Barry HarrisThe method

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

Minor sixth diminished chords in drop 2

Episode 12 · 14:42 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

A guitar lesson: Chris plays the minor sixth diminished scale as drop 2 chords on three string sets for D, G and B flat minor 6, the three minor sixes the opening of Yesterdays needs. Following Barry, E minor 7 flat 5 is G minor 6 with the sixth in the bass, and B flat minor 6 is the important minor of A7’s tritone, E flat 7. He then moves between the nearest voicings so the chords make small movements through the changes.

Step by step

  1. 0:00Drop 2 on guitar means four adjacent strings; learn D, G and B flat minor 6, the chords of Yesterdays (D minor, E half-diminished, A7)
  2. 1:17D minor 6 from the fifth on strings 6 to 3: frets 5-5-3-4, then the diminished 6-7-5-6, then minor 6 at 7-8-7-7
  3. 1:59Carry on alternating minor 6 and diminished on the middle four strings (D minor 6 with root in the bass: 5-7-4-6), then the top four
  4. 3:17E minor 7 flat 5 is G minor 6 with the sixth in the bass, so learn G minor 6 diminished: start at frets 3-5-2-3 on strings 6 to 3
  5. 5:19B flat minor 6 (the notes of G minor 7 flat 5): start from G on the sixth string at frets 3-4-3-3 and work up the neck
  6. 6:58These chords make movements, not just V to I: know each minor 6 in chords up and down, and in thirds, sixths, octaves and tenths
  7. 9:27Yesterdays: one bar of D minor 6, then two beats each of E minor 7 flat 5 and A7; from each D minor 6 find the closest G minor 6 and A7
  8. 10:56A7’s tritone is E flat 7, whose important minor is on its fifth: B flat minor 6 over A7 gives a flat 9 and raised 5
  9. 11:32Practise E minor 7 flat 5 to B flat minor 6 and back to D minor 6 in every inversion
  10. 12:31Goal: the minor 6 diminished scale of chords in all three keys; drop 3 and drop 2 and 4 come next

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

Dm61:17
××Dm6
C2AC3DFB
diminished, strings 6-31:17
5fr××diminished, strings 6-3
C2C3EGC4B♭D♭
Dm61:17
7fr××Dm6
C2BC3FAC4D
Dm61:59
4fr××Dm6
C3DABC4F
Dm62:37
6fr××Dm6
C3AC4DFB
Gm63:17
××Gm6
C2GC3DEB♭
Gm63:55
××Gm6
C3DGC4EB♭
Gm63:55
7fr××Gm6
C3EC4DGB♭

Barry’s own words on this

9.5 The minor 6th diminished scale and its diminished partner9.6 Half-diminished = minor with the sixth in the bass; major -> relative minor -> minor/69.7 The important minor and the tritone’s minor (minor 6 dim over a dominant)10.5 Drop voicings

In the course

The important minorThe tritone’s minorSixth chords rule: minor 7 is major 6, half-diminished is minor 6Minor ii-V-i as three minor 6 chordsDrop 2, drop 3 and drop 2 and 4Playing the scale of chordsLeast movement: find the closest voicingYesterdays

