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Topic: Barry Harris warm-up for E9 neck |
Phillip Hermans
From:
Berkeley, California, USA
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Posted 5 Dec 2023 12:02 am |
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In an effort to learn the E9 neck I have been figuring out some of Barry Harris's teachings.
It was adapted from this lesson by Adam Maness for piano: https://youllhearit.com/blog-breaking-down-barry-harrs-voicing-warm-up-adam-maness/
The piano voicings don't fully work on a 10-string, but I tried to extract some useful nuggets.
For the first example we are going up our C major scale harmonized as 7th chords with Root-3rd-7th (omit 5). Then we lower the 7th diatonically to the 6th and then we lower that note again a half-step (even if it that is not diatonic!) Repeat the same pattern descending.
The second example is similar, but we only lower the 7th to 6th, and then come back up.
The tab includes the best positions I identified for these, although I am sure there is room for improvement (and potentially mistakes).
This is making me consider adding a lower to my B string, because then I could do the 7th->6th->b6th all on one string...
Looking forward to y'alls thoughts on the subject.
Edit: updated the chart slightly.
Last edited by Phillip Hermans on 11 Dec 2023 2:45 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Mark Perrodin
From:
Tucson Arizona, USA
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Posted 5 Dec 2023 7:24 am
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| thank you for doing this |
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Dale Rottacker
From:
Walla Walla Washington, USA
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Ken Metcalf
From:
San Antonio Texas USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2023 8:55 am
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Very nice Thank You.
_________________
MSA 12 String E9th/B6th Universal.
Little Walter PF-89.
Bunch of stomp boxes |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 6 Dec 2023 7:19 pm
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There is some important stuff here ! I’m going to look into this Barry Harris. I’ve been finding that deep jazz type voicings are elusive. Thanks Philip!
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Bob |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 7 Dec 2023 11:50 am
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BTW:
If you are interested in voice leading you gotta put that 1/2 stop lower (with a split) on the 5th string !
Also don't put it on the 10th string and all sorts of doors will open.
Put it someplace easy like RKL. Verticals are not as handy and from your post and approach you will be using that 1/2 step lower on the 5th string constantly.
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Bob |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 8 Dec 2023 9:23 am
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Ted Greene also explored this type of “chord scale” exercise in his Modern Chord Progressions book for guitar, including the non-diatonic lower neighbor concept. There’s a lifetime’s worth of ideas in that book, but this is one of the first ones I took a crack at once I figured out how to do the voicings. They are adaptable to pedal steel, but on E9 it helps a lot to have 12 strings. Fun! And it really helps in learning the neck-strings-changer relationships.
I’m sure a lot of music theory instructors have been on parallel paths in developing their courses of study over the years. Not detracting from the brilliance of the Barry Harris approach, but it is not unique. |
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Phillip Hermans
From:
Berkeley, California, USA
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Posted 11 Dec 2023 3:10 pm
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Bob, thanks for the suggestion about the 5th string.
Do you lower the B on the 5th string on its own, or is in combination with another change? I have a pretty standard Emmons setup at the moment. My vertical lever is really the only one that I don't use, but I see your point about having the B in a more convenient location.
Fred, I looked up that book, turns out you can get a copy for free from archive.org : https://archive.org/details/TedGreeneModernChordProgressionsJazzAndClassicalVoicingsForGuitar
That is a dense tome!
There is a lot more to Barry Harris than this warm-up exercise! I would encourage y'all to check out some of his masterclasses if you are interested in jazz harmony and improv. From what I can tell Barry has a unique perspective that didn't really make it into the jazz pedagogy of universities and institutions. I would have loved to know his approach to be-bop soloing back when I was getting started!
Here is a bonus variation of this warm-up that Barry calls the "Torture Exercise"
This exercise moves us through 4 keys related by minor thirds. The chart only shows the move from C -> Eb but the pattern continues from Eb -> Gb -> A
We start in C and do our 7->6->b6 move on the I, ii and iii. Then we transition to the ii of Eb (which is a half-step above the iii on C) go back to Eb (I) and walk up again, then transition to Gb. It is not necessarily torture on its own but it sure does seem to be with Barry breathing down your neck (as seen in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8JJncSUdUU)
Anyways, hopefully my explanation is less confusing than Barry in the video. Although I know a lot of players here don't speak theory, hopefully the charts can at least demonstrate the idea. |
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Chris Willingham
From:
Tulsa, Oklahoma
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Posted 11 Dec 2023 5:47 pm
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This is fantastic. Thank you for doing this!
_________________
Fiddle, banjo and steel for Tennessee Jet, Blaine Bailey
2021 MSA Legend XL Signature S10 5X6 brown burst
Beard Josh Swift Sig, the purple one
Lap King Rodeo
p2p Bad Dawg 1x12, Quilter TT12 and a bunch of fiddles |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 11 Dec 2023 6:19 pm
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Philip, I bought those books 35 years ago 😜
Back then, Ted was still going strong but needed the money that I was happy to pay. The archived lessons and other material on his legacy website are a treasure, and amazingly free for all. I am a frequent visitor. |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 11 Dec 2023 8:00 pm
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This is very interesting. I went from E9th 10 string, About December 1917 I went to S12 Universal. I have not got to the B6th part much yet, The 11E-10G#-9B strings have opened a lot of new ground to explore. Have to check into this more.
Thanks for posting. |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 11 Dec 2023 8:01 pm
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Do you lower the B on the 5th string on its own, or is in combination with another change? I have a pretty standard Emmons setup at the moment. My vertical lever is really the only one that I don't use, but I see your point about having the B in a more convenient location.
Only the 5th string with no other changes. Put in on the right knee left. Then stick whatever change you have on that lever on the vertical. You will forget about that one anyway once you understand what you can do with the 5th string only half step lower. For intervalic options it becomes essential. For one thing it gives you 5 whole steps in a row which gives your standard pedals mulitple functions.
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Bob |
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