Bebop Improvisation 101: The 2 Concepts From Barry Harris That Transformed My Playing Overnight

If you're interested in jazz improvisation, you need to check out these 2 concepts. When I learned them, my playing immediately took an exponential leap forward. Barry's system is so beautiful because it really teaches you how to improvise, rather than just showing you a scale to play over a particular chord like CST, or just playing specific lines that you lifted from other players' solos. This concept is also way more flexible than the fixed extra half steps in the so called "Bebop Scales" This stuff is amazing for playing bebop, of course, but this material has very much improved my soloing across the board. I play this vocabulary on funk gigs, on straight ahead jazz gigs, on more modern jazz, it's even helped my playing in a free jazz context.

In this episode, we look at what Barry calls "Dominant 7th scales," the arpeggios that come out of dominant 7th chords, and adding extra half steps to descending scale lines over them. We'll also look at the "Family Of Four Dominants," a powerful tool for playing substitute chords in your lines.

Next time, we'll talk about applying this vocabulary to a tune and soloing in a real world context.

Please Like, Share, and Subscribe. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.

My Original Music:

Intro 0:00
Dominant 7th Scales 0:32
Extra Half Step Rules 1:21
Arpeggios on the R, 3rd, 5th, and 7th 5:20
Ascending Arpeggios into Descending Scale Lines with Extra Half Steps 6:25
The Family Of Four Dominants 12:48
Playing The Family Of Four Dominants over a ii-V-I 18:10
Example 1 18:45
Example 2 19:39
Example 3 20:15
Example 4 21:32
Example 5 22:37
Example 6 23:33
Example 7 24:29
Example 8 25:43
Playing the Family of 4 Dominants over a Minor ii-V-i 26:52
On Half Diminished Chords, think about Dominant 7th chords starting from the 3rd 27:11
Minor ii-V-i Example 1 28:47
Example 2 28:59
Example 3 31:30
Example 4 32:54
Wrap Up 34:16

Thanks for watching!

[liammuhler]

Barry Harris cracked the code! This is the best jazz lesson I've ever seen on youtube!

[joshhampton]

As one of Dr. Barry Harris' personal students, your breakdown and analysis is spot on. Your videos on his concepts are some of, if not the best that I've seen. Thank you for representing him properly. Because of your great presentation I don't have to post my own video. lol

[jpl]

This may be the most useful jazz tutorial on the internet. Thank you for blowing my mind.

[mrkeyzzz]

I’m just shaking my head in disbelief at how easy you made these lines by employing these simple rules. This is like searching for the holy grail for the last 10 years and finally finding it. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

[MilesLeonSax]

I'm a 24 y/o master's grad student in jazz performance. I remember my private lessons teacher, who studied with Barry way back in the day, taught me this stuff when I was about 16. To say it all went over my head would be an understatement. I never understood how practical that stuff was until I came across these video really breaking the teachings of Barry down. I'm literally taking notes from these videos to help guide my practicing. Thanks for this!

[stefanpaolini]

Hands down the absolute best explanation of these deeply esoteric techniques that I have encountered, and one of the best explanations of any musical concept I’ve seen. I say this as a professional pianist with 20+ years professional experience. My deepest heartfelt gratitude 🤘🙏

[Joseph-nsik]

Dude... I can see/hear this stuff as clear as day now. I've only been working this stuff for a few hours but have made more progress building coherent and tasteful linear/chromatic vocab than I have in years of playing. Insane. Thanks

[phanjazm]

So.... I'm creating jazz lines with concepts explained in this video that are just as good as those I find in a lot of my bebop exercise books.

The difference now is... I know what's happening. Does it make a difference?! Hell yeah it does! Knowing how I can bounce between 4 dominants is mind blowing!!! Awesome vid

[johnsullivan]

I agree that this is a great (maybe the greatest) summary of Barry’s concepts on dominant chords. The family of dominants allow you to come up with lines you would NEVER come up with using just scales! Thanks Bill!! It’s already changed my playing and I’ve played for 40 years!