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 12 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. Today we’re going to do something a little bit different. I’m going to do some basically focused on guitar things and we’re going to work on minor six diminished for the guitar in several different positions. and I think today we’ll only talk about drop two. Now drop two basically is four consecutive strings of your guitar and not four consecutive strings open voice
  2. 0:37but closed voice. So what we’re gonna do is we’ll take a look at three different minor sixths. We’ll do D minor sixth, we’ll do G minor sixth, and we’ll do B flat minor sixth. Now all those minor sixths happen to fit perfectly in a song called Yesterday’s, which starts on D minor, then plays E half diminished to A7 going back to D minor again. So let’s start off with just the D minor sixths, and we’ll start from the fifth.
  3. 1:17Now I’ll call out the names of the frets in case you’re not aware of what it is. So we got 5th, 5th, 3rd, and 4th. And we’re starting from the 6th string. 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, but so far we have 5th fret, 5th fret, 3rd fret, 4th fret. That’s the first one. The next one is going to be diminished. And we’re going to have 6th fret, 7th fret, 5th fret, 6th fret. The next one is another minor 6, which you probably know as Bm7b5. So that’s going to be 7th fret, 8th fret, 7th fret, 7th fret.
  4. 1:59And we’ll do another diminished. I’ll change strings at this point, and we’ll do 4th fret, 5th fret, 3rd fret, 5th fret. So now we’re on the middle 4 strings. Now we’ve got Dm6 with the root in the bass, which is 5th fret, 7th fret, 4th fret, 6th fret. Then we have diminished. 7th fret, 8th fret, 6th fret, 8th fret. Another minor 6th, which is 8th fret, 9th fret, 7th fret, 10th fret. We’ll do another diminished.
  5. 2:37We’ll change strings again. and we got 5th fret, 6th fret, 5th fret, 6th fret. Now we’re on the highest four strings. Another minor 6th. So we have 6th fret. I’m sorry, 7th fret, 7th fret, 6th fret, 7th fret. One more diminished. 8th fret, 9th fret, 8th fret, 9th fret. And back to a minor 6th. 9th fret, 10th fret, 10th fret, 10th fret. So all of them. So there’s your minor six diminished.
  6. 3:17In chords, in drop two. Now the next chord of the song is E minor seven flat five. So what we have to learn how to play is that E minor seven flat five, Barry says, is not E minor seven flat five. He said, Monk said, it’s G minor six with the six in the bass. So that’s what Barry refers to that as. So that means we have to know all our G minor sixes. So let’s do G minor six diminished. Let’s start on the third fret starting on the sixth string and we’re going to play third fret, fifth fret, second fret, third fret.
  7. 3:55Next one is a diminished. Fifth fret, sixth fret, fourth fret, fifth fret. Next one is another minor six. fret, seventh fret, fifth fret, seventh fret. The next one is going to be another diminished. I change strings. So now we have third fret, fourth fret, second fret, fourth fret. Next one is another minor six. So I have fifth fret, fifth fret, third fret, fifth fret. Next Next one is another diminished, 6th fret, 7th, 5th fret, 7th fret. Next one is another minor 6th, 7th fret, 8th fret, 7th fret, 8th fret.
  8. 4:38And that one you know as the E minor 7-5-5. We’ll do the next one. I’ll change strings, 4th fret, 5th fret, 4th fret, 5th fret. Now we’re another minor 6th, 5th fret, 7th fret, 5th fret, 6th fret. Another diminished. Seventh fret. Eighth fret. Seventh fret. Eighth fret. Another minor six. Eighth fret. Ninth fret. Eighth fret. Tenth fret. So there’s your G minor sixes, which are... Actually, I did the diminished G before.
  9. 5:19Anyway, those are your G minor sixes. Now I’m asking you to also know Bbm6. So if we start Bbm6, maybe we can start it here. Again in the 3rd fret. Because Bbm6 is actually really Gm7b5. So let’s do that. So Bbm6, starting on the G, is going to be 3rd fret, 4th, 3rd, 3rd. Next one. 5th fret, 6th fret, 4th fret, 5th fret. Next one.
  10. 5:53Sixth fret, eighth fret, fifth fret, sixth fret. Next one. Eighth fret, ninth fret, seventh fret, eighth fret. Next one, changing strings. Fourth fret, fifth fret, third fret, sixth fret. Next one. Diminished. Sixth fret, seventh fret, fifth fret, seventh fret. Next one another minor six eighth fret eighth fret sixth fret eighth fret another diminished Ninth fret tenth fret eighth fret tenth fret another
  11. 6:36Six fifth fret sixth fret sixth fret sixth fret six fret another diminished ninth fret tenth fret ninth fret tenth fret and then you’re back to your minor six again, which would be eighth fret, tenth fret, eighth fret, ninth fret. Okay, so now those are all of the minor sixes that we’ll be looking at today. So now, the thing is, I’ve seen a lot of people talk about minor sixes, and a lot of times what they say is, well, it’s just this, or this is all it is, it’s just like playing five to one, five to one. I think all that is missing the point. The point of all these chords
