Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 10: Movement

No more comping 4’s: small moves with sixth chords

Episode 167 · 14:49 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

After a pricing announcement for his Skool group, Chris applies Barry’s love of small movements to comping the opening of All the Things You Are. He hears the minor 7ths as sixth chords and moves through drop 2 inversions with as few notes as possible (two notes from A flat 6 to D flat 6, two more into E flat 7). He argues that guitarists should comp properly rather than settle for chopping four to the bar.

Step by step

  1. 1:08Start from Barry’s idea of small movements: sixth chords are small, invertible chords that move a little at a time
  2. 1:39Take the opening of All the Things You Are: F minor 7, B flat minor 7, E flat 7, A flat major, D flat major, D minor 7 flat 5, G7, C
  3. 2:12Hear F minor 7 as A flat 6 and B flat minor 7 as D flat 6, each from its sixth diminished scale
  4. 2:46Memorise the A flat 6 drop 2 inversions with roots on the 6th, 5th and 4th strings
  5. 4:30A flat 6 to D flat 6 is a two-note move: C goes down to B flat and E flat to D flat while F and A flat stay; find it from every inversion
  6. 6:47D flat 6 to E flat 7: now the other two notes move, F down a whole step and A flat down a half step (this works for every ii-V)
  7. 9:32E flat 7 to A flat 6: keep the E flat and move the other three notes; play the phrase starting from any inversion
  8. 10:40Decorate the drop 2s: the middle two notes form a third, so play a half step below them and back
  9. 11:50Chris’s case: guitarists know as many chords as pianists, so learn to comp behind singers, horns and in duos instead of just chopping four

Barry’s own words on this

10.1 Be a movement player9.1 Sixth chords rule10.5 Drop voicings11.6 Comping

In the course

Sixth chords rule: minor 7 is major 6, half-diminished is minor 6The major 6 diminished scaleDrop 2, drop 3 and drop 2 and 4Least movement: find the closest voicingMoving the inner or outer notes of a drop 2Comping with movement

