• Barry Harris Workshop Video

On Oct 10, 3:38 pm, kentburnside wrote: Any thoughts on the B.H. Harmonic Method For Guitar? Has anyone worked with/through it?Back in the late 80's or early 90's the jazz faculty at McGillUniversity handed classes over to Barry Harris for one week and theresults on the students were amazing. He also inspired those of uswho were on the staff at that time.Although the 'Passing tone' scale or 'bebop' scales theoryis well known in a ' scratching the surface' way, the ramificationsof it's prolonged and intense study and application are not so wellknown. There is also a harmonic or chordal component to Barry'sconcept that is much less known. It's application to guitarpresents some fingering and adaptation issues but there is much tolearn and explore.

Any text that covers any portion of theBarry Harris method will I'm sure be of great value to the seriousplayer. If you get into it,prepare to to be challenged to 'godeep' ie: serious long term commitment to intense practice andstudy.GregRick Stone10.10.10 15:20. I worked through all of this stuff when I studied with Barry (for about5 years in the 80s, and then a couple more years to review in the early90s). And YES, if you're interested in playing authentic bebop phrasing(or really pretty much any jazz style) then understanding this stuff ispretty much the key (and by 'understanding' I mean being able to play itupside-down, inside-out and backwards effortlessly).

Barry Harris in The Hague (Video) First class in The Hague part1 First class in The Hague part2.

So, I concur withGreg. Be prepared to commit.

It's something that you practice, notsomething that you 'think' about when you're playing.)Yes it ALL 'fits' on the guitar just fine. Ronny Ben-Hur actually wrotea book called 'Talk Jazz' that works you through all the 'rules' withfingerings for guitar, although you probably ultimately come up withyour own.Barry also teaches some very cool harmonic concepts which revolve aroundwhat he calls the Sixth/Diminished scale. There are major and minor 6thversions of this scale and it can be used to create harmony as well ansmelodic lines (I wrote some articles on this for Just Jazz Guitar about10 years ago, you can download them from my website).-Musically Yours,Rick StoneWebsite:Recordings:Videos:Myspace:EPK:dwabeslim10.10.10 18:31. Yes it ALL 'fits' on the guitar just fine.Rick, the fingering issues I spoke of refer to the maj and min 6thdiminished as chord scales and borrowing notes in the voicings whichare impossible to do in all closed voicings on guitar and though theguitar friendly drop 2 and 3 voicings are much more facile when onetries to borrow more than one voice at a time or start to take complexvoicings through the scales, as always certain compromises will haveto be made compared to piano. I certainly didn't mean to suggest itwas not applicable to our instrument. Quite to the contrary IMO.BTW Howard Rees did several good articles on some of the harmonicstuff from a pianistic point of view for Keyboard mag years ago Ithink they are still available here.GregAJK11.10.10 07:08. Here is a review of the book in question from a while back.Paul CView profileMore options Sep 12 2006, 9:17 pmI haven't seen this mentioned here before, so I thought some of youmight like to hear about a new book/cd combination by my fellowTorontonian and Barry Harris/Howard Rees student, Alan Kingstone.

Yeah, I've seen Alan's book too. A lot of the charts and diagrams in itpretty much look like the stuff in my notebook from the 80s, which makesense since we were most certainly both trying to put Barry's stuff intoguitar terms for my own understanding. The Chord Construction Workshoparticles I wrote for JJG in 1999 & 2000 came out of that thinking aswell (also from a Pat Martino article from 1977 in Guitar Player, MelBay's Rhythm Guitar Method, and Berklee Arranging classes). They're allavailable as pdf downloads on my website (go to the 'Lessons' page andscroll down).-Musically Yours,Rick StoneWebsite:Recordings:Videos:Myspace:EPK:AJK11.10.10 18:23. Though not half the player Rick Stone is I do consider myself lucky tohave studied with Barry Harris since 1987. I don't offer my book forfree though I've been told by guitarists and some pianists that it hashelped them grasp Barry's concepts.I caught a glimpse of Ricks work in a magazine years ago and thought'hey this looks like my stuff'.I've been with Howard Rees, since 86 who introduced me to Barry in 87and I've been wrestling with this great stuff since then. I took partin a workshop with Howard this evening with some wonderful Torontomusicians and we utilized Barry's thing of 3 or 5 or 7 ordered scaletones through a tune.

