Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 6: Line devices

Practicing Triplets

Episode 24 · 15:33 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

On Perdido, Chris shows how Barry adds eighth- and sixteenth-note triplets to lines built on the F7 half-step rules. An eighth-note triplet follows the rule of its middle note, a sixteenth-note triplet follows the rule of the note it starts on, and working this out on every degree keeps chord tones on the beat.

Step by step

  1. 0:43Learn the Perdido scales: F7 up and down, B flat major up and down to the third of G; the bridge is the I Got Rhythm bridge.
  2. 1:59Treat each C minor to F7 as simply F7.
  3. 2:36From the tonic on a downbeat, use one half step between tonic and seventh.
  4. 3:46An eighth-note triplet takes the rule of its middle note: tonic-second-tonic uses the second’s rule, no half steps.
  5. 4:27A sixteenth-note triplet takes the rule of the note it starts on.
  6. 6:10From the second, use no half steps or two; an eighth-note triplet on second-third-second switches to the third’s rule.
  7. 8:35From the third, use one half step or three (3 to 2, 2 to 1, 1 to 7).
  8. 10:03An eighth-note triplet between 3 and 4 uses the rule for four, the same as for two.
  9. 12:01Once the rules are in your fingers, drop triplets anywhere; they open up new areas of the fretboard.
  10. 14:01Take any F7 phrase you know, add a triplet, and if it lands off the beat, fix it with a half step.

Barry’s own words on this

6.9 Triplets in lines (eighth- and sixteenth-note)5.4 Off the beat, pickups and triplets5.3 Dominant 7th scale descending

In the course

Think the dominant: put the ii awayScale outlinesComing out right: why half stepsThe descending half-step rules for the dominantNo bebop scale: the half step is a placeholderTriplets and the half-step rulesRhythm changesMake your own vocabulary

