say. So here’s a half-step below a triad. So we’ll say 1, 2, 3, 4... And we usually start with a half step on the and already. Which I love that sound too. But what if we did it starting, let’s see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1. Let’s see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1. I love that.
  10. 5:44So let’s say we’re playing I Got Rhythm. That’s great. I would never think to do that because I don’t practice these enough. You know, the thing that got me thinking it again was Bud Powell plays this beautiful phrase. So, you know, we learn as Barry people that arpeggios are starting playing a triad with the bottom note repeated on top.
  11. 6:17In Barry’s world, that’s what an arpeggio is. So if I were just going to play a Bb major arpeggio, it would be Bb, D, F, and then Bb on the top. And then you have to be able to invert that. So you got this. Then you invert starting with the D, but it’s still the same three notes. So you’re going to have D, F, Bb, D. That’s inverting. And then you invert again starting with F. So F is going to be on the bottom and on the top. F, B, D, F. I’m sorry. F, Bb, D, F. So that’s the inversion. So you got this. Now you invert it. You invert it again. And then you’re back to the first one.
  12. 6:57But see, that’s a nice one to do. So one, two, three, four. That’s a pretty one. I like that sound. But Bud Powell does it starting on the end. He says, one, two, three, four, ah. And he puts one half’s there, ah. That is awesome. That’s starting it on the end.
  13. 7:28Ah. I love that sound. So what this has made me do is think about all the different things that I know how to do, but why don’t I try them on the end? And even if it feels weird at first, or even if it feels wrong, I’m going to barrel through it and try to do it from every degree and see how it sounds. Pivots are something that I used to always, so the concept of a pivot is, let’s say if I’m going up a chord, B-flat, D, F, A, I’m going to play it up, every note goes up, but a pivot is when you start on the B flat. And now the next three notes, D, F,
  14. 8:07A, you’re going to put down an octave. So here’s a pivot. So here’s the chord up, pivot, chord up, pivot. So you have to know how to pivot everything. But for years, and when I say years, I mean like 20, 20 years, I played those always on the beat. But on the end, those are beautiful. See, but every time I did this, one, two, three, four, I said, oh, that’s wrong. That feels totally wrong to me. And it wasn’t wrong. It was just that I didn’t know how to feel it. But that’s great. Look, one,
  15. 8:45two, three. That’s a great sound. That’s the pivot starting on the and. That’s great. So I’m just saying, I would generally tend to say, if you’ve been shying away from thinking about certain notes on the beat or certain notes on the and, or this has to be that way, I would say, give yourself like a week worth of practicing where you say, I’m not going to constrain myself with that idea.
  16. 9:22I’m not going to put the shackles on of that this on the beat chord tone thing I’m just going to ignore it and I guarantee you’re going to come up with a million things that you play that you never would have even attempted at now I’m not saying that when you practice these you’ll feel like some of them are corny yeah you might practice some of them and you’ll say like like for instance I don’t know if I would play I don’t know if I like that sound. That’s thirds on the ends.
  17. 9:53One, two, three, four. I mean, there’s a place that you could probably put that. But see, that right away, I don’t know if I like the sound of that as much. But I bet you I could find some place to put that that it might sound nice. Easily. But let’s say I don’t like it. Let’s say I just have completely, I hate it. Okay, so I’m not going to do that then. But now I’ve discovered it. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m saying, oh, that’s what that sound is. Okay, I don’t particularly care for that sound. Okay, so I’m going to leave it alone. You know why?
  18. 10:25Because I discovered 7,000 other beautiful sounds that I’m going to use anyway. So that’s the thing. Barry’s system really makes you learn how to improvise. And I really mean improvise. Practicing these things and coming up with your own ways of connecting phrases is really what the whole thing is about. Not as opposed to stealing somebody else’s thing or practicing somebody else’s solo, which is all great.
  19. 10:57And then we can learn a lot from that too. But we got to be more than that as musicians and certainly as improvisers if we’re going to kind of move the ball forward. So I feel like these are really important. At least they are for me. You know, it’s funny. I was talking in the open studio class and not everybody had the same reaction. there were other students there that were like, oh yeah, but I feel the and okay. And they really do. Maybe this was just something that I was having trouble with, but I know it’s going to be helpful to some other people because I’m sure other people are in the same boat as I am, which is,
  20. 11:33look, even studying with Barry, I ended up practicing everything on a beat. And I really didn’t have to. Because then when you listen to Barry solo, he’s not an on the beat person. He’s everywhere. He’s totally free. Same thing with Bud Powell, same thing with Charlie Parker, same thing with Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, all the usual lineup of masters. They’re free. So it’s not only freedom of your note choice, but it’s freedom of rhythm. I mean, that’s, to me, these are those two things. If you get those two things together, where at the end of the day,
  21. 12:13you could say, I can play a solo and I can play any note I want, but I have a reason to play any note I want. And I also have a way of making it sound right instead of making it sound just like, you know, like a mess, like anarchy. Also, equally important is I can feel any part of the beat. I can feel the and of the two. I can feel the four. I can feel the and of the one. I can feel the third beat. I can feel everything, every part of the measure I can feel. That’s another part of soloing that I definitely myself am lacking, which I’m trying to get together. But I think this is a
  22. 12:53nice way to do it. So take anything that you normally practice and say, I’m going to try to do it on the end. Like just for instance, I love these. What’s one that’s really pretty? How about I like these. How about here’s a triad with a half step below a watch. You start on a note. I like these. Aren’t those great? Watch coming down. One.
  23. 13:28One. I mean, those are great. Those are really great. So anyway, I hope this was helpful to you in maybe eliminating that wall that we all seem to put up about playing things on the beat all the time. So until next time, enjoy feeling the end.