Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 6: Line devices

Eighth-Note Triplets in Autumn Leaves and Donna Lee

Episode 73 · 12:53 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris combines eighth-note triplets with Barry’s descending dominant-scale rules on F7: a triplet between two scale notes takes the half-step rule of its middle note. He walks the triplet up through every pair of degrees, then uses one F7 triplet phrase in both II-V spots of Autumn Leaves, and repeats the idea with the major-scale rules.

Step by step

  1. 0:40On F7, play an eighth-note triplet between the tonic and the second, and use the half-step rule of the middle note.
  2. 1:21Remember: 2, 4 and 6 share a rule, and so do 1, 3, 5 and 7; from the second, no half steps.
  3. 2:02Triplet between 2 and 3 uses the third’s rule (one half step); between 3 and 4, the fourth’s rule (no half steps).
  4. 2:39Continue up: 4 to 5, 5 to 6 and 6 to 7, each with the rule of the middle note.
  5. 4:53Outline Autumn Leaves in B flat the way Barry does: F7 up and down, Bb and Eb major up, F7 down to the third of D, G minor 6.
  6. 5:37Write one F7 triplet phrase and use it in both spots, resolving once to Bb and once to G minor.
  7. 7:26Make more phrases with triplets between 3 and 4, 4 and 5, and with three half steps.
  8. 8:44Note how Bird put an eighth-note triplet right at the start of a famous head; practise them from every degree.
  9. 9:16Do the same with the major-scale rules, e.g. a triplet from the 7th to the tonic with one half step.
  10. 12:10Let the triplets force new positions so you see the whole fretboard.

Barry’s own words on this

6.9 Triplets in lines (eighth- and sixteenth-note)5.3 Dominant 7th scale descending5.2 Major scale descending1.4 Triplets and thinking in six

In the course

Know it everywhere on the guitarThink the dominant: put the ii awayScale outlinesA half-diminished means the dominant whose third it isThe descending half-step rules for the dominantThe half-step rules for the major scaleTriplets and the half-step rulesCome up a diminished from the thirdAutumn Leaves

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 73 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would talk about something that gets overlooked a lot, even by myself, but that Barry talks about often, which is eighth note triplets. An eighth note triplet is really important in your playing. Eighth note triplets are important, 16th note triplets are important, but especially when you’re soloing with the eighth note triplets. So I thought we’d use for an example F7 and we use a combination of the eighth note triplets with Barry’s descending dominant scale rules. So if you don’t know
  2. 0:40those there’s an episode about Barry’s rules for half steps and I’ll use them here but I’ll go over them briefly. So the idea behind an eighth note triplet is if we start on a tonic let’s say F7 we’ll take we use F7 as our as our example so if we start on the tonic and we do a a eighth note triplet between the tonic and the second so now we’re going to use the rules for the half steps for whatever the middle note is of the triplet
  3. 1:21So in this instance we’re going to use tonic and second. So we’re going to do the triple between tonic and second which means we’re going to use the rule for the second. The second’s going to be the same as the fourth, same as the sixth. And the root is going to be the same as the third, same as the fifth, same as the seventh. So the evens go together and the odds go together. The first rule is no half steps starting on the second. So instead of just starting on the second, we’re going to do an eighth note triplet between the tonic and the second. So the next one would be a triplet between, we could have done here, the next one is going
  4. 2:02to be between the second and the third. And now we’re going to use the rule for the third, which is one half step. So we’ll try that one, two, three, four. Feels good too. Now we did the tonic and second, second and third. Let’s do third and fourth. So we’ll say. And we’re going to use the rule for the four, which is no half steps.
  5. 2:39Again. Now we’ll do another rule for the two, four, and six. It’s two half steps between second and tonic and tonic and seven. So we’ll do that. Really pretty. Now we’ll do between, we did between tonic and second, second and third, third and fourth. Now we have to do fourth and fifth. So we’ll say the rule for the fifth, because that’s the middle note of the triplet, will be one half step between tonic and second. Nice.
  6. 3:19It also uses three half steps between three and two, two and one tonic and seven, because that’s the second rule. So let’s try that. One, two, three, four. Again. Next one will be between 5 and 6. So now we’re going to use the rule for 6, which is no half steps. Or two half steps between 2nd and tonic, tonic and 7. Now we’ll do between 6 and 7. And we’ll use the rule for the 7, which is first one half step.
  7. 4:12Or three half steps. Now, that’s just an example of what’s starting on a different note of a dominant scale, running just the scale, just the dominant scale, starting with an eighth note triplet. I thought it’d be kind of interesting is if we take a look at falling leaves or autumn leaves, F7 is used a lot in that, especially if we’re in the key of Bb. We got the first set of chord changes which is C minor to F7, Bb major, Eb major,
  8. 4:53A half diminished, D7, G minor, and then some people do like a G7 to get back to C minor again. So what we can use for the first part when Barry does the scales to those to that song he would say since he sees C minor 7 F7 he sees that all is F7 so he’ll say F7 up and down B flat major up E flat major up then he does F7 again when he gets the a half diminished he thinks F7 up and down to the third to D. And then G minor six up. And maybe to get back you do like a Bb7 down to the third
  9. 5:37G. So if I was going to play that in tempo, it would be one, two, three, four. And that covers the first eight bars. So what I was thinking about is to try to see if you could play a phrase using an eighth note triplet on F7 scale, and then use it for both spots. We’ll use it for the C minor F7, but we’ll also use it for the AF diminished to D7. The only thing that’s going to be different
  10. 6:13is the resolution. One’s going to resolve to B flat, the other one’s going to resolve to G minor. So let’s see, one, two, so let’s take, let’s say we’ll start an eighth note triplet starting from the second between the two and the three. So now we’re going to use the rule for the three, which is one half step. So we’ll do that. Maybe we’ll come up, after we get to the third, we’ll come up a diminish. So we’ll say. That’s a nice phrase.
  11. 6:47So one, two, three, four. And we’ll use it again. So that time we used it and we ran it down to the third of D. And then I did something in G minor. But you notice how we used the same phrase. So one, two, three. Really beautiful.
  12. 7:26How about if we do between the three and the four, which would be... Beautiful. Beautiful. Between, let’s say the, we did between 2 and 3, 3 and 4, let’s do 4 and 5. Beautiful. Next one, between, well maybe let’s try 3 half steps, because we did between a 4 and a 5,
  13. 8:10so now let’s do 3 half steps. 1, 2, 3, 4. Yeah. So nice. I mean, these eighth note triplets are so nice. And it’s, again, one of those things that Barry brings up a lot. And, you know, I practice them a little bit. And I can kind of do them if I’m thinking about them,
  14. 8:44if I’m specifically thinking about them, but in terms of being a part of my actual playing where I’m comfortable in time playing, I haven’t practiced them enough. But it shows you how beautiful they are. And they’re really, really important. Eighth note triplets. Super important. I mean, one of the most famous heads has it right away from the beginning. Right away, eighth note triplet. right away. So it’s something that we have to look at,
  15. 9:16that we should learn to practice. If Charlie Parker played it and they put it in the head, then we need to practice it. But we should practice it from every degree. Every degree. So that was nice. That was A-flat. So let’s see. So that’s a triplet between the 7 and the tonic. So we’ll use one half step because that’s the rule for the tonic. Now what if we did between tonic and second it would be no half steps. I like that just as much.
  16. 9:57That’s beautiful. How about between second and third so we’ll use the rule for the third which would be let’s say one half step between six and five. That’s also beautiful. How about between the third and the fourth, which means it’ll be no half steps. That’s also nice. Or two half steps, let’s see oh boy let’s see so it’d be between the two half steps would be between this the let’s see the let’s see if it works though let’s see
  17. 10:42yes beautiful so the three and the four the rule for the half steps for major would be between two and one and six and five but we have to we’ll we’ll do it yeah we’ll do two one and six to five so one two three four oh wait I messed it up there is one two three four one two it’s beautiful so now we’ll do between four and five where we’ll use the triplet rule for the five so we’ll say one half step between six and five I like
  18. 11:28that one two three four that’s beautiful but let’s start on the second Let’s see if we can fix it. 1, 2, 3, 4. That’s nice. Just shows you these are things I need to practice also, but that’s why I’m sharing it, because I started to think about it myself. So eighth note triplets, something really important to look into and to enhance your playing. The other thing it does for guitar players is it really changes your view of the fretboard.
  19. 12:10So where you’re kind of used to being in certain positions, you realize that, well, wait a second, if I have to do an eighth note triplet, I’m usually in this position, and I have to do eighth note triplet here, I have to change my positions. So it makes you really see the fretboard almost in a much more complete way than you ordinarily would if you’re just running eighth notes or sixteenth notes. So it’s another advantage to it. Yet again, another advantage to doing Barry things that he doesn’t even realize he’s giving us, but he really is giving it to us. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed episode 73 about the importance of practicing your eighth note triplets. Until next time. Thanks.