Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 6: Line devices

Every Note Is a Target Note (Follow-Up)

Episode 89 · 11:26 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Following up episode 80, Chris says the point is not that target notes are wrong but that any of the 12 notes can be made to sound right. Using Barry’s surrounding notes on D7, from above and from a half step below each degree and with triads or chords added, he starts phrases on outside notes such as the C sharp, sharp 9, flat 5 and sharp 5 and resolves them smoothly.

Step by step

  1. 0:43Set the goal: as an improviser, make any of the 12 notes sound right.
  2. 1:18Surround each note of the D7 scale: play the scale tone above, then the half step below, then the note.
  3. 2:38Try the shorter version: approach each scale note from the half step below, a three-note pattern.
  4. 3:49Add a triad up after each surrounded note, moving up the scale.
  5. 4:33With the three-note version, come up a chord after each note.
  6. 5:10Over A minor to D7, think only D7 and start a phrase on C sharp, resolving it by surrounding.
  7. 5:45Start on other odd notes: the sharp 9 (D sharp), the flat 5 and the sharp 5.
  8. 9:01Surround a note, then come down with the half steps, and try it with a triplet.
  9. 10:10Use Barry’s rules to feel free, not boxed in; nothing you practised before is wrong.

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

D71:18
𝄞♯
C3EC4DD♭
  1. E
  2. C#
  3. D

Barry’s own words on this

6.5 Surrounding notes (approach from above and below)6.6 Chromatic pickups and the well-placed half step8.1 Put the ii chord away

In the course

Think the dominant: put the ii awayHalf step belowSurroundsEvery note is a target noteFreedom and your own voice

