Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 5: The added-note rules

Half-step rules on the dominant scale

Episode 5 · 16:48 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris sets out Barry’s half-step rules for coming down an F7 scale, which keep chord tones on the beat: the odd degrees share one rule and the even degrees another. He shows how to drill them, how they apply when you run up first or add triplets, and links them to the three important arpeggios of a dominant and to Barry’s habit of hearing a ii-V as just the V.

Step by step

  1. 0:00On a dominant scale (F7, coming down) degrees 1, 3, 5 and 7 share one rule, and 2, 4 and 6 share another
  2. 0:53From 1, 3, 5 or 7: one half step between the tonic and the seventh, or three half steps, between 3 and 2, 2 and 1, and 1 and 7
  3. 1:54From 2, 4 or 6: no half steps, or two half steps, between 2 and 1 and between 1 and 7
  4. 4:08Practise by starting on each degree in turn, playing each of its rules twice
  5. 5:36If you run up from a note before coming down, use the rule for the note you started on
  6. 7:27Barry doesn’t think of a ‘bebop scale’: the half steps can go in many places, and in your fingers they get you out of trouble
  7. 8:06Triplets: an eighth-note triplet takes the rule of its middle note; a sixteenth-note triplet takes the rule of the note it starts on
  8. 10:52C minor 7 to F7 is just F7; its three important arpeggios (triads with the bottom note repeated) are F major, C minor and E flat major, on the root, fifth and seventh
  9. 12:12Try it on bars 3 and 4 of a blues in F: mix the rules and triplets, and use the seventh (E flat) as the third of C minor or the root of E flat major
  10. 14:45Don’t change your line for the altered chords the comper plays: the half steps won’t clash

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

F70:37
𝄞♭
C3FC4EC5E♭
  1. F
  2. E
  3. E♭

Barry’s own words on this

5.3 Dominant 7th scale descending5.4 Off the beat, pickups and triplets6.1 Arpeggios on every degree; the three important arpeggios of a dominant scale8.1 Put the ii chord away

In the course

Think the dominant: put the ii awayThe descending half-step rules for the dominantWhich rule applies after a run or a leapNo bebop scale: the half step is a placeholderTriplets and the half-step rulesThe three important arpeggios of a dominantDon’t think altered, think familyThe blues the Barry way

