Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 5: The added-note rules

What can I do from the 2nd?

Episode 113 · 9:55 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris picks one degree, the second (E) of the D7 scale, and collects everything he can play from it, so that a phrase that lands there can flow on instead of stopping. He runs through Barry’s half-step rules on and off the beat, the important arpeggios the note belongs to, pivots, triads and Barry’s chromatic scale, and suggests doing the same for every degree.

Step by step

  1. 0:00Choose one degree, here the second (E) of D7, and ask what you know how to play from it, so chained phrases don’t stall there.
  2. 1:19From the second on the beat, follow the half-step rules: come down with no half steps, then with two.
  3. 1:58Start on the ‘and’ and the rules reverse to one half step; back on the beat, add a sixteenth-note triplet to the first note.
  4. 2:34The second is the fifth of A minor, the important arpeggio on the fifth of D7: come down it 5-3-1-5, or go up it.
  5. 3:56It is also the third of C major, the arpeggio on the flat seven: come down the C major arpeggio.
  6. 4:38Pivot from the second, on the beat and from the ‘and’ of one.
  7. 5:13Go up a triad or a chord from the second, on the beat and on the ‘and’.
  8. 6:24Go up Barry’s chromatic scale from the second: a half step between E and F sharp, none between F sharp and G.
  9. 7:02Go up a triad with the chromatic scale, then come down a chord from the sixth, B.
  10. 8:23Do the same from every degree, to break the habit of always playing the same thing from one note.

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

D72:34
𝄞
C3EACE
  1. E
  2. C
  3. A
  4. E

Barry’s own words on this

5.5 Rules from every degree, ascending rules, several added notes, harmonic minor6.1 Arpeggios on every degree; the three important arpeggios of a dominant scale6.10 Barry’s chromatic scale (chromatic runs with chord tones on the beat)6.7 Pivoting

In the course

Chord up: Barry’s ‘chord’The descending half-step rules for the dominantBarry’s chromatic scaleStart on the ‘and’ and the rules reverseEighth- and sixteenth-note triplets in linesThe three important arpeggios of a dominantPivotsWhat can I do from each degree?Small things