It actually made me play melodically for change.Barry is in town Wednesday rehearsing a yearly outreach project and weget to take a special harmony class with him.My book differs from the Ben Hur work as it is specifically Barry'sharmonic method. The method is about improvising harmony as 'movement'as opposed to static chords.If you're in the Toronto area check out Howard's workshops. If you'rein New York, go to Barry's classes.My book can be found here.ThanksAlanunk.@googlegroups.com12.10.10 22:09southtexasguitarist13.10.10 05:09.

On Oct 13, 6:46 pm, Tim McNamara wrote: In article, bigdog wrote: Howard Rees is still teaching the Harris method in Toronto. I took the course last year (it is a multi year effort, if not a lifetime effort) but decided this year to figure out protools and work on my improv with a good teacher. I am considering going back next year though.

Barry Harris still comes up here and gives the odd master class. Well worth it. Reading various musical biographies it appears that Dr. Harris has had a profound effect on jazz music and that quite a bit of what is considered modern in jazz finds its origins with him. That'll put marzipan in your pie plate, Bingo.hmm, thats interesting. I think he is very valuable as a codifier andhis method has obviously been influential, but I never heard him as aninnovator on the piano.

One of the thing that struck me asinteresting is how he codifies bebop phraseology. Its almost like heis saying.look if you want to sound like a bebop pianist, here's thestuff to do. For example, he gives direction on where to start aphrase so that you will end on a chord tone. Its very useful forbuilding melodic lines, but hardly cracks open new vistas in music(pardon the mixed metaphor.)ERick Stone14.10.10 05:50. On 9:23 PM, AJK wrote: Though not half the player Rick Stone is I do consider myself lucky to have studied with Barry Harris since 1987. I don't offer my book for free though I've been told by guitarists and some pianists that it has helped them grasp Barry's concepts.

I caught a glimpse of Ricks work in a magazine years ago and thought 'hey this looks like my stuff'. I've been with Howard Rees, since 86 who introduced me to Barry in 87 and I've been wrestling with this great stuff since then. I took part in a workshop with Howard this evening with some wonderful Toronto musicians and we utilized Barry's thing of 3 or 5 or 7 ordered scale tones through a tune. It actually made me play melodically for change. Barry is in town Wednesday rehearsing a yearly outreach project and we get to take a special harmony class with him. My book differs from the Ben Hur work as it is specifically Barry's harmonic method. The method is about improvising harmony as 'movement' as opposed to static chords.

If you're in the Toronto area check out Howard's workshops. If you're in New York, go to Barry's classes.

Barry Harris Workshop Video

My book can be found here. Thanks AlanAh, so you showed up at JCT in Spring '87?

That was about the same timeI was going through a divorce and moving out to Brooklyn. Then JCTclosed down around July and I got busy with working on my Masters atQueens College for a few years.Anyway, the reason our stuff looks similar is pretty obvious; it'sBARRY's stuff!!:-) I've got notebooks filled with stuff like that.When I came back around 1990 he was using a small theater between 8th &9th Ave. Around the corner from where JCT had been. I used to tape theclass and transcribe EVERYTHING.

People told me I should put out a bookon it, but I felt funny about that, thinking that Barry should be theone to write the book. But as he seems to have little inclination to doanything like that, I think that you and Roni did the right thing.I'm surprised that we never met, but I guess we must have just beenthere at different times.I was at the old JCT building in May. My son was graduating from F.I.T.around the corner and had his work in an art show there. Afterwards Iwas walking up 8th Avenue and stopped to look at the building.Everything down to the corner had been torn down and replaced by ahigh-rise, but the old JCT was still there. It sat for about 10 yearsunused after Barry left because they raised the rent to something hecouldn't afford. I remember going past there as late as 1997 and the'Jazz Cultural Theatre' sign was still up. Then it became a 99 centstore for awhile.

Now it's empty and for rent again. There was a ladysweeping the sidewalk. I told her about JCT and she was thinking that Imeant some other club that had been next door, but then I realized shewasn't old enough to remember what had been there in the 80s. Sheopened the door and turned on the lights and let me look inside. Thespace was completely stripped of course, and you could see all the wayto the back door (where the kitchen used to be) but I could justvisualize where that couch had been (against the left wall next to thestage) where I used to sit and watch Tommy Flanagan play, and thedisplay case full of books and records for sale right up in the frontwhere we setup the tables to copy parts for the concerts while ColridgeTaylor was there rehearsing the band for one of those concerts. And Icould visually Johnny Griffin sitting there (he was a photographer whoused to work the door) and all his pictures of musicians framed on thewalls. I was poor as dirt back then and couldn't afford film anddeveloping, so I don't even have a single photo of the place.

I wonderif anyone else does? I used to even re-use my cassette tapes of theclass and jam sessions, so the couple I've found are kind of a mish-mashof whatever from that time, and badly labeled. I did however find aperformance of Tommy Flanagan playing a Strayhorn medley and Tommy andBarry playing duo pianos that was probably from one of Barry'sbirthdays, but I don't know what year (maybe 1984 or 85?).Sorry about the rambling, I just got thinking about the place again.-Musically Yours,Rick StoneWebsite:Recordings:Videos:Myspace:EPK:Rick Stone14.10.10 05:58. On 10:22 PM, eric s wrote: On Oct 13, 6:46 pm, Tim McNamara wrote: In article, bigdog wrote: Howard Rees is still teaching the Harris method in Toronto. I took the course last year (it is a multi year effort, if not a lifetime effort) but decided this year to figure out protools and work on my improv with a good teacher.

I am considering going back next year though. Barry Harris still comes up here and gives the odd master class. Well worth it. Reading various musical biographies it appears that Dr. Harris has had a profound effect on jazz music and that quite a bit of what is considered modern in jazz finds its origins with him. hmm, thats interesting.

I think he is very valuable as a codifier and his method has obviously been influential, but I never heard him as an innovator on the piano. One of the thing that struck me as interesting is how he codifies bebop phraseology.

Its almost like he is saying.look if you want to sound like a bebop pianist, here's the stuff to do. For example, he gives direction on where to start a phrase so that you will end on a chord tone. Its very useful for building melodic lines, but hardly cracks open new vistas in music (pardon the mixed metaphor.)I think to understand that, you'd have to have been around at the pianoclasses and seen/heard what was going on there. His concepts of theSixth/Diminished run deep and it's effects are profound and havepermeated a lot of pianists thinking. It's a lot more than just thebebop phraseology.Unfortunately, Barry has always been much more involved with thecreative process, and has not been very good about documenting his ownwork (hence it's his students who are writing all the articles andbooks).

He's also kind of a moving target. I haven't studied with himin many years, and students will ask me about stuff that he's said morerecently, and I'll have no idea. He's 80 years old and still evolving!-Musically Yours,Rick StoneWebsite:Recordings:Videos:Myspace:EPK:eric s14.10.10 08:10.

Yeh, I lived around the corner from the JCT for years. I went by afew times, but the place was so crowded and the whole atmosphere wasinpenetrable to me. So I went back to hanging over the brass rail atknickerbocker and watching roland hanna, junior mance, teddy wilson(!) from two feet away over their shoulders. It was an incredibleplace, I way preferred it to Bradley's for learning, tho bradley's wasdefinitely a hipper scene. But at Knickerbocker, you could chat withthe players between sets, whereas at Bradley's all their pals andladies were hanging around, and the place was not physically set upfor moving around. If you left your table, it was gone.

At theknick, I just got a perch in that little nook behind the pianist andhung on for a few sets, nursing a few beers. Everyone left me aloneand I could watch and learn.

I heard some INCREDIBLE playingthere.Sorry for rambling.ERick Stone14.10.10 10:34. On 11:10 AM, eric s wrote: Yeh, I lived around the corner from the JCT for years. I went by a few times, but the place was so crowded and the whole atmosphere was inpenetrable to me. So I went back to hanging over the brass rail at knickerbocker and watching roland hanna, junior mance, teddy wilson (!) from two feet away over their shoulders. It was an incredible place, I way preferred it to Bradley's for learning, tho bradley's was definitely a hipper scene.

But at Knickerbocker, you could chat with the players between sets, whereas at Bradley's all their pals and ladies were hanging around, and the place was not physically set up for moving around. If you left your table, it was gone. At the knick, I just got a perch in that little nook behind the pianist and hung on for a few sets, nursing a few beers.

Everyone left me alone and I could watch and learn. I heard some INCREDIBLE playing there. Sorry for rambling.Yeah, I liked Bradley's a lot.

I'd always try to get there early andget the table right next to the piano. You could really see their handsfrom there. I always dug seeing Kenny Barron because his technique wasso incredible, but also Barry Harris and Tommy Flanagan, James Williams,etc.

I remember walking in there once when they were having a benefitor memorial for someone (maybe Walter Davis?) and looking at all thepianists standing at the bar. I was thinking like 'if they dropped abomb on this place, MOST of the greatest pianists in the world would begone.' (thankfully, no bombs were dropped, although now through age andattrition, we've lost many of those guys).Knickerbocker was a cool place too, but I didn't hang there as much. Isit still there?-Musically Yours,Rick StoneWebsite:Recordings:Videos:Myspace:EPK:Tim McNamara14.10.10 15:18. On 7:15 PM, southtexasguitarist wrote: Hi Rick, I'm curious if David Baker developed his The Bebop Era books from Harris's teachings.

I practiced a lot out of those books and much of the material is similar or the same as what you have in your lessons. Do you have any insight?

ClayI'm not sure. I have the David Baker books you're talking about, and itIS pretty much EXACTLY what Barry teaches. I've never asked either ofthem about it, but was guessing that David was just laying Barry's stuffout in book form, but oddly, I don't think he credits him. I'm sureI'll see David at the Jazz Education Network conference in January, soI'll try to remember to ask him.Before all these books came out there were just photocopies ofhandwritten sheets with examples of all of the chromatic rules that usedto float around the classes.

Didn't look like something that Barry did,but they was probably transcribed and compiled and got handed down fromstudent to student.-Musically Yours,Rick StoneWebsite:Recordings:Videos:Myspace:EPK:Larry15.10.10 16:35. Although I never studied with Barry Harris, I did study with somegreat teachers at the Jazzmobile in the late 80's and early 90's.Rodney Jones, Ted Dunbar and Rick Stone were all great teachers and Ilearned most of what I know from those guys. A friend showed me thebasic idea of Barry's system (the minor and major dim. 6th scale) andI harmonized those two scales and mapped it out on the guitar in allthe variations I could come up with. Thanks to Rick Stone for teachingme how to teach myself.I also downloaded Rick Stone's pdf files dealing with Barry's methodand they helped alot. He also has some great files about chordconstruction which neatly summarize some of the most useful stuff Ipicked up from Rick. Rick is a truly great teacher and player-I nowwish I had been a better student!I recently bought Alan Kingstones book 'The Barry Harris HarmonicMethod for Guitar' which is proving to be very helpful (I'm workingthrough the 2nd chapter on movement right now).

My take on Alan's bookis that it requires a knowledge of theory and a commitment to workhard unraveling Alan's short comments. If anything, Alan could haveprovided more examples and commentary since it reads a bit like atranscription of his or Barry's notes.I'm still not sure how this method will translate to other genresother than jazz.LarryRick Stone15.10.10 21:17. Hi Alan,Thank you for your response. I'm now a bit embarrassed to have postedpublicly my comments about your book (which is excellent by the way).I hope that my comments will not discourage anyone considering buyingyour book. I bought it and I'm very glad I did!I do have one basic question that I thought I might share witheveryone since it is something I've run across elsewhere when googlingthe Barry Harris method: How are the 7th diminished and 7b5 diminishedscales and chords used? There is a LOT of great information about howto think about and use the Maj/Min 6th dim.

Scales but the other twoare only harmonized and shown with inversions on the fingerboardcharts.Thank you for the invitation to contact you via email also.LarryAJK16.10.10 13:12. Larry: No need to apologize. I think your critique is valid as thereis a shortage of actual song application in the book. I suggestmovement on chord/scales where before we may have played a singlechord and ways to colour the chords with borrowed diminished orrelated dominant notes. There are demonstrations using common chordprogressions and our job is to plug them in.

Like your private e-mailsuggests, it's hard work. Now I should get of the couch, turn off thebaseball game and do some of that hard work.BestAlan.