Transcript

  1. 0:01Hello and welcome to episode 167 of Things I Learned from Bear Harris. And uh before we get started, I just wanted to make an announcement about my school. Um starting October 1st, there’s going to be a restructured pricing um which is going to also include a yearly subscription. So, if you haven’t checked out my school, the 7-day free trial is going to remain and um starting October 1st, there’s going to be some new pricing, but those
  2. 0:35of you that get in before October 1st and are currently a part of the school, you’re going to be grandfathered in um forever. That’s the way I’m doing it. These are my OG people, so you’re going to be in for as long as I go. That’s that’s going to be what your price is. That’s the way I feel about it. Um, so starting October 1st, um, slightly different pricing, including a yearly subscription, so it should be nice. So anyway, uh, what I wanted to talk about today was this thing that Barry refers to all the time or
  3. 1:08certainly in the piano classes where he was really all about small movements, moving little things, little tiny things all the time. He was very, he emphasized that a lot. So that was one of the reasons why also he believed in six chords because six chords are smaller chords that are invertible and they’re really the the movement is just little movement to a little movement. So I thought we could take a song and this is what I wanted to work on today. I thought we could take a song
  4. 1:39like uh the first little part of all the things you are. I’m assuming most people know all the things you are, but the sheet music says it goes from [music] F minor 7 for a measure to B flat minor [singing] 7 for a measure to E flat 7 for a measure to A flat major for [music] a measure to D flat major for a measure and then it does a two beats [music] of D minor 7 flat 5, two beats of G7 and then it goes to C major [music] for two measures. That’s the first part. So it does all this movement in A flat and then it does exactly the
  5. 2:12same movement in E flat. But let’s just talk about this now as Barry people we don’t see minor 7s. We see all those as belonging to sixes or being six chords because it’s it inverts [music] into the next six chord. So F minor 7 is a flat 6 same and that comes from a scale of chords the A flat 6 diminish scale which is a combination of the four notes of A flat 6 and the four notes of B flat diminished. So now it gives you this beautiful eight note scale which also if
  6. 2:46you start playing chords it gives you a A flat 6 diminished another A flat 6 another diminished [music] A flat 6 dim and so on. Okay. So now let’s take just these A [music] flat sixes. Forget about the diminishes just for a second. You should know all of these inversions. Now for guitarists, let’s just talk primarily about drop twos. Drop twos implies four consecutive strings starting. You can either do a six string root, you can do a fifth string root, [music] or you can do a fourth string root. So these are great grips for you
  7. 3:20to memorize. You have to memorize these. You have to get those in your hand. There’s no question about it. And you’re going to use them all the time. I promise. Now, there’s seeing them like this where we’re [music] doing them in order, some sort of order, back and forth. And then there’s like seeing them in the context of an actual tune. So, let’s just talk about this for a second. First chord is F minor 7. The second chord is B flat minor 7, [music] which is a very pretty chord, but it also belongs to a scale of chords. That’s D flat 6 [music] diminish. So that means that belongs to this eight note scale
  8. 3:56which is the four notes of D flat 6 and the four notes of E flat diminish that if you put together you get this beautiful scale. Okay. Now that’s great. I’m just saying if we want to go from F [music] minor 7 to B flat minor 7 and you’ll hear people play this a lot especially on guitar. play a drop two to a drop three, [music] but then you’re getting the bass uh the the the bass note all the time of whatever the root of the chord is. Totally not necessary, but it’s something that we’re used to doing all
  9. 4:30the time, but we have to try to think of this a little bit differently. I’ll show you what I mean. F minor [music] 7 or A flat 6 moving to B flat minor 7 or as we like to call it D flat 6 is actually a two note move. It’s just two notes that move. If you look the [music] F or the six of the A flat and the root of the A flat stay. The two middle notes are what move down a whole step. So now that’s really interesting to know that See, that’s an
  10. 5:04important little piece that we have to learn. So, we have F minor 7 goes to B flat minor 7 or as I like to [music] refer to it, A flat 6 goes to D flat 6. And they share two notes. Two notes move a whole step. The two notes that move are the C moved down to B flat and the E flat moves down to D flat. You see that? So what you have to be able to do now is [music] every single A flat 6, you have to be able to do that move the fewest notes possible. So here’s my next
  11. 5:38inversion of A flat [music] 6 and then this you find where those two notes are and you move them down a whole step. See? And then there’s obviously my [music] next B flat minor 7 or my D flat 6. You see? Now you have this one with the fifth uh with the um third in the bass. There’s [music] the There’s the B flat minor 7. I move two notes. This time the two notes were outside. You see how pretty that is? Now, this one, let’s do with the fifth in the bass. A flat 6 with the fifth [music] in the bass. And now it’s a sixth. See? So, each of those
  12. 6:12inversions are going to give you a different grip to move [music] where the two notes are. You see every time? Now, this is so worth [music] practicing. You need to see these because not only is this in this tune, but this is anytime you move from this minor 7 to this minor 7 or this six chord to this six chord. This is a really important move. This sounds beautiful, too. You [music] see how pretty all these are? I’m sorry. This one, this [singing] one. Those are all beautiful moves. Okay. Now, the same
  13. 6:47thing is true of the next chord. We moved from A flat 6 [music] to to D flat 6. The next chord is going to be E flat 7. So, no matter what D flat 6 I’m on, I have to figure out how many notes move, how many notes stay the same. So, here’s my [music] um here’s my D flat 6, the one that we used before, which was with the third [music] in the bass. Now, I know if I move to E flat 7, what happens? Two notes move again. So, I find where those two notes [music] are. And in this case,