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello, and welcome to episode 5 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. Today we’ll be discussing half-step rules for the dominant scale. He has half-step rules for a major scale also, but we’ll discuss those in a different episode. But today we’ll focus on, let’s say we’ll use the example of F7. So, the way that Barry looks at it is this. 1 and 3, 5 and 7 are all together. 2, 4 and 6 are together also.
  2. 0:37By that I mean, whatever rule applies for 1, for 3, for 5, for 7, those are all the same rules. The rules for the 2, for the 4 and the 6 are also the same. So it’s that group and then the other group. So the way we’ll start it off is, here’s our F7 scale. And these are descending. So what we’ll do is let’s start on the first point. We’ll start on the tonic, the F. And the rule for the tonic is one half step between tonic and 7. So that would give you this.
  3. 1:17Again, one rule, the rule for the tonic is one half step between tonic and 7. Now it’s also, the second part of the rule, is it’s either one half step between tonic and 7, or three half steps between 3 and 2, 2 and 1, and tonic and 7. So in this case we’ll put the 3 and 2 and 2 and 1 down below. So we’ll do this. So there we go, there’s our three half steps. Now the rule for the second is no half steps is the first rule.
  4. 1:54Now we’re starting on the G and coming down the F7 scale. The second rule for two is two half steps between second and tonic and tonic and seven. And then the rule for the three is the same as the rule for the tonic, which is one half step, blend on third just to be rhythmically right, or three half steps between three and two, two and one, and tonic and seven.
  5. 2:29So now we’ll do four. Four is the same as two. It’s either no half steps or two half steps. So let’s do the no half steps first. Again. Or it’s two half steps between second and tonic, and tonic and seven. That’s four. Now we’ll do five. Five is the same rule for one and three, so it’s one half step between tonic and seven. Or three half steps between three and two, two and one, and tonic and seven.
  6. 3:19So now we’re up to six. So six is going to be the same rule as for two and as for four, which is no half steps. or two half steps between second and tonic, and tonic and seven. And then we’re up to seven, which is going to be the same rule as we used, or the same rules as we used for one, for three, and for five, which is the first rule is one half step between tonic and seven. Again.
  7. 3:54Then we have three half steps between three and two, two and one and tonic and seven. Again. Okay, so those are our rules for descending. Now, the way that you practice them or the way that I was taught to practice them is we’ll start on the tonic and we’ll do each of them twice. So if we started on tonic, we would do one half step. Again. Three half steps. Again.
  8. 4:27Two no half steps. Two half steps. Again. Three one half steps. One half step. Three half steps. Again. Four none. Again, four none. Two half steps.
  9. 5:03Five one. Again. Five three. Again. Oh. Six none. Again. Six two half steps. Again. 7-1 again now 7-3 half steps again
  10. 5:36okay, those are his descending half steps now there are some little things that you should know about it if we’re starting on any one of those and run up to another note you follow the rule for the note you started on. So for example, for F7, the rule for tonic, let’s use the one-half step between tonic and 7. So now this rule says if I start on that note and run up to any other note and then start descending,
  11. 6:13I follow the rule for the note I started on. So if I’m starting on tonic, I ran up to 2nd, and then when I got back down, I did the rule for the one, which is the tonic, which is one half step. That’s running up to second. Let’s run up to third and see how that sounds. Same thing, one half step. Let’s run up to four. Let’s run up to five. Let’s run up to six. Let’s run up to seven.
  12. 6:48So you see how that works? now maybe let’s run up to let’s start on tonic and run up to the third and then since we’re on the third we’ll put three half steps in because that’s the other rule you can also use three half steps so let’s try that that sounds good too now let’s run up to let’s do run up to the second no let’s run up to the fourth and do three half steps again now let’s run up to 5 and put 3 half steps let’s run up to 6
  13. 7:27anyway, all these are perfect when you’re playing and you need to get out of trouble these half step rules, if you really have them in your fingers they work perfectly now there’s a lot of other people that talk about a lot of things like bebop scale or the barry doesn’t believe in bebop scale he doesn’t know anything about that he talks about putting half steps in certain places and so because he feels like and and rightly so that just to call something a bebop scale is is too limiting the half steps can be in a lot of places and you
  14. 8:06You don’t want to close off your thinking about improvising to just one particular scale. So he’s got a lot of different variations on this. Now, he also puts triplets in. So let’s say we’re going to deal with an eighth note triplet. We’ll do an eighth note triplet first. So let’s say if we do an eighth note triplet with the tonic. So we’ll do the eighth note triplet between the tonic and the second. Now the rule for the eighth note triplet is that you follow the rule for the middle note
  15. 8:45of the triplet. So if we start on tonic and then we do a triplet between second and tonic, obviously that two is the middle note. So we’re going to follow the rule for the two, which is no half steps. Again. Now let’s start on two. If we start on two, we’re gonna do a 16th, I’m sorry, an eighth note triple between the second and the third, which means the third is the middle note. So we’re gonna use the rule for the third, which is one half step, which would be this. Or, yeah, let’s just leave it at that.
  16. 9:26The one half step. So now if we’re playing F7, that’s the rule for between the 2nd and the 3rd. Now let’s do between the 3rd and the 4th, which means it’s going to be no half steps again or two half steps and so on so that that is when you use an eighth note triplet now if you use a sixteenth note triplet it’s going to be reverse the
  17. 10:07rule is going to be you’re using the rule for the note you start on once again the same way you use the rule for the note you start on when you run up it’s the same thing for a 16th note triplet. So if we did a 16th note triplet between tonic and second, we would still have to put one half step between tonic and 7. So it would sound like this. Now between second and third, we’re going to do the rule for the second, which be no half steps. Or two half steps between second and first and tonic and seventh.
  18. 10:52And so on. So that would continue. So you see how the rules work even when you add triplets. Now another thing that Barry points out is, he says this a lot, when he sees C minor 7 to F7. He doesn’t think to himself, 2-5, he thinks 5, because F7 covers everything. And this is how he discusses it. He says on an F7, you have important, what he calls arpeggios, and to him an arpeggio is a triad with the bottom note repeated. So, or here’s a triad with the bottom note repeated on top. That’s what he calls an arpeggio. So he says you have
  19. 11:32three important arpeggios for a dominant scale. You have them on the root. You have them on the fifth. So the root gives you F major. On the fifth, which gives you C minor, which is the two. And then it’s also on the seventh, which is E flat. So those are the three important arpeggios. It would be F major arpeggio, C minor arpeggio, and E flat major arpeggio. Those are the three important arpeggios. Now let’s say we were playing, let’s use
  20. 12:12some of this stuff. So let’s say we’re playing a blues in F, and let’s choose, let’s say, the third and fourth bar of the blues. So the blues says... So there we go. I started on the third, and I came down to the third, and I used one half step. So now maybe I’ll use three half steps. Okay, let’s start.
  21. 12:51Let me start on tonic and I’ll run up to the third and I’ll use one half step. Oh, sorry. I’ll start on tonic and run up to the third. Anyway, so you see how that works. I’ll start on tonic. Now maybe I’ll do a 16th note triplet between the second and the third, and I’ll put in two half steps. So let’s see what that sounds like.
  22. 13:33Anyway, so that’s a 16th note triplet. Now, maybe I will come down. I’ll start on the three. I’ll put in one half step. Now that’s major 7 is important, but it’s a lot of different things. That major 7 is also the 3rd of the C minor. So let’s see what that sounds like. So that’s coming down a C minor arpeggio from the 3rd.
  23. 14:09Now maybe instead of doing the C minor, that 7th is also the root of the E-flat major, which is also an important arpeggio from the 7th. So let’s try to do something with that. Well, that wasn’t that nice, but let’s try another one. Anyway, so that’s another way that you can approach it.
  24. 14:45So the three important arpeggios are found on the root, the fifth, and the seventh. And the half-step rules are the tonic, third, fifth, and seventh are all the same. It’s either one half-step between tonic and seventh, or three... Three half steps between third and second, second and tonic, and tonic and seven. The rule for two, four, and six are either no half steps or two half steps between second and tonic and tonic and seven. Now some people also say, well, how is this going to work if I’m playing an F7 and let’s say the person who’s courting or who’s accompanying me is playing with a sharp nine or a flat nine or a raised five or something or whatever it turns out to be or any kind of a chord. of dominant chord but you let that person do that that’s fine barry never says to adjust your
  25. 15:38chord adjust your soloing because of what the person is courting all these half-step work they’re not going to clash in spite of the fact that a lot of people says it clashes it doesn’t clash and he says that people never thought about stuff like that like if you write a chord that has a sharp 5 in it or even a flat 5 or a flat 13 that those are the notes that you have to play when you’re soloing. He said that that’s way too complicated and nobody ever thought of things that way. At least back in the time when he was growing up and the people he was listening to. So anyway I hope you enjoyed that. It’s rules for the half steps and I think my next video episode
  26. 16:186 I think is going to be strictly focused on guitar players and it will be I’ll try to do major six diminished and minor six diminished some of the inversions and some of the things you can do with it but anyway like always please leave a comment down below any criticisms are welcome also and yeah hope you have fun practicing your half steps thanks till next time