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 89 of Things I Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would discuss a follow-up video to one of the more popular videos I made, which was entitled Don’t Use Target Notes, or something to that effect, it was episode 80. And I was thinking about it, and I thought, perhaps I should have named that instead of don’t think target notes or don’t play target notes. I should have named it every note is a target note. Because I didn’t mean to say to people who, let’s say you’ve been working on it, and then you started working on using target notes for certain chords, this chord, you want to try to get that.
  2. 0:43But I’m just saying the idea of there even being such a thing as a target note is not necessary. Because every note is a target note. And our job as improvisers is to say we have to make any of the 12 notes of our Western scale sound right. Any one of them. And I think the thing that Barry gives us is this feeling of freedom. That, man, we can really start anywhere. he doesn’t try to put us in a box or put any barriers up. He says, here’s a couple of rules.
  3. 1:18Let’s just see what we can come up with. So I thought to demonstrate we could use his idea of surrounding notes, which is not necessarily his idea. It’s just he calls it surrounding notes. Other people call it enclosures. And the idea is every scale note we can play a scale tone above and then a half step below. So if we take D7 scale. Okay, so what we’re going to do is we’re going to play a scale tone above the actual note, which is the D, half step below. So we’ll do that for each degree.
  4. 1:53So for D, you’re going to start on E. For F, I’m sorry, for E, you’re going to start on F sharp. For F sharp, you’re going to start on G. For G, you’re going to start on A. For A, you’re going to start on B. For B, you’re going to start on C. For C, you’re going to start on D. And then for D, you’re going to start on E again. So if we did the scale slowly... It’s a really pretty scale.
  5. 2:38It’s a really nice scale. Beautiful. So you have to think, okay, that’s great. You surrounded some things. But now since we have this idea of surrounding each one, we started on the scale tone above. Why don’t we start on the half step below each note. So for the D it would be, maybe we’ll do that, which is instead of a four note pattern, it’s a three note pattern. Now for the E, it would start on Eb. For the F-sharp, it would start on F.
  6. 3:15For the G, it would start on F-sharp. For the A, it would start on Ab. For the B, it will start on B-flat. For the C, it would start on B. And for the D, it starts on D-flat. That’s really pretty. Let’s see. Those are really beautiful. Now we can add things to these. Like suppose we did the first one which was surrounding.
  7. 3:49Let’s say if we surround the first way we did it, then come up a triad. So let’s do that up the scale. So when I got back to D I went up a triad. Let’s do the second one. Next one, next one, next one. Let’s start from there. Those are great. Now let’s do the same thing but with the surround that we were doing before.
  8. 4:33Let’s see. Maybe we’ll come up a chord, since it’s only a three-note thing. Let’s come up a chord. One, two, three. Let’s see. Those are great.
  9. 5:10So now if you said to me, okay, we’re going to play a phrase on, let’s say, A minor D7, which is Barry, people, we only think of D7. Suppose I said, okay, I don’t want to take the regular notes. I want to start on weird notes that are outside. And I’m just thinking D7. I’m not even going to think the tritone A-foot-7. So let’s say I wanted to start on, instead of a... I’m going to start on a C sharp, which would be totally incorrect if we were just thinking about D7 scale. To start on a beat on a C sharp, but it’s actually beautiful.
  10. 5:45If I said, one, two, three. It’s a pretty phrase. It’s a nice one. That was starting on a C sharp. suppose I said I’m going to start on a E flat or a D sharp. Weird note to start on but works beautifully. Let’s say if I wanted to start on the sharp nine or the flat third let’s see I’m using the same idea of surrounding so we’ll say
  11. 6:22Let’s try that again. One, two, three. That’s a nice one. So when I got to three, I just came down one half step. Those are beautiful. How about if I did, what’s another odd one? Okay, how about flat five? So if I started on a flat. So let’s say one, two, three. works beautifully.
  12. 7:00There’s that minor thing, which I talk about in another episode, but that’s also beautiful. How about if I do a couple in a row? Let’s see. Wait, maybe I want to do... Yeah, a couple in a row. Really nice. Another one would be, I guess, the sharp 5. So let’s see what that one sounds like.
  13. 7:37That’s a nice one. Let’s see. One, two, three. That’s a nice one. So every note, see every single note, and even if we did the surrounding ones. These are so beautiful to surround things. Really nice. Let’s see.
  14. 8:15And we’re not even messing with the tritone. But see, all these notes work. Every single one of these notes work. So, probably don’t was probably not the correct verbiage to use. I probably should have said, think of every note as a target note. Because then you can see, wow, you really can think of any one of these notes. I can play on D7 or A minor D7. While the guitar player or a piano player is playing A minor D7, I can play any of these. And those all sound beautiful.
  15. 9:01Oh, that’s nice. How about if we do... So we’re going to do the surround, but then when we get to the note, we’re going to come down a half step, various half steps. So wow, let’s see if we can do that one. So starting from D, we’re going to come a half step below. So now the next one would be E. Next one would be F sharp. Next one. That’s what that one would sound like because we don’t have a half step. Let’s see how we do this with a triplet. One, two, three.
  16. 9:37That’s a nice one. That’s from the second. Wait. Wait, we said. Now. That’s a nice one. We could have done two half steps there. But do you see how you can use these little ideas of surrounding notes and doing things to add to your repertoire of things that you’d like to use to solo? So these are really important.
  17. 10:10And the other thing I just wanted to point out is I never make these videos with the intention of saying that anything that anyone has practiced before is incorrect or not right. I don’t care about all that. The important thing that I want to do is show you the things that I’ve learned from Barry and how it’s helped me see things better and made me free. And that’s the whole concept behind the channel in itself. You know, whatever people have studied beforehand is wonderful, but But my whole point is here are some little maybe bits of information that might help you to feel like you don’t have to be in this particular box with these boundaries on you.
  18. 11:00Even though Barry has a lot of rules, very true, but the rules when applied can really give you freedom. So it’s kind of an interesting concept. Anyway, I hope this video was helpful. And enjoy practicing your surrounding notes and enjoy having every note be a target note. Till next time. Thanks.