  12. 7:17and these scale chords that Barry has talked about is you’re creating little movements within chord changes that are beautiful. So what things do you have to know with let’s say D-minus six what kind of things should you know? Well we played the scale previously but the thing as a as an accompanist things that you should know is okay D-6 you have to know your chords up and down you also should know thirds you also should know six
  13. 8:09You also should know octaves. Which I should know a little bit better, but you should also know octaves. You should know tenths. Oh. Oh, sorry, sorry. And that should show you that I need to practice my tenths better.
  14. 8:58Certainly with D minor 6, that wasn’t acceptable. But anyway, just to show you the things that you should know, because when you’re playing a song... See, you want to be able to throw little things in. Anyway, that’s just playing through the changes. But let me bring you back to the reason that I wanted to show you those. The chords for yesterday is a D-minus-six for a full measure, and then E-7-5-5 to A7, and each of those get two beats, then back to D-6.
  15. 9:39Now, what you should be able to do, once you really have all these, as an exercise, is we start, here’s D-6, for a full four beats. One, two, three, four. Now, you have to think to yourself, where is the closest G-6 from this? Because that’s the next change, E-7-5-5. Well you can go here if you want, but the closest one really is here. And then the next chord after the E-7-5-5 is A7. So if you know all your A7 inversions, there’s the closest A7.
  16. 10:14So it would be this. And you should be able to do all of them. You see? Okay, next one would be, let’s see, so we did this one, and we did this one, and we should be able to do this one, and then we should be able to do this one. So let’s hear that. So we’ll say, let’s see.
  17. 10:56But see, it’s just little things that you throw in also. Using thirds, using sixths, using all these different chords. Now, where do you need B flat minor six? Well, the tritone of the A7 is E flat 7. Now, E flat 7, I mean, I explained this in one of the other episodes. There is an important minor found on every dominant, and the important minor is found on the fifth.
  18. 11:32So the fifth of the E flat 7 is B flat. So there’s where your B flat minor 6 is coming. And what it does, it makes it obviously an altered dominant. It makes it a flat 9 and a raised 5. So what you should know how to play is E minor 7 flat 5 to B flat minor 6. And you should know those in every inversion. So here’s E-7-5, and then here’s B-b-minor-6, back to D-minor-6. And listen to how good that sounds.
  19. 12:06So you say... Next one. Anyway, those are just little ways to practice your minor six into other minor six. So the key to this lesson is to learn your minor six diminished scale in chords up and down. In D minor six, in G minor six, and in B flat minor six.
  20. 12:47You should also know, forget about the full chords, which are drop two. We’re only dealing with drop two. I’m going to make another video for drop three. I’ll make another video for drop two, drop four. but we have drop two chords, which is four consecutive strings. And you should know how to play the chords up and down. You should know how to play them in thirds, but the two notes together. In sixths, in octaves, in tenths. I mean, you really should know them in every way. In ninths and other things. Obviously, I haven’t really practiced those that much, but if I practice them, then I’ll present it.
  21. 13:21But yeah, those are just different ways to go over it. and when you hear the reason why I’m making this video in particular is because I’ve seen too many videos already of people saying oh well this is all it is or this is all it is and then they can’t even play one version of a drop two so it’s not just all that it’s something that you can practice for the rest of your life and never play the same thing twice because there’s just too many combinations of things so anyway I hope this really helped you because this was, for me, learning these has been a really eye-opening experience
  22. 13:59in terms of how to tackle, again, a standard. And in this particular case, we were talking about the beginning of yesterday’s. But these changes can be, you’ll see, they’re all over the place. So basically a minor, a minor tune with a minor 2-5. But yeah, I hope you enjoyed that, and there’s more to come. So please leave a comment down below, let me know what you think, and let me know if you have any suggestions. And again, I’m available for Skype lessons if this is a little too advanced and you need a little more time to discuss things. So terrific. Until next time, enjoy practicing your minor six diminished.