Barry Harris Voicings Part 2
In this masterclass we are going to dig deeper into Barry Harris voicings. If you’re not familiar with the subject, check out the other 5 minute masterclass on Barry Harris voicings.
We will look at using some alternate major and minor 6th chords to create some different colours in our voicings – for example, over a Cmaj7 we can use a G6 chord to create Barry Harris voicings.
We then take a look at voicings derived from the melodic minor scale and how they can be used in a 2-5-1 situation.
We will also touch on how to use Barry Harris voicings as a way to explain complex chords that are difficult to describe with standard language. Using combinations of a 6th chord and its associated diminished chord we can gain an understanding of voicings that could be otherwise challenging to describe.
Lesson Downloads
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Barry Harris Voicings Part 2 Lesson Notation File Type: pdf
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Practice Tips
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Choose a standard and see if you can harmonise the melody using techniques from this lesson. A tune where the melody moves mainly step-wise would be a great choice.
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Practice using the Barry Harris voicings based on a melodic minor scale to create strong and colourful resolutions in 2-5-1 progressions.
- Using the ideas Tuomo uses to describe the Herbie Hancock chord, try to find some unusual and colourful voicings of your own.
Question. In the Song: All The Things you Are. (Ab Major) In bar 29 he plays an DbMaj 7th, (4 Major 7th chord) in Bar 30, He plays a Db-7th, and in the next bar: C-7th.
Can you please explain where the Db-7th is coming from? Is it Borrowed? Is it still in the Ab Mojor mode?
Thank you in advance,
Glenn
Hi Glenn, thanks for the question!
Db-7 in the key of Abmaj is so called IV minor. You can think it’s borrowed from Abminor, but as it is such a common harmonic phenomena, I would just think of it as a IV minor in a major key.
Usually (as in ‘All The Things’ as well) it follows a normal IVmajor chord.
When it comes to Barry Harris voicings, you can treat it as E6 chord, as explained in the tutorials.
Here is a link to a full explanation of the IV minor chord and its functions:
pianogroove.com/jazz-piano-lessons/the-4-minor-chord/
I hope this helps, let me know if you have any further questions!
All the best,
-Tuomo