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello, and welcome to episode 113 of Things I Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would tackle this idea that I’ve been thinking about a little bit. Just taking one particular degree of the scale, and in this instance I thought we would take D7 scale, forward to the 7th, and I thought we would choose the second, which is the E natural. So the idea is this, and you should be able to do this with every possible degree of the scale, but the idea is this. We’re on the second of D7. What can I do from there? What are the things that
  2. 0:40I know how to do from there? Because this is what happens. As you’re chaining together several phrases, you run one thing into the next thing, but inevitably you’re going to end on different notes like the second of something. So you have to have a whole slew of things you’re comfortable with doing from the second. This way you don’t just get to the second and then abruptly stop and abruptly start a new phrase. It’s kind of nice to have a nice cohesion. So let’s think about what we can do from the second and we’ll think about using Barry’s ideas. So obviously. So from the second. So if we just did some of let’s say Barry’s half-step rules starting on the second first is no
  3. 1:19half steps, so we’ll play the scale down with no half steps. So we’ll say one, two, three, four. That’s pretty. So that’s pretty. We get to the D7. Let’s do two half steps. So we’ll say one, two, three, four. That’s from the second. Again, everything’s starting from the second. Two half steps, right? Now that’s if we started on the beat. But what if we start the end. So now we’re going to start the end of the second. The second is going to start on the end of one, let’s say, which means the rules reverse. So the first rule is going to be one
  4. 1:58half step. So we’ll do that. One, two, three, four. That’s a pretty phrase. Now maybe we’ll do, let’s start on the second again on the first beat. And we’re going to do two half steps again. So one, two, three, four. But maybe now we’ll put a 16 note triplet on the first note. So one, two, three, four. That’s a nice phrase. So if we said one, two, three, four. Let’s say one, two, three, four.
  5. 2:34It’s a nice phrase. That’s two half steps with one triplet. There’s other things that you do from the second. Now that’s all going down, but also we can go the second is also the fifth of the A, which is the important arpeggio found on the fifth of D7. So D7, every dominant scale, has three important arpeggios. One found on the root, which is a major, one found on the fifth, which is a minor, and one found on the flat seventh, which is also a major. So we can start on the second and come down that important arpeggio, the A minor arpeggio, we can hit 5-3-1-5. So that’s nice too. Start on the
  6. 3:14first beat. 1-2-3-4. That’s a nice one starting from the second. So nice thing to do from the second. How about if we do it from, if we go up, well we can start going up too. So we’ll go up to the next note of the A-mina, which would be the A. So we’ll say one, two, three, four. That’s nice, but we started on the second. How about if we do, it’s also the important arpeggio, like I said before, it’s from the flat seventh, so that’s the third of the C
  7. 3:56major arpeggio. So now why don’t we come down to C major arpeggio. One, two, three, four. That’s a nice phrase. One, two, three, four. So let’s say one, two, three, four. Let me do it again. Major arpeggio. That’s a nice phrase. One, two, three, four. Pretty. Just coming down from the second. How about if we did a pivot? One, two, three, four. four, one, no, that would be one, two, three, four.
  8. 4:38That’s a nice one. How about if we do a pivot starting from the second, but we’ll start on the end of the one. So one, two, three, four, one. That’s a nice one. Now these are all D7 phrases. Every one of these is a D7 phrase. or one, two, three, four. Let’s see. All those are pretty.
  9. 5:13Every one of them. And that’s starting on the second, either on the beat or on the end of the beat, and all different things we can do from the second. How about if we go up? Let’s go up a triad. One, two, three, four. That’s a nice one. One, two, three, four. That’s a really pretty one. How about if we went up a triad starting on the end? One, two, three, four. Ah. Also nice. I just adjusted my half steps on the way down, but that’s pretty.
  10. 5:47How about if we come up a chord? One, two, three, four. That’s also pretty. Coming up a chord. Really pretty. How about if we come up a chord starting on the end? 1, 2, 3, 4, 1. That’s also pretty. Adding a little triplet on there. How about if we start on the second and go up Barry’s chromatic scale? So the chromatic scale, for those of you who don’t know, is every place that you have a half step, you put a half step in between.
  11. 6:24but where you have a scale note and then another scale note right after it you have to put the next scale note because there’s no scale notes in between so I’ll show you what I mean if we have between F um E and F sharp there is a half step now in between F sharp and G there is no half step so we have to add A so maybe we’ll start from the second we’ll do that one two three four Pretty phrase. That’s a really pretty phrase. So that was just using Barry’s chromatic scale going up a minor
  12. 7:02third. What if we went up a triad using Barry’s chromatic scale? So it would be one, two, three, four. That was nice. Then I came down a chord when I got to the B natural or to the the sixth. One, two, three, four. Pretty phrase, right? But I’m still thinking about all of these phrases as starting from the second. So you see, this is the kind of way I think we should practice. So before we practice like, oh, I have to practice D7 into G major. That’s a really important thing.
  13. 7:43or D7 into G7, that’s a really important thing, or D7 into D-flat major, that’s a really important thing because that’s a tritone, or D7 into G minor, or D7 into, let’s say, um, let’s say D7 into E major, because that’s like the four, the dominant on the four minor, but you see all those things are all important for D7, and now we’re breaking it down even further, we’re saying, well, what can we do starting from each degree? Now, this whole video is just about starting from the second, but we could have a video and we could all do one on starting from every degree. What do we do when
  14. 8:23we start on the root? How about the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the flat seven. Every one of the degrees of the scale we could do stuff. Maybe the raised five even sometimes, you know. But it’s really interesting to break it down and really test yourself and say, Wait a minute, when I get to the second, I always end up doing the same two things, you know. So this is a good exercise to keep you from just repeating the same phrases all the time. I know I do it myself. Every time I get to the seventh, I do this particular thing. Or any time I get to the third, I do this particular thing.
  15. 8:57So this is why I’m sharing this, because I’m trying to get out of that bad habit myself. And I think it’s helpful. I think it’s helpful. So those are just a couple of things to think about starting on the second of dominant scale, which is really interesting. I mean, we’re really, we’re really breaking it down to like it’s little, the smallest of components. But I think that’s what’s wonderful about Barry’s way of thinking about things is that’s what you end up doing. It’s the little small things that mean the most.
  16. 9:31It’s not the larger things. the larger things are just a compilation of the little smaller things. So that’s what I love about his, one of the things I love about his philosophy. So until next time, have fun practicing phrases from the second.