Stop Playing Boring Chords Use the Barry Harris Borrowed Note Secret

[00:00:07][music] [music] same chord, same shape, entirely different sound. Today, I'll show you the Barry Harris borrowed note and borrowed chord secret. To understand how the Barry Harris borrowed note principle works, we have to start right at the beginning and that is by playing the major 6 diminish scale. We'll be working in the key of C. So we'll begin by playing the C major 6 diminish scale.

[00:00:43]With regard to the diagrams, the major 6 chords are indicated with blue dots and the diminished seventh chords are indicated with red dots. Let's have a listen.

[00:00:58][music] [music] Okay. In that example, we simply played the scale right through. In this next example, we're going to ask you to think about the scale a little bit differently. I'm going to begin by playing a C6 chord. And then I'm going to play a B diminished seventh chord above that C6 chord. And then play a B diminished chord below the C6 before coming to rest on the C6 chord. And then as we go through this example, you notice I'm going to do the same thing.

[00:01:41]Only for the next part of the example, I'm going to begin on the B diminish 7th and then play a C6 chord above the B diminished 7th and then a C6 chord below the B diminished 7th before coming to rest on B diminish 7th. The purpose of this exercise is to make you aware of a type of enclosure effect in that wherever we have a C6 chord, we have a B diminish 7th chord above and below that chord. And in the same way where we have a B diminish 7th chord, we can see that there's a C6 chord above and a C6 chord below that B diminished seventh chord.

[00:02:26]And this is very important when we move on to the next step. But before we do, let's have a listen to this exercise first.

[00:02:43][music] >> [music] >> Okay. Do you remember our color coding system? In this next exercise, you'll see some chords that have a combination of blue dots and red dots. So, what that means is the blue dots are the original C6 chord. The red dots represent a borrowed note or notes from the B diminish 7th chord. Let's have a listen to that. [music] [music] One thing you'll notice immediately is that many of these chord shapes do not have a name. Now, it's not that we can't work out a name or a label for that specific chord. It's just that I'm not thinking in that way. I'm concentrating on the sounds that I'm hearing. And this borrowed note system gives us a tremendous amount of freedom. We can concentrate on creating melodies, movement, and color without getting tangled up in a whole lot of theory. The next concept I'd like to introduce is the idea of related chords. Now, I'm not talking about chords that are created from harmonizing a major scale or how the relative major and minor work. I'm talking about chords that are a minor third apart. Now, the major 6th chord that's a minor third away from C6 is E flat 6. Before we go any further, let's go and practice the E flat major 6 diminished scale of chords. The E flat major 6 scale of chords is made up of two chords, E flat 6 and D diminish 7th.

[00:04:48]Let's have a listen.

[00:04:52][music] [music] >> [music] >> Right. Then this is where it gets really interesting. You might already know this, but you may not be aware of some of the possibilities that are available to you with the diminished 7th chord. On the screen, you'll see four chords that all have different names.

[00:05:22]We have B diminished 7th, D diminished 7th, F diminished 7th and A flat diminished 7th. But if you have a close look, each one of these chords contain exactly the same notes. Now why this is important is that when we have a look at the Barry Harris scale of chords, if we go back to the C major 6th diminish scale of chords, we have two chords C6 and B diminish 7th.

[00:05:52]Now if we have a look at the E flat major 6 diminish 7th scale of chords we have two chords in that scale which is E flat 6 and D diminish 7th. Now the important thing as you can see from this page is that B diminish 7th and D diminish 7th are the same chord. So let's say I call this chord B diminish 7th. This B diminished 7th can act like a gateway chord that'll help me connect a C6 chord to an E flat 6 chord. Let's have a listen to this next example where I'm doing just that. I'm starting with the C6 chord. I'm borrowing a note from a B diminish 7th chord. Then moving to an E flat 6 chord. And then once more I'm borrowing a note from a B diminish 7th chord. Or we could call that a D diminish 7th chord. Let's have a listen.

[00:06:52][music] [music] If this feels like you're walking through a city for the very first time, you'll need a map. Everything we're doing today is taken from the first full cycle in book one. So, if you'd rather have a blueprint than trying to remember isolated ideas, I'll leave a link below.

[00:07:23]Now, let's get back to the lesson. Let's take that related chords concept a little bit further. The major 6th chord that's a minor third away from E flat 6 is G flat 6. So, let's go and practice the G flat major 6 scale of chords before we go any further.

[00:07:46]>> [music] [music] >> Did you notice anything?

[00:08:01]The G flat major 6 diminish scale of chords only had two chords, G flat major 6 and F diminish 7th.

[00:08:12]Okay, that doesn't seem to be a really big deal. But let's go back to our diminished seventh chords page for a moment. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That F diminish 7th chord that we just played in the G flat major 6th diminish scale of chords is the same diminish chord that we used for the E flat major 6 diminish scale of chords and the C6 diminished scale of chords.

[00:08:39]What that means to me is that I can use that same diminish chord to connect C6 with E flat 6 and now G flat 6. Here's an example where I'm using notes from our diminish chord. I'm going to think of this chord as B diminish. Just to keep things really simple, I'm using borrowed notes from a B diminished seventh chord to connect and color chords from C6, E flat 6, and G flat 6.

[00:09:10]Let's have a listen.

[00:09:13][music] >> [music] >> Okay, let's continue our search for other related major 6 chords. Remember, the last major 6 chord we discovered that was related to C was G flat 6.

[00:09:35]Let's go a minor third up from G flat 6.

[00:09:39]And when we do that, we'll discover that we have an A6 chord. So now what we know is that C6, E flat 6, G flat 6, and A6 can all be connected with the very same diminish chord. On the screen, you'll see how I'm thinking about this. I have the B diminished seventh chord in the middle.

[00:10:04]And I'm thinking of this diminished chord as a gateway chord that allows me to move freely between C6, E flat 6, G flat 6, and A6. I can use borrowed notes from this B diminish 7th chord to color and create variety with any of these chords.

[00:10:27]Here's one more example where I'm doing something just a little bit different.

[00:10:32]I'm thinking outside the box again. I'm starting with a C6 and I'm borrowing a note from a B diminished seventh chord.

[00:10:40]And then my next chord is what Barry refers to as the important minor chord.

[00:10:47]It's the chord we would normally think of as the two chord in a 251. So in Barry's world, he's referring to D minor 7 as the important minor. Now D minor 7 has the exact same notes as F6. So what I'm doing is I'm moving from a C6 to an F6. And then I'm treating this F6 as being one of the notes in a B diminish 7th chord. Remember that B diminish 7th is the partner chord in the C6 diminish scale of chords. What I'm doing then is simply moving down the guitar fingerboard using notes from the B diminish 7th chord. So I'm moving from F6 to D6 to B6 and then A flat 6. All of those notes, F, D, B, A flat, make up the notes in a B diminish 7th chord. And then I'm finishing on an A chord. I'm actually playing an A major 9th chord, which is just a variation of an A6.

[00:12:01]Here's how that sounds.

[00:12:03][music] >> [music] [music] [music]