Barry HarrisThe method

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

Barry’s four scales of chords

Episode 6 · 10:56 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris introduces Barry’s four scales of chords in G: major 6 diminished, minor 6 diminished, dominant 7 diminished and dominant 7 flat 5 diminished. Adding one note to the scale makes its chords alternate between the sixth (or seventh) chord and a single diminished, and he then practises the G minor 6 diminished scale in single notes: up and down, in thirds, triads and four-note chords.

Step by step

  1. 0:00The four scales of chords: major 6 diminished, minor 6 diminished, dominant 7 diminished, dominant 7 flat 5 diminished; all in G here
  2. 0:43A plain G major scale gives seven different chords: G major 7, A minor 7, B minor 7, C major 7, D7, E minor 7, F sharp minor 7 flat 5
  3. 1:22Add a flat sixth and the chords up the scale alternate G6 (in its inversions) and one diminished; the G6 on E is E minor 7
  4. 2:01Flat the third for the second scale: G minor 6 alternating with the same diminished, one inversion being E minor 7 flat 5
  5. 3:28Third and fourth scales: G7, then G7 flat 5 (one note changed), each alternating with that same diminished; practise these too, not only the sixth chords
  6. 5:22Single notes: the G minor 6 diminished scale is a G minor 6 plus a diminished; with eight notes, run it up to the tonic
  7. 6:28Play it in thirds: where the added flat sixth sits, one of the thirds becomes only a second
  8. 7:08Then triads and four-note chords from each degree, alternating minor 6 and diminished; try one up and the next down
  9. 9:05Do the same on the other three scales; on guitar start in one position, then learn it everywhere on the neck
  10. 9:47Use it on any minor tune or any tune that starts on a sixth chord: it is what Barry plays on his records

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

Line1:22
𝄞♭♯
C4GABCDEE♭G♭
  1. G
  2. A
  3. B
  4. C
  5. D
  6. E♭
  7. E
  8. F#
Line2:01
𝄞♭♭♯
C4GACDEB♭E♭G♭
  1. G
  2. A
  3. B♭
  4. C
  5. D
  6. E♭
  7. E
  8. F#

Barry’s own words on this

9.8 The 7th diminished and 7th flat 5 diminished scales9.3 The major 6th diminished scale (a major scale with one more note)9.5 The minor 6th diminished scale and its diminished partner9.4 Playing the scale of chords (block chords up and down the 6th dim scale)

In the course

Up, down, and up and downThe scale every way: up and down, thirds, triads, chordsKnow it everywhere on the guitarBarry’s four scales of chordsThe major 6 diminished scaleThe minor 6 diminished scalePlaying the scale of chordsWhat Barry’s class was like