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 24 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. Today I thought we would discuss a very important topic to Barry which is triplets and soloing using triplets. So I thought we would use the song Perdido as a vehicle to show an example of it. So maybe I’ll show the scales for Perdido first and then we’ll work on things to do. So the first part of Perdido, it’s a basic song. It starts on Cm7 for a measure, F7 for a measure,
  2. 0:43Bb major for a measure, G7 for a measure, Cm7, F7, Bb again. So now we’re going to do the scales for that. We’re going to play F7 up and down, Bb major up and down to the third of G. F7 up and down again. Then Bb major up and down to the third of G again. Now that’s 1A if we do it twice. We’ll do it a second time, and the second ending will just be Bb
  3. 1:23major up and down. The bridge is the exact bridge from I Got Rhythm and the key of Bb, which would start on D7, which would be two measures of D7. So it’s D7 up and down. Then G7 up and down. Then C7 up and down. Then F7 up and down. And then it starts over again. F7 up and down. B flat major up and down to the third G.
  4. 1:59F7 up and down again. And Bb major up and down again to the 3rd G. Which is going to take you back. So the point is there’s a lot of F7s, Bb major up and down to the 3rd G. But a key point is when you’re playing a measure of C minor then to a measure of F7. As I’ve talked about in previous episodes, Barry doesn’t see that as C minor to F7. He just sees that as F7.
  5. 2:36So there are certain rules for dominant scales that he talks about, which I’m going to discuss. And let’s start just with the tonic. So the tonic of F7. And he would say, if you’re starting on a tonic, the rule for the tonic is, Now this is starting on a downbeat. The rule for the tonic is one half step between tonic and seven. So that’s tonic.
  6. 3:11Again, tonic. So that’s the rule for the tonic. So now if we were just going to play that. That’s fine. which is nice, but it’s a little bit eighth note-y. So Barry likes to liven things up with triplets. Liven things up is probably not the right expression, but to make it a little more interesting. So there’s two kinds of triplets. There’s an eighth note triplet.
  7. 3:46Now the rule for the eighth note triplet is it’s not the note that you start on for the triplet, it’s the middle note of the triplet. So in this case the triplet is between the tonic and the second and then it goes back to tonic. So that’s the triplet. So the rule is for an eighth note triplet you use the middle note. So the middle note there would be the second. Now the rule for the second in dominance in his half-step rules is no half-steps. So if we were going to play a phrase we would use no half steps.
  8. 4:27So let’s try that. I just came up with the diminished when I got to the third, but that’s no half steps. And that’s with an eighth note triplet. Now, if we used a sixteenth note triplet, starting from the tonic, a sixteenth note triplet is a faster triplet, and the sixteenth note triplet uses the rule for whatever note you start on. So the eighth note triplet was the rule for the middle note of the triplet.
  9. 5:01The rule for the sixteenth note triplet is whatever note you start on. That’s what rule you’re going to use. So in this instance, we’re starting on the F, which is the tonic, and as we know, as we just discussed, the rule is one half step between tonic and seven. So it would be this. So it’s one half step still, but using a 16th note triplet. So those are nice little things that you can do.
  10. 5:36So now it changes the sound of your phrase. So we started with... Which is pretty. But now if we put an 8th note triplet, it sounds like this. which is really pretty. And then if we do a 16-note triplet, it sounds like this. So you see the difference, and it’s just using, it’s using exactly the same notes,
  11. 6:10except just putting triplets and different kinds of triplets. Now, let’s say we’re going to use the rule for the second. The rule for the second is no half steps. or two half steps. So let’s just play, let’s do no half steps first. So that was a nice one, just no half steps. Now let’s use two half steps.
  12. 6:44Rule for the second. One, two, three. That’s a nice one too, two half steps. But if we want to add triplets, we could say, okay, so let’s use an eighth note triplet. If we used an eighth note triplet, now we’re going to do a triplet between the second and the third. So now it kind of messes things up because we’re now not going to use the rules for the second, but we’re going to use the rules for the third. And the rules for the third happen to be the same as the tonic, so we’ll use one half step. So if we use an eighth note triplet, starting on the second, the triplet is between second,
  13. 7:22third, second. So that’s going to be following the middle note, which is the third. So let’s see what that sounds like. Which is a nice thing, eighth note. So that’s an eighth note triplet. Now if we use a sixteenth note triplet, it goes back to starting on the note you started on, which is the second.
  14. 7:56And you’re going to, again, do a quicker triplet, a sixteenth note triplet, and we’re going to use the rules for the note you started on. So the second was no half steps, so let’s see what that sounds like. Which is really pretty, so try it again. Anyway, now let’s use the rule for the second, which is two half steps also, which is the half steps are between second and tonic, tonic and seventh, with a 16 note triplet, which
  15. 8:35sound like this. That sound is so nice. See? Really pretty. Or you can now let’s do third. Let’s start on the third, which is the third. And let’s just do three, which is one half, the rule for three is one half step or three half steps. The one half step was between tonic and seven. The three half steps are between three and two, two and one, tonic and seven. So let’s try three with one half step.
  16. 9:24That sounded good. So now let’s do three, three half steps, starting on the third. And the three half steps again between third and second, second and tonic, tonic and seven. So let’s say... Really pretty. Maybe let’s start on the first beat. One, two, three. That’s starting on the first beat. So now let’s add something to it. Let’s do a triplet starting on the third. Let’s do an eighth note triplet and we’re going to do between three and four. So now we’ll say between
  17. 10:03three and four and we have to use the rule for four because once again the rule for the eighth note is you have to use the rule for the middle note which would be the four in this case. So the rule for four is the same as two. No half steps. Let’s try that one. Which is really pretty. Let’s use the rule, let’s use the second rule which is two half steps between second and tonic tonic and seven also pretty now let’s use the 16th the rule for the 16 note triplet so again
  18. 10:48starting on the third the rule for the 16 note triplet is the the it takes the rules for the note you’re starting on the triplet. So now we’ll use a 16 note triplet starting on the third. The first one is one half step between tonic and seven. So it’d be this. Oh no, that would be three... That’s it. So one half step. One, two, three. So there’s the triplet. And I actually put two in.
  19. 11:25I put one right as you did the half-step. So I said... Which is also nice. It’s also three half-steps. So let’s try that. So that means between three and two, two and one, tonic and seven. Let’s see. That’s a nice one. One, two, three, four. Also nice. Now let’s put some triplets in other spots.
  20. 12:01So, for instance, if we just did that last one with the... We had three half steps. And I put a sixteenth note triplet. I could have really done them in a lot of spots. So what Bear emphasizes is once you get used to doing them, you just kind of throw them in. Like if we did, let’s see, which I don’t know if this is the nicest sounding thing, but let’s see. It’s kind of exaggerated, but just to show you the idea about it.
  21. 12:44Now, again, you practice these with the concept in mind that you want to get them in your fingers. It helps you, as a guitar player at least, to see different areas of F7. Because sometimes you might want to play F7 here. But if you notice, I switched to here when I wanted to get certain triplets. Certain 16th note triplets. So it makes you see your fretboard much better for guitar players. And it also makes you try different things on normal phrases that you’ve normally played. If you throw in a 16-0 triplet or an 8-0 triplet on phrases that you used to,
  22. 13:24some of what you would call like your own stock phrases, it really livens things up and it makes it sound more authentic to, I guess, what people would consider the bebop era. But triplets are so beautiful that it shouldn’t just be relegated to just the bebop era. It’s a lot of eras. But yeah, it’s helped me to see my fretboard much better. And it’s helped me to, it’s helped technically also. But, and again, it sounds, it makes it sound more authentic.
  23. 14:01So take anything on F7. Any phrase that you’re used to playing, and try to put a triplet in it and see what happens. Try an eighth note triplet. Try a sixteenth note triplet. See if you land up correctly. If you don’t land on the right beat, or if you land on an offbeat instead of on a downbeat, you say, okay, well, let me try to throw in a half step. Let’s see where it is. Let’s see where I am in the scale. So my suggestion would be, if this is a little overwhelming to you, I made an episode, I don’t remember which one I’ll probably link to it on the bottom about the rules for the half steps and the rules for the half steps it might seem difficult at first
  24. 14:40but once you get them in your fingers it makes things very easy very easy and it shows you that then it there’s no such thing as a bebop scale or there’s no such thing as a bebop major scale or anything like that it’s it’s just F7 scale or it’s just a B-block major scale. So, yeah, I hope this was insightful and a little helpful. And again, I’m enjoying the comments down below and the, yeah, the discussing of how to practice and different things. So keep it up. I’m really enjoying making these videos. Hopefully I’ll start making them more regularly now that it’s back into September.
  25. 15:21So enjoy episode 24 and working on your triplets. Until next time. Thanks.