Learn with Chris ParksHis whole course, gathered from every one of his videos
Chris Parks studied with Barry Harris from 1993 and has spent years teaching what he learned, on the guitar. Here is all of it, read from his transcripts and put in order: 171 ideas in 13 modules, with 2100 moments where he teaches them. Every chord and line he spells is drawn on the guitar and the piano, and you can hear it.
The course
- 1Start here: Barry’s language and the raw materialsPlay in time, learn the words Barry uses, and get the basic scale exercises into your fingers. Everything later is built from these pieces.14 ideas
- 2Scale outlines and thinking dominantMap a tune with one plain scale per chord, think of every ii-V as its V, and feel how long each chord lasts. Chris calls the scale outline the first step in soloing.9 ideas
- 3The half-step rulesBarry’s rules for adding half steps so the right notes land on the beat, starting with the dominant scale. They matter more than any named scale.7 ideas
- 4The chromatic scale, the ‘and’, triplets and spaceBarry’s chromatic scale, then rhythmic freedom: the rules reversed off the beat, phrases started on every eighth note, triplets and space.8 ideas
- 5Arpeggios and pivotsBarry’s arpeggio, the three important arpeggios of a dominant, minor 7 as two triads, and the pivot.6 ideas
- 6Small phrases and the masters’ phrasesHalf steps below, nap backs, surrounds and 5-4-3-2, then phrases by Bird, Bud and Sonny Rollins taken apart and played from every degree.18 ideas
- 7The tritone, the family and the diminishedWhere dominants come from: the tritone, the creation theory, the four-dominant family and its minor 6s, and the diminished and whole-tone colours they explain.18 ideas
- 8Movement: from one chord to the nextPlay the motion between chords, not a scale per chord: the connecting notes and the small movements that recur in hundreds of standards.11 ideas
- 9The four scales of chordsBarry’s harmony: sixth chords, the four eight-note scales of chords, and which scale of chords goes over each chord, including the minor 6s over a dominant.17 ideas
- 10Guitar voicings for the scales of chordsDrop 2, drop 3 and drop 2 and 4, Thomas Eccles’ elevator of textures, the smaller shapes inside a drop 2, and finding the closest voicing.10 ideas
- 11Borrowing and moving inside the scales of chordsBorrowed notes, short and long, parallel, oblique and contrary motion, and the least-movement ii-Vs, turned into comping and chord melody.16 ideas
- 12Tunes: the blues, rhythm changes and standardsThe tunes Chris uses as vehicles, each broken down into scale outlines, movements and comping with the scales of chords.20 ideas
- 13Practice and philosophyHow Barry taught and how Chris practises: small things done deeply, pieces connected and put into songs, and a voice of your own.17 ideas
How the modules build on each other
Foundations on the left; a line means ideas in one module rest on ideas in the other. Each module page maps its own ideas.
- Module 1 builds on nothing: start here
- Module 2 builds on module 1
- Module 3 builds on module 1
- Module 4 builds on module 3, module 2, module 1
- Module 5 builds on module 2, module 1
- Module 6 builds on module 5, module 4, module 3, module 2, module 1
- Module 7 builds on module 5, module 3, module 2, module 6
- Module 8 builds on module 5, module 2, module 6, module 7
- Module 9 builds on module 2, module 7
- Module 10 builds on module 9
- Module 11 builds on module 9, module 10, module 8, module 6, module 7
- Module 12 builds on module 5, module 11, module 9, module 10, module 8, module 2, module 7
- Module 13 builds on module 3, module 2, module 1, module 7
Barry’s four scales of chords
Each is a home chord and the diminished a whole step up, alternating: eight chords from eight notes. Shown in C.
Tap a chord on a wheel to hear it.