In plain words
Barry wanted you to know which scale every chord belongs to, because then you know where you can move it. Think of the harmony as a sixth chord: A minor 7 is really C6, and the half-diminished is a minor sixth with the sixth in the bass. A sixth chord plus its diminished makes a sixth diminished scale, and a voicing can travel up and down that scale instead of sitting on one chord.
Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes6:186:537:27Barry Harris: Using Major 6 Diminished scale (with Live Transcript)1:00Believe: a talk to musicians23:43Howard Rees’ Jazz Workshops, Major & Minor 6th Dim. Scales: Becoming Familiar with the 6th Diminished Scales ¶4
From any note of the scale you should be able to move. Barry took C6, which is also A minor 7, grabbed its notes and moved them in contrary motion, calling it just a little move that comes from knowing the scale. Another time he simply went up an E♭ minor sixth diminished scale in chords and let his ear tell him where to go. Once you know the scale of chords, he said, your instrument is connected: you go through a scale of chords, not from one chord to another.
Barry Harris: Using Major 6 Diminished scale (with Live Transcript)0:001:00Chords become scales5:185:54Believe: a talk to musicians53:12
The motion has to arrive somewhere. In one class he had a pianist play B♭ minor 6 with G in the bass, borrow a diminished note, walk the right hand up the scale, and then land on a C chord. His second workshop video includes movement exercises in which you think sixth, sixth, sixth instead of ii-V-I, and he had no time for players who turn everything into ii-Vs.
Borrowed diminished notes on All the Things You Are7:207:528:26Chords and the diminished, in The Hague2:14Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶20
Moving a chord up the sixth diminished scale gives different chords from moving it up the plain major scale, and fourths appear among them. He also had the scales practised in contrary motion and then filled in.
Introducing the sixth diminished scale5:549:33Practising the sixth diminished scales4:104:45
Step by step
Read each chord symbol as a sixth chord. A minor 7 is the major sixth chord a minor third above its root; a half-diminished is the minor sixth a minor third above its root; a dominant can be the minor sixth on its fifth.
Dm7 = F6- F
- A
- C
- D
Dm7♭5 = Fm6- F
- A♭
- C
- D
G7 → Dm6- D
- F
- A
- B
Barry Harris: Using Major 6 Diminished scale (with Live Transcript)1:00Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes6:18Believe: a talk to musicians23:43Howard Rees’ Jazz Workshops, Major & Minor 6th Dim. Scales: Becoming Familiar with the 6th Diminished Scales ¶17Howard Rees, Evolutionary Voicings, Part I: Barry Harris Keeps Things Movin’ ¶27
Move the voicing along that sixth chord’s scale of chords: each voice steps to the next scale note, so the sixth chord and its diminished alternate.
C6- C
- E
- G
- A
B° (all voices up a step)- D
- F
- A♭
- B
C6, first inversion- E
- G
- A
- C
Barry Harris: Using Major 6 Diminished scale (with Live Transcript)1:00Introducing the sixth diminished scale6:30Howard Rees’ Jazz Workshops, Major & Minor 6th Dim. Scales: Becoming Familiar with the 6th Diminished Scales ¶11
Instead of ii-V-I, think sixth, sixth, sixth. Howard Rees shows it on ii-V-I in C: Dm7, G7 and C become F6, D minor 6, then G6 and C6. Voiced close together, only one or two notes move each time.
Dm7 as F6- A
- C
- D
- F
G7 as Dm6 (C→B)- A
- B
- D
- F
C as G6 (A→G, F→E)- G
- B
- D
- E
then C6 (B→A, D→C)- G
- A
- C
- E
Sixth Chord Moves for II V I VI Progression1:151:48Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶20Howard Rees’ Jazz Workshops, Major & Minