Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 9: Sixth chords and the scales of chords

Chord melodies from Barry’s scales of chords

Episode 138 · 10:17 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Using the opening of There Will Never Be Another You in E flat, Chris harmonises the melody with the E flat 6 diminished scale in drop 2, then varies it with tenths, thirds, three-note broken drop 2s and contrary motion. He adds Barry’s alternative of moving between E flat 6 and B flat 6, the 6 on the fifth.

Step by step

  1. 0:40After the pickup, the melody of There Will Never Be Another You starts on C, and its notes all lie in the E flat 6 diminished scale.
  2. 1:22The scale is E flat 6 (E flat, G, B flat, C) plus F diminished (F, A flat, B, D); put the melody note on top of a drop 2.
  3. 2:01Learn the scale in drop 2 on each string set, then harmonise the melody; the D minor 7 flat 5 that follows is F minor 6.
  4. 3:22Barry’s variation: on each diminished play only the lowest and highest notes of the drop 2, a tenth.
  5. 3:59Harmonise in thirds instead, built under each melody note.
  6. 5:10Try broken drop 2: only the three lower notes of the drop 2, on the A, D and G strings.
  7. 5:43Mix the textures in contrary motion: thirds, triad, drop 2, octave, then drop 2.
  8. 6:23Barry also liked the 6 on the fifth: B flat 6 over E flat gives the fifth, ninth, third and major seventh, only two notes away from E flat 6.
  9. 6:59Alternate E flat 6 and B flat 6 under the melody instead of E flat 6 and diminished.
  10. 8:08Know the scales of chords in common jazz keys like E flat and A flat; a tune is a reason to practise them.

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

Line1:22
𝄞♭♭♭
C4GCFBC6DE♭B♭A♭
  1. E♭
  2. G
  3. B♭
  4. C
  5. F
  6. A♭
  7. B
  8. D

Barry’s own words on this

9.4 Playing the scale of chords (block chords up and down the 6th dim scale)9.3 The major 6th diminished scale (a major scale with one more note)10.5 Drop voicings9.2 Two sixth chords for every major chord (6 on the 1, 6 on the 5)

In the course

Sixth chords rule: minor 7 is major 6, half-diminished is minor 6The major 6 diminished scaleSix on the fifth: two sixth chords for a major chordBroken drop 2Two notes of the diminishedParallel, oblique and contrary motionChord melody with the scales of chordsLearning togetherPractise keys through tunes

