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Jazz standards with a Barry Harris-inspired notation.
- uppercase letter or uppercase roman number: major six of the given note or degree
- lowercase letter or lowecase roman number: minor 6th opf the given note
- prime symbol: an arbitrary diminished chord of the given chord (this will serve as a basis of the usual dominat chords)
- double prime symbol: like the previous but one semi-tone higher (e.g. secondary dominant)
- triple prime symbol: like the previous but two semi-tone higher (a very nice alternative cadence, especially for the ii minor7, see e.g. "I can't give you anything")
BH-notation | conventional |
---|---|
I | Imaj6 |
C | Cmaj6 |
iv | Fmin6 |
f | Dmin6 |
I' | IIdim or IVdim or bVdim or VIdim |
C' | Ddim or Fdim or Abdim or Bdim |
C" | Dbdim or Edim or Gdim or Bbdim |
C"' | Cdim or Ebdim or Gbdim or Aim |
- superscripts generally mean extensions (or melody notes)
- a somewhat special use of superscripts is to denote min7 chords (this is for convenience; min7 can be considered the 6th inversion of a maj6 chord in the BH-system). We will only use this for minor tunes (to avoid transposing the root)
BH-notation | conventional |
---|---|
i7 | Imin7 |
c7 | Cmin7 |
c7,9 | Cmin79 |
- subscripts denote the (recommended) bass note (i.e. recommended inversion. No subscript usually means root in the bass (recommendation only).
BH-notation | conventional |
---|---|
I' 5 5 | V7 |
C' 5 5 | G7 |
- further supeerscripts denote melody notes (also usually good extensions for comping). Melody often anticpatates the next chord, in such cases we write it to that chord.
BH-notation | conventional |
---|---|
C5,3,7 | Melody of Misty ('Look at me...') |
- here's how a major II-V-I looks like:
BH-notation | conventional |
---|---|
IV6 | Dmin7 |
I'5 5 | G7 |
I7 1 | Cmaj7 or C67 |
- and here's the mino II-V-I:
BH-notation | conventional |
---|---|
iv6 | Dmin7b5 |
i'5 5 | G7 |
i7 1 | Cmin7 |
Don't be afraid when seeing the IV instead of the II. You will see that alternating between the I and the IV becomes a supper-common move anyway with this system
Yes, this is a minor ii-V-i
base note, kind, bass(+addons), melody notes relative to the base note
Improvise easily:
- look only at the first two character. Only 3 main characters: e.g I,+ -> major 6, I,- -> minor 6 I,= -> minor 7 (inversion of major 6)
- this usually changes much slower than in the fake/real books but still makes a lot of sense usually
- consider touching melody notes
Comping:
- same as for soloing
Bass:
- look at the first three characters, the third is your root
Compoing without bass:
- look at the first three characters, the third is your root
Solo performance
- use all!
Major II-V-I
II chord
II,=: IImin7 (IV major sixth with 6th in the bass)
or
I,d,21 (arbitrary diminished with the 2th of the I in the bass and with the root of the I added)
V chord
I,d,5: (arbitrary diminished with the 5th of the I in the bass)
I chord
I,-- (minor 7th) note: I,-- is actually the same as III,+ and I,+ is the same as VI,-- but to clearly display the tonality of the song (minor/major), we will use I,-- whenever possible
minor II-V-I
II chord
IV,-,6 (IV minor sixth with 6th in the bass): IImin7b5
or
I,d,21 (arbitrary diminished with the 2th of the I in the bass and with the root of the I added)
V chord
I,d,5: (arbitrary diminished with the 5th of the I in the bass)
I chord
I,-- (minor 7th) note: I,-- is actually the same as III,+ and I,+ is the same as VI,-- but to clearly display the tonality of the song (minor/major), we will use I,-- whenever possible