Chris Parks · Stage 4: Running scales over tunes
Scales for Cherokee
Chris maps the 64-bar Cherokee with Barry’s scales, chord by chord, so the whole tune can be played in time before any improvising. On the bridge he follows Barry in dropping the ii chord and running only the dominant scales, then builds one line from Barry’s rules (a half step coming down to the third, a 5-4-3-2 phrase) and carries it through each key of the bridge.
Step by step
- 0:36Bars 1 to 8: B flat major up, F7 up, B flat 7 up and down, E flat major up and down, A flat 7 up and down
- 1:12Bars 9 to 16: B flat major up and down ending on B (the third of G), C7 up and down, C minor 6 up to its sixth
- 1:50Then B flat 7 down from its seventh to the third of G, and F7 up and down; play the first 16 bars
- 2:36Second A: the same first eight, then B flat major up and down to the third of G, C7 and F7 (no C minor 6), and B flat major, each up and down
- 4:02Bridge, thinking only of the dominants: F sharp 7 to B major, E7 to A major, D7 to G major, then C7 to F7, all up and down
- 4:45Last A: like the second, but finish with B flat major up and F7 up to turn back to the top
- 5:18Play all 64 bars with the metronome at 100 on 2 and 4 (a tempo of about 200)
- 6:45Make a line for the first bridge change: F sharp 7 from the tonic up to the third, back down with one half step to the third, then up the diminished
- 7:57Into B major use a 5-4-3-2 phrase (from the fifth walk down to the fourth, then chromatically from two to three) and repeat it for E7 and D7
- 9:21Barry would have the class practise 15 or 20 lines over this bridge, which drills keys like B major that are less familiar
Barry’s own words on this
In the course
Rhythm, rhythm, rhythmThink the dominant: put the ii awayScale outlinesUp and down to the third of5-4-3-2Come up a diminished from the thirdThe tunes you have to knowCherokeeOne phrase on all four dominants
Transcript
- 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 8 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. In today’s episode we’re going to be talking about the scales for Cherokee. It’s a really important song. I know in a previous episode I was talking about the tunes that you really need to know how to play and I said the blues, I said I got rhythm, I said a ballad like Body and Soul, but the one I really left out was Cherokee which is a really bright song. So anyway, let’s tackle the scales for it. It’s a 64 bar tune.
- 0:36It’s broken into A-A-B-A form. So let’s try the first 16 bars first. The first scale that you’re going to need to know is Bb major. You’re going to need to play it up. Then you’re going to need to know F7 scale. Play it up. Then you’re going to need Bb7 scale up and down. Then you’re going to need E-flat major scale up and down. Then you’re going to need A-flat-7 scale up and down.
- 1:12Okay, that’s the first eight. So let’s try to play that. Okay, that’s the first 8. The next 8 for the first 16 is going to be B-flat major scale up and down, but when you end, you’re going to end on the third of G, which happens to be a B. Then you’re going to play C7 up and down. Then you’re going to play C minor 6 up to the 6th.
- 1:50Then you’re going to play B flat 7 down from the 7th down to the 3rd of G. So let’s just hear what that sounds like. Now C7 up and down. Now C minor 6 up. B flat 7 down to the third of G. Then you’re going to play F7 up and down. So let’s hear what the second 8 sounds like of the first 16. Okay.
- 2:36So now that’s the first 16 bars. Now we’ll tackle the next 16 bars. The first eight are going to be the same as the first 16, but then when we do the second eight of the second 16, it’s going to be B-flat major up and down to the third G again, C7 up and down, but instead of going to that C-6, you’re just going to play F7 up and down, and then B-flat major up and down. So let’s try the 32 bars or the first two A’s. Now we’ll tackle the bridge. The bridge starts on C-sharp minor to F-sharp 7, but as we know from the previous episodes, Barry doesn’t think of things as 2-5, he just thinks 5.
- 4:02So in that instance, C-sharp minor to F-sharp 7, he just plays F-sharp 7 scale up and down. So it would be F-sharp 7 up and down to B-major up and down. Then E-7 up and down to A-major up and down. Then D-7 up and down to G-major up and down. Then we’re back to C-7 up and down to F-7 up and down. So let’s try the whole bridge. F7.
- 4:45Sorry about that. Now we’re back to the last 16. And the last 16 are going to be identical to the second 16, except instead of the end with Bb major up and down, we’re just going to do Bb major up and F7 up. to take us back. Now let’s see if we can do the whole thing through. Actually, I’ll try to put it on I’ll put it on 100, which is still kind of bright. 1, and I like that on 2 and 4. I like to tap on the 1 and 3.
- 5:18So let’s see if we can do it. This would be about 200. 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, and... Okay, so that’s the scales for Cherokee.
- 6:45Now, an interesting thing that he does a lot of times is he’ll say, let’s take the bridge, let’s create a line for the first change with the C sharp minor F sharp 7 going into B major. Let’s do it, and then we’ll do it through the whole bridge. So in other words, if we just took, let’s say, one of his rules, so for C-sharp minor, F-sharp seven, that’s just F-sharp seven the whole time, F-sharp seven scale. So let’s say we started on tonic, ran up to three, ran back down and put in one half step, going down to the third, and coming up with diminished.
- 7:25Right. So let’s see what beat would that come out of. Coming on the second beat. Now since we’re ending on the fifth of the B-flat, maybe we can do one of his rules for 5-4-3-2. so maybe let’s do four. And again, you can see these in a previous episode, his rules for 5, 4, 3, 2.
- 7:57So maybe we’ll do four, so we’ll say five, and then we’ll walk down to four, and then go chromatically from two to three. So let’s see what that sounds like. And same thing for E7. Same thing for D7. Now, for the C7, maybe we’ll just, we won’t play the diminished up,
- 8:32we’ll just end on the third. So that would be... And then we’ll do the same thing for F7. Okay, so that’ll be the whole thing. So maybe let’s try that at 100. Let’s see how that sounds. 1, 2, 1, 2, 3 Anyway, so that’s an example of something that he would, that we would practice.
- 9:21And he would probably come up with, I don’t know, like 15 or 20 different lines that we would practice over the bridge of Cherokee, which is great because it’s dealing with all different keys that you’re not necessarily so familiar with, especially B major. So anyway, yeah, that’s a good way to practice Cherokee. So I hope you enjoyed that lesson, episode eight. I think the next one, episode nine, will deal with a song called Indiana. which is in A flat, which we haven’t done anything in A flat yet. So, yeah, anyway, have fun practicing your scales.
- 9:55And please leave a comment down below or a suggestion or even a criticism if you’d like. But anyway, have fun. Thanks again.