[johnnyblue]

Bud and Bird would be proud. Sets the standard for patient, precise dominant descending line (and basic) bebop improv on piano. Who else out here takes the time to carefully and effectively guide us through the process. Fun to PRACTICE! So a Solid Gold lesson that you can use to practice — for years on end. And oh, the transcriptions of the lessons from my man RdgJr are simply priceless for we students of the vernacular.

[noahpedersen]

Bill, this absolutely blew my mind. I've been playing pop and rock music since I was thirteen, and just started getting into jazz and blues a couple years ago (I'm twenty now) I've felt stuck for a long time, having a grasp on the basics of jazz theory and strong technical facilities, but not feeling comfortable improvising. Doing a lot of 'insert lick here' 'dorian scale here' and 'blues riff here' kind of things. Even when I play lines that sound decent in my improvisations its depressing, because it doesn't feel like self expression, and I know that im faking (not making) the changes. Even after putting a couple hours into watching and practicing along with this video, I can feel those barriers breaking away. I spent some time earlier today listening to Barry Harris trio with al Cohn, one of my favorite records, and I was brought to tears. I've listened to that album over a hundred times, and after watching this video and practicing these concepts, I'm finally starting to understand what im hearing. I can't tell you how much this means to me. I plan to spend my practice time over the coming weeks and months imitating, internalizing, and innovating these concepts, and I know this will be a serious turning point for my progress. I'll be praying for your health and well being. Thank you.

[missyhilary]

I absolutely love Barry Harris. That man is a genius when it comes to teaching improvisation, and making it make sense.❤😂

[fraterdeusestveritas]

Just spent the last few weeks mastering the 13 rules in all 12 keys. That’s 156 lines. Now I’m adding the arpeggios into the lines my playing has literally been transformed. It wasn’t overnight but it took about a month. I play for about 4-5 hours a day too. Why is this not in any of the Jazz theory books I own? Thanks Bill for the wonderful recapitulation of Barry’s wisdom.

[lucapointcom]

Yo I knew something was up with those diminished chords, them shit's powerful

[kalleromanov]

Your presentation of the subject is of the highest teaching quality. Absolutely. You not only show the rules, but also various examples - with detailed instructions to tell when, why and how of every step. Youtube is full of technically brilliant videos of jazz improvisation, but most of them are not able to show the rational background of details. With your superb video a player is able to enrich his/her own improvisation with endless reseource of ideas and variations.

[champanachampana]

Good day, Bill. Thanks for sharing this incredible information. I am a bebop guitarist and back in the 80's I attended about 3 or 4 of Barry's masterclasses in N.Y. Honestly, I don't remember him doing this. Due to the current pandemic, I decided to try to go back to my "Bebop voice." I don't think that I speak like that now, but fellow musicians will tell you I do. I just think is that I've grown older, my voice changed, but the approach and love is still the same. I like the breakdown that you provided, as I've looked at other musicians explain Mr. Harry's method and was always left with a lot of questions, as most teach like Barry. He never mentions the intervals, or his starting points. You have to really have great ears to follow and understand what he's talking about. In this video, although you don't mention it, any of the rules (unless you disregard for personal purposes), the last note will smoothly land you on a chord tone. I never picked that up until today. This is the 3rd time looking over this video. But I got it. Your explanations of what's happening is very clear and understandable. Thank you. I will continue to follow your concepts and interpretations.

[christianlamot]

You did the jazz piano playing world a huge solid here-

[ryanswiggs]

i said to myself aloud while watching this: "you've got to be kidding me!"
man.awesome video, and great in depth explanation of Barry's methodology. thank you kindly

[TheWaveFiles]

What's amazing is that Pat Martino have the same concept about the "four dominant families", he explained it on his website and videos from the late 80s and recently too.Fantastic and so useful concept indeed .

[eritain]

Your vocal prosody + cardigan + sweet bop lines produce a very strong Mr. Rogers vibe.

Also, this video is a gold mine. Thank you.