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode six of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. Today we’re going to be discussing Barry’s four scales of chords, or scales of chords. We’ll put an emphasis on things to practice on the minor six diminished. So he has four scales of chords that he wants you to learn. He has major 6 diminished, minor 6 diminished, dominant 7 diminished, dominant 7 flat 5 diminished. So in this instance, we’ll just pick the key of G, just because we haven’t done anything in the key of G yet.
  2. 0:43And I’ll show you all of them, and I’ll just show you a quick example of the chording, and then eventually I’ll go back and we’ll break down each one, each particular one, Major 6, 1, minor 6, 1, dominant 7, 1, and dominant 7, flat 5. But anyway, if we look at just a regular major scale, that scale breaks down to these seven chords. G major 7, A minor 7, B minor 7, C major 7, D7, E minor 7, F sharp minor 7, flat 5, back to Gmaj7.
  3. 1:22Those are the seven chords in that particular scale. Now what Barry does is he adds a note to the scale. So he adds, we’ll take the major scale that we just did, except we’re going to add a flat 6 to it. So now we have this. So again, it’s the major scale but with a flat 6 added. Now what that does to the chords is it changes everything. Now the first chord is a G6, the second chord is a diminished, an A diminished.
  4. 2:01The third chord, another inversion of the G6, the next chord, another inversion of the Next chord, another G6, next chord, diminished, next chord, another G6, which yes happens to be E minor 7, next chord is diminished, then back to G6 again. Okay, so that’s his first scale of chords. The second scale of chords is exactly that except making it minor, which means you just have to flat the third. So now you have this. So now that scale of chords gives you these chords.
  5. 2:48First one’s G minor six. Once again the diminished. Minor six. Once again diminished. Minor six. once again diminished. Minor 6, which is E minor 7 flat 5. Remember that. Once again diminished. Back to minor 6. Anyway, that’s G minor 6. The third scale of chords is G7, or G dominant, diminished. So here’s our...
  6. 3:28So now, if we’re going to play the chords to it, we’re going to have the G7. There’s that same diminished again. G7, same diminished as we’ve done the previous two. G7, same diminished. G7. Okay, and the last one is going to be G7 flat 5, or G dominant with a flat 5th diminished.
  7. 4:09So we’re going to change one note of the previous one, and now we’re going to make this the scale. Okay, so here are the chords. G7 flat 5 that same diminished again that we’ve used for the three previous G7 flat 5 same diminished G7 flat 5 same diminished G7 flat 5 same diminished
  8. 4:41like G7 flat 5 anyway that’s his four scales of chords that he tells everybody that’s what you need to work on, on your instrument. Now there’s a lot of videos where they talk about just primarily the major 6 and minor 6, and I’m kind of at fault of that too. I really work on those two mostly, but the dominant diminished and the dominant 7 flat 5 are really important also. So practice those also.
  9. 5:22But now, that’s chording-wise. Single note-wise, there’s a lot of things that you can practice on just the single notes. So for instance, the things that we worked on in a previous episode for B-flat major scale, we can do all those same things with any of those six scales. So let’s just take for instance, since we haven’t done anything minor, let’s do G-minor six. Here’s the scale. Which again, the scale only consists of a G minor 6. And then a diminished.
  10. 5:59And when you put those two sets of notes together, you have a G minor 6 diminished. Okay. So again, we’re going to practice this and we’re going to play this instead of his other scales, which only go up to the 7. since this is an eight note scale we’re going to play these scales up to a tonic. So anyway you’re going to try to practice it like this maybe playing the scale up and down. Okay then we have to be able to play that scale in thirds. Now what’s interesting about thirds for this remember thirds is play a note, skip a note,
  11. 6:34play a note. So what’s interesting about this scale is we’re going to have a spot between five and six but we have a note in between that flat six which means our third is actually only going to be a second I’ll show you what I mean so here’s the first one second one third next one here comes that second Okay. So now that’s thirds.
  12. 7:08Let’s do triads. Triads are three notes. So play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note. So let’s try that. And maybe let’s go back and repeat that middle note. I’ll start the second one, which is also diminished. Let’s do the third one which is back to G minor 6 again. And then we’ll go to the diminished again. Now the minor 6. Diminished.
  13. 7:41Minor 6 again. Diminished. Back to E minor 6. So now we did scale up and down, thirds, triads. Now we should do chords, which is four notes. Starting on a note, skipping a second note, playing the third note, skipping the fourth note, playing the fifth note, skipping the sixth note, playing the seventh note. So now it would sound like this. Here’s a chord. That’s G-6. Next one is a diminished note.
  14. 8:17Next one is another inversion of the minor six. Next one is another inversion of diminished. Another inversion of minor 6. Another inversion of diminished. Another inversion of minor 6. Another inversion of diminished. And back to minor 6 again. And those are pretty coming down. A nice way to practice that sometimes is to go up the first one, go down the second one.
  15. 9:05Let’s see. And then we’ll go down this one. Those are pretty ways to practice it. Anyway, so you’re going to do the same things for the major six, the same things for the dominant seven, the same thing for the dominant seven flat five. Practice that scale like that. And again, in guitar, on guitar, you have to know it here, here, here, here, here, here. All the different places that you can play your scale.
  16. 9:47You know, start off with one spot first and get comfortable with it. Now, this works for any minor tune. Any tune that you’re playing in minor or any tune that starts on the sixth chord, this works. This is all the stuff that Barry plays. If you check out any of his recordings, these are the things that he’s going to be playing. Again, that’s one of the beautiful things about his teaching, is that if you go out and check his recordings out, it’s exactly what you’re going to find. If you transcribe everything, he doesn’t keep anything a secret. He lets you know everything that he’s thinking about.
  17. 10:22So anyway, I hope this was helpful for Barry’s four scales of chords. I think the next episode I’m gonna work on we’re gonna go back to the blues and I think maybe we’ll just talk about the first four bars of the blues which are kind of important but anyway I hope this was helpful please leave a comment or a suggestion down below or even a criticism is fine and yeah enjoy practicing your four scales of chords thanks