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 138 of Things I Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would tackle using some of Barry’s scales of chords to create a chord melody. And the one that we’ll look at today, or the tune that we’ll look at today, is There Will Never Be Another U, which is in the key of E flat. and we’ll just take a look at the very first couple of bars and this is the kind of stuff that we look at over at open studio pro for our daily classes and they’re really i can’t tell you they’re they’re invaluable they’re just incredible and we have so much fun over there anyway it’s worth definitely
  2. 0:40worth looking into and checking out i’ll leave a link in the description so let’s talk about the beginning of this tune. The melody starts on the fifth of E-flat, but that’s actually really a pickup. So that’s kind of like a dominant chord at first. So we’ll start the melody from the C. Now that’s the melody. Now what’s interesting is all of those notes happen to fall in the E-flat 6 diminished scale. Because we’re starting at the 6. And for those of you that don’t know, the E flat 6 major 6 diminished scale is the same thing as playing E flat 6, the four notes of E flat 6,
  3. 1:22E flat G, B flat, and C, and then the four notes of F diminished. F, A flat, B, and D. And when you put those four notes of E flat 6 and four notes of F diminished together, you get this beautiful scale. That’s E flat 6 diminished scale. So now we’ll say it starts on the 6th. Now what we’re going to do is let’s say a guitar player’s point of view a lot of times is from drop 2s. So usually how we play it is we say let’s put the melody on the top of our drop 2. So for those
  4. 2:01you that don’t know the drop to is for us is four consecutive strings. So starting on the E string it would go all the way to the G string, starting on the A string it would go all the way to the B string, or starting on the D string it goes all the way to the E string. So we have to learn our E flat six diminished. So there’s E flat six, there’s diminished, there’s E flat six, there’s diminished, E flat 6, diminished again, E flat 6, diminished again. That would be just one octave. Now the melody happens to say, so let’s see, it says, so it skips a diminished there, then back again.
  5. 2:46Now it changes chord, that next chord, D minor 7 flat 5, but it’s really, we know as Barry people, a minor 7 flat 5 is really an F minor 6. It’s really F minor 6. But let’s take the drop twos. Really pretty. Now, you don’t have to play every one. You could play, you know, maybe add a note. or Barry used to like to do this thing where instead of playing
  6. 3:22instead of playing the full diminished he would say practice it this way where you play a 6 and every time you play the diminished play the lower note, the lowest note and the highest note of the drop 2 of the diminishes, which ends up being a 10th so if we said instead of doing this if I’m going up the scale every time I play a diminished I’m just going to hit a 10th So I’m going to say... Oh, sorry. Those are really pretty.
  7. 3:59So we could do that with the melody. We could say... Which is really pretty. And then... Very pretty. Now, the other thing we can do is... we can do any sort of variation of those. For instance, suppose I just wanted to do the scale up in thirds. Since I know this is the highest note, I’m going to build thirds based on this being the highest note. So, there’s my
  8. 4:34third for the E flat 6 because we have a 5th flat 6 and a 6th so that’s really our first third. So, I might say that’s pretty just in thirds or maybe i’ll say um let’s do what uh thomas refers to as shell voice but i call broken drop two which is just taking your normal drop two let’s say and either playing the three notes on the bottom or the three notes on the top but in this case let’s play the three
  9. 5:10notes on the bottom. So here’s our normal E flood six drop two, but let’s just play just the first three strings. So we’re going to play the A string, the D string, and the G string. So now we could say, we’ll say, that’s also beautiful. The three note doesn’t need anything more than that. It really doesn’t. So we did drop twos, we did thirds, we could do triads of course, we could do all these different things.
  10. 5:43We could maybe start doing contrary, let’s do contrary, we’ll start with thirds, we’ll go to triad, drop two, octave, then drop two. really pretty. And maybe we’ll continue. That’s really pretty stuff. That’s just E flat six diminished. That’s knowing everything about your E flat six diminished. It’s a beautiful concept and it’s very helpful when you’re creating your chordalities on guitar. Now the other thing that Barry used to talk about, besides E flat six for that first two bars,
  11. 6:23which is just basically E flat major, he would say he likes to play the 6 on the 5th, which would be B flat 6. So B flat 6 over an E flat 6, which is really pretty. So what B flat 6 gives you, if you compare all the notes compared to E flat, if we start on B flat, that gives you the 5th, it gives you the 9th, you have the 3rd, and the major 7th. So it’s a major 7 with a 9th. And what’s nice is, if this is E flat 6, B flat 6 is only two notes difference.
  12. 6:59So you have to keep that in mind. Now, interestingly enough, on this melody, before we did E flat 6 to diminish, E flat 6 to diminish, and so on. Now we can do E flat 6 to B flat 6, E flat 6 to B flat 6, and the melody works out perfectly. So I’ll try it. I’ll say E E flat 6, B flat 6, E flat 6, B flat 6, E flat 6, B flat 6. It’s really pretty. And even here, B flat 6 to E flat 6. See how pretty that is?
  13. 7:35So now we’ll do it again. E flat 6 to B flat 6, E flat 6, B flat 6, E flat 6, B flat 6, B flat 6, to E flat 6, which is pretty, I just did both of them there. And then again, B flat 6 to E flat 6. I love that sound. It’s a beautiful sound. So B flat 6 to E flat 6 works at the beginning of that. So I think the point of it is sometimes we practice these scales of chords
  14. 8:08and we’ll play them up and down and we practice them in the normal keys like C and G. But we also have to know them in different keys like E-flat. E-flat’s a very common key for jazz standards. You have to know them in A-flat. I mean, you’re really supposed to know everything in all 12 keys. But the thing is, for myself, I know, I don’t practice things unless I have a song that is relatable to the key that I’m working on. So I have to really, for myself, I need that as motivation to practice. So now, everybody who’s watching this has motivation to practice E-flat-6 diminished scale and B-flat-6. It’s really
  15. 8:47pretty. All the little different things with it too. I mean, it’s endless. It’s endless. So the concept behind it, it becomes, and again, I brought it up before, but at the open studio class, what’s beautiful is everybody got a chance to play the beginning of There will never be another you. And everybody did something different. But we’re all speaking the same language, meaning the sixth diminished. But we all did something different. And that’s what I feel like
  16. 9:21makes Barry’s method really special. It’s not like, okay, here’s the exact drop twos that I want you to play for a chord melody. No. It’s limitless. It’s anything you want it to be. Not everything has to be a drop two. that’s another thing that we have to think about as guitar players not everything has to be drop to some of these little three note things are so pretty listen to that that’s perfect you don’t need anything more than that that’s perfect same thing i mean drop twos are pretty too but i would have never thought to play b flat six to b flat six
  17. 9:58i love that sound so anyway i just wanted to make this little short video to discuss different ways to use Barry’s scales of chords when composing a chord melody. Until next time.