54321 - Barry Harris

[lobematt]

I've stumbled across a series of videos by Barry Harris. There's one in particular where he's talking about a 54321 phrase, or five separate phrases rather!

He's whizzing through everything so fast I'm struggling to keep up but it sounds pretty important as he has other videos applying the same method on Cherokee, Rhythm changes etc. Can anyone help me decipher what's going on here??

Thanks!

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLj_PuC6XH8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLj_PuC6XH8[/url]

[Mikey D]

As far as I can tell in the this video, he is showing 4 separate phrases 5, 4, 3 and 2 that use approach tones:
5: [s]GFCFE[/s] GBCFE
4: [s]GFCDE[/s] GFDEbE
3: GFEBCD
2: GFEDBCC#D

Although they bear similarities to the final phrase "made up of" 5,4,3 & 2 it doesn't seem to be the case.

It would appear the harmony of the chord tones 5,4,3,2 (especially in the Cherokee video you mentioned) are being emphasised.

Here the final lick is:
G (5th) BCF (4th) DEbE (3rd) [s]GBD[/s] BCD (2nd) BCC#D (2nd)

In the Cherokee video one lick over B Major is:
A#G#F# (5th) E (4th) C#DD# (3rd) A#BC# (2nd)


Anyone else!?

[Edit: Thanks to Hector for note corrections! He also explains what's going on in a lot more detail]

Edited December 13, 2013 by Mikey D

[Hector]

[b]PLEASE SEE MY NEXT POST FOR DEFINITIVE 54321 PATTERNS OVER MAJOR AND DOMINANT CHORDS[/b]

Hiya Matt.

I went on a 2 day masterclass with Barry this past summer. Nice guy, we got on well. Good to hang with a bit of history too - I wrote a thesis on Thelonious Monk so it was good to chat someone who knew him personally. He was really involved in the classic Detroit scene, taught a lot of great players some stuff PC included. This article gives an idea: [url="http://jazztimes.com/articles/26968-barry-harris-teacher-man"]http://jazztimes.com...ris-teacher-man[/url]

It was during a bit of a whirlwind weekend sleeping on various couches in London, and I had a belter of a hangover so was there mostly to absorb the delicious boppy vibe. Quite a piano centric course, with lots on his approach to harmony in terms of comping. Still, I have some notes on this scribbled down, which read (in chord tones) as:

[b]5:[/b] 5 7 1 11 3 (5 as the highest note)
[b]4: [/b]11 9 #9 3 (I'm guilty of using this one far too much!)
[b]3: [/b]3 5 b7 9
[b]2: [/b]9 b7 7 1
[b]1: [/b]R 7 b7 9 13 5 (This is a really classic bebop lick, used all the time! 9 down to 13 btw)

So those are the phrases to be used on[u] dominant chords[/u] to not just play the bebop mixolydian scale. They start on, you guessed it, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. They're basically just nice little phrases to break up purely scale-based playing.

This stuff all relates to classic bebop vocabulary of chord tone enclosure etc to play nice long flowing lines through the changes. The best reference I've found is David Baker's "How To Play Bebop", which codifies and breaks down lots of typical bebop devices for you to take through the keys and incorporate in your own playing. I would say that his books are a must-have for people wanting to learn to speak that kind of language. It'll really help extend your lines whilst still making the changes. This article gives a nice demonstration of how chord tone enclosure makes lines more interesing: [url="http://jazzadvice.com/how-to-effectively-use-enclosure/"]http://jazzadvice.co...-use-enclosure/[/url]

If you're interested in Barry's playing, check out some of his albums, or his sideman work with people like Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon etc. Although the Baker books are good, you can transcribe it direct from the source on records! You hear different players use preferred variations on the usual bebop vocabulary. For example Clifford Brown used this a lot: 3 7 9 1 (hitting that root on the downbeat). You can hear it in his classic Joy Spring solo at 1m47s, 2m22s (displaced by a quaver, cheeky) 3m01s, all over major chords. You can use it over dominants too though, and over minor chords if you flat the 3. Lee Morgan does this in his incredible solo on Moanin' at 2m06s. In general, it's nice to break up lines into these little snippets, you get loads of mileage out of your transcription that way, and frankenstein your own new ideas.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8kvsLBoGWM[/media] (Joy Spring)

[media]http://youtu.be/3_3XVxPauiA[/media] (Moanin)

Let me know if you have any more questions That Joy Spring solo is full of excellent bop lines and enclosures, you're welcome to a copy of my transcription if you want?

Edited June 1, 2015 by Hector

[lobematt]

Thanks for your replies, Hector that all sounds pretty epic! I'm very jealous haha!

I've tried to make sense of everything that's been said so let me know if I'm still wrong...

These are all phrases just designed to break up/start/end lines.

I did think they were to emphasise chord tones which Hectors do look like, but when I was working them out from the video I got the same lines as Mikey, which don't seem to have the same relation to the chord tones?

I've made a quick write up of these licks just to check we're all on the same page!
[attachment=150373:54321.jpg]

I don't know if you can upload that transcription straight to the forum for a bit of group study??

Thanks again for all the help guys!