  14. 7:21it’s here and here. So now the two notes that we didn’t [music] just move, we we went from uh A flat 6 to D flat 6 and we moved two notes. Two notes stayed. Now the two notes that stayed are going to move. One of the the F moves down a whole step and the A flat moves down a [music] half step. You see how pretty that is? So I I know people have talked about these before, but it’s really important for you to see that this is the least amount of movement as
  15. 7:53possible. So now if we’re playing the song and we say [music] it, that’s that’s a just as viable thing to play as if we play this. totally fine with that. But I’m just saying this is a nice [music] Now E flat 7. So again, we now we practice A flat 6 going to D flat [music] 6 moving those two voices. Now
  16. 8:26we’re practicing D flat 6 going to E flat 7 moving those two voices. And remember this isn’t just in this tune. This is a two five. Every two five. Now all you say, [music] oh yeah, there’s just those two notes move. See now this one, same thing. Two notes move. This two notes move this. Two notes move. So you see what I mean about seeing those inversions of those different chords but in actual context of a tune. And this forces you to really see them. See, I might say, “Oh, do you know your
  17. 8:58inversions of E flat 7?” And you might say, “Yeah, if I do them like this, I can see them all.” But the question is, can you see them coming from another chord? Can you see that? You see, and that’s where you realize like, oh, that’s where I’m lacking. That’s what I have to get together. This thing, being able to [music] do that. I want to be able to do that. And if you can memorize one shape or a series of grips, you so can do that. Just maybe you never pushed yourself to do it before, but you can definitely do it. No question. So now we
  18. 9:32got A flat 6 to D flat 6 to E flat 7. [music] And now we’re going to go to after E flat 7, it goes to uh A flat major or A flat [music] 6 again. So now we’re on E flat 7 and we figure out how many notes we want to move to make it a flat 6. [music] So now you know it’s the same kind of thing. We’re going to move three notes now and keep the E flat. So you see, you have to be aware of this. This is a five to a one where the one [music] is the six chord. Isn’t that beautiful? So if I said dah, [singing]
  19. 10:05[music] you have to know that. So now watch all in the same place. You are the promised kiss [music] of springtime. It’s perfect. You should be able to start on any inversion. You are the promised kiss of springtime. [music] Anywhere you are. You are the promise kiss of springtime. You see how pretty that is? Now you could substitute with other things too and then see these little connections between things. But this is so important. You see, and if you [music]
  20. 10:40see this, there’s a million little things we could do with this, right? But [music] again, a drop two. We’ve talked about these before. There’s a bunch of things that you could do with a drop two. For instance, the middle two notes are always going to be a third. So I like to do where you play the chord whatever the [music] chord is and then the middle two notes you do a half step below back to the notes. See watch if I said you [music] are. That’s great. And then again the promised [music and singing] kiss of spring that makes
  21. 11:15a lonely winter [music] seem long. [music] And then you do the same thing with C minor. But you see, if I know the closest move, it just makes voice leading easy. It makes it all is worked out for itself. You see, it works itself out. So, you don’t even [music] have to think about anything. Now, let let me try uh let’s do this this one from here. So, here’s a flat 6. Now, here’s D flat 6. [music] Here’s E flat 7. Here’s a flat 6. You
  22. 11:50see how pretty [music] that is to just know that much. This is a great way. [music] [music] But there are so many nice ways that now you can comp better. And this is the thing I we need to start doing this as guitarists. I in my heart we really need to start doing this. Guitar should not be relegated to comping force.
  23. 12:26If you’re working with a pianist, I get it. You have to stay out of the way and that happens a lot and it definitely does. But I feel like we just relinquish the idea that we can comp. We know just as many chords, if not more chords than the average pianist. No way should we be relinquishing our comping abilities just because we say, “Oh, well, if we’re going to work,” And by the way, that’s if you’re working with a pianist. A lot of guitarists don’t work with a pianist. So, what are we going to do? We’re going to play every song like this. [music]
  24. 12:58I don’t want to do that. That’s not That’s not what our instrument can do. So, we are by nature improvisers. So to learn things like this is going to cause you to also improvise when you’re comping, which is great. But just imagine if you said to a p, now this happens all the time, but imagine if you if if you’re playing with a pianist and you lean over to the pianist and you tell him or her to comps, hey, can you comp for us? They’re going to look like you like you’re crazy.
  25. 13:31They’ve never heard anybody say that to them before. So, why should we accept that? I get it that traditionally that’s what we’ve done. And of course, Freddy Green made a made a a fantastic living at it because he’s beautiful and he played, but that was with the big band. Unless you’re playing with a big band, no way. We are people that comp, too. Okay. Now, then you have to back it up, though. If you’re going to take that point of view, then you have to be able to back it up and and comp all sorts of beautiful things. So, this is why I feel like we
  26. 14:04have to raise the bar for ourselves a little bit. Too many places we’re being told, “Oh, we just comps.” I I don’t want to I don’t want to talk about that anymore. We already know how to do that. I I don’t want to talk about that anymore. I want to talk about comping. Real comping. Playing behind a singer or playing behind just a horn player or doing a duo or even doing a solo guitar thing where you’re comping little chords in between your lines. You know, this is really important. So anyway, hope you enjoyed that lesson and like I said, join us over at school. We are having a
  27. 14:38blast there and you have another month before October 1st to get in at the current pricing. So, uh, until next time.