[Hector]

Yeah, so Mikey has, I think, mis-heard in a few places, and I made a couple of typos in my post as well as not being very clear in the first place. I was in a rush and made a right hash of it, probably more confusing than helpful! I'll try to explain a bit better:

[My previous post now correct for dominant 7ths]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]To clarify, in that video Barry is prefacing pattern 4 with the the fifth e.g. in C: G F D Eb E. This is just so that it fits in with putting chord tones on strong beats, I have listed it from the 4th to match the 54321 nomenclature. Mikey has GFCDE, which is not what is demonstrated.[/font][/color]



[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I should apologise for copying out these licks in a rush and not watching the video attentively, Barry is talking here about outlining harmony of a Maj9 chord, but I wrote out the patterns for a dominant 9 chord, sorry! Patterns need to change for dominant vs. major chords (and indeed for minor chords) to have the right tones landing on strong beats.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]So, to be absolutely clear, and to put in rests as parentheses [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]to make the chord tones outline the harmony correctly, here they are for a Cmaj9 chord:[/font][/color]


[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]5:[/b] GBCFE[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]4:[/b] ()FDEbE[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]3:[/b] EGBD (note here that the D falls on an upbeat!)[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]2:[/b] () D [BCC#] D (square brackets is triplet)[/font][/color]


[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]So, that big lick that Barry does at the end is over a major 9 tonality, running the 5432 lines in order to create a big one (like power rangers joining forces, thanks childhood!). It is:[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]G B C F D Eb E G B D [B C C#] D with the square brackets denoting the triplet. [/font][/color]

The equivalent lines for Dominant 9 chords are:

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]5:[/b] GBCFE[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]4:[/b] ()FDEbE[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]3:[/b] EGBbD (note here that the D falls on an upbeat!)[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]2:[/b] () D Bb B C[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][b]1: [/b][/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]C B Bb D A G[/font][/color]

[font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]And for dominant chords, then, the megazord lick would be:[/color][/font]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]G B C F D Eb E G Bb D Bb B C B Bb D A G[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]A cool idea is to put an Ab as the last note, and use that as a chromatic approach to a G, restarting the whole phrase an octave lower....[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Sorry again for bumbling, my notes were in a bit of a jumble and I wrote that last post in a hurry. I've had a look, and I can't for the life of me remember these approaches for minor 6 chords, or find my notes for them, which speaks volumes about my mental capacity during the workshop (you can see how on the ball you need to be to pick up the lines, especially when there are 4 or 5 different piano players each getting it wrong in a different way at the same time!). I'll have a rummage and see if I can turn them up.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]As an aside, some of the licks he sings earlier in that video are demonstrating how to add a few notes in before the 54321 lick, to show it working in the context of a bigger line, and to make those little patterns put chord tones on the strong beats. What's nice is you can insert these approach patterns into any line, even with something a bit more modern like a spread triadic kind of idea, so long as they make the chord tones land on strong beats. For example, over a C major tonality mixing Fmaj and Gmaj triads, and ending:[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]B D G A C F D Eb E[/font][/color]

I found this hard at first, but after a bit of practise with this bebop vocabularly I'm starting to hear when chord tones should be on strong beats.

[font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]p.s. Could upload that Clifford Brown transcription if everyone is willing to brave my handwriting (and, I'm sure, a few rhythmic flubs in there)?[/color][/font]

Edited June 1, 2015 by Hector

[Mikey D]

Yep, my bad…amended notes in post to make it clear.

I'd like to see the Clifford Brown transcription!

[lobematt]

Ok I've amended the jpeg, lemme know if that looks right now!

[attachment=150411:54321.jpg]

Would be great to see some of these in a real world application like a transcription!

[Lord Sausage]

So basically all the above is just played over a vamp on one dominant 7 chord. You just play each pattern sequentially!

[Hector]

Lads, was shedding these recently and found I had [b]more [/b]typos in my original post! Urgh.

Instead of what was written, pattern 3 for major should be:

E G B D

The same pattern for dominant is:

E G Bb D

I'll edit my original post since this is one of the google hits when searching "54321 barry harris", but putting this so that you're aware. Will also whip off some PMs in case you miss this thread.

I'll also try to remember to dig up that brownie transcription for you.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Hector

[lobematt]

Thanks for the hard work matey!

[Hector]

No problemo dude!

By the way, that line over a dominant chord E G Bb D (3 R b7 9) is played in the video linked as dropping down to the 5 before coming back up. That general pattern can be used off any chord tone for a reeeeeeally boppy sound, and can be used both dropping down to the second note and playing up, as well as just playing straight up. It's just stacking chord tones + extensions in thirds off a given starting chord tone. Usually the next note following the lick is the chord tone below the note you just landed on.

So for C dominant sound, that pattern off every chord tone:

From 3rd: E G Bb D (3 5 b7 9)
From 5th: G Bb D F (5 b7 9 11)
From 7th: Bb D F A (b7 9 11 13) (This is pretty much the honeysuckle rose lick, if you chuck a C at the front)

Here's a monster line incorporating this concept (without dropping down to the second note). One of my favourite warm ups!

http://jazztrumpetlicks.com/2009/04/this-bebop-scale-exercise-will-help-develop-your-improv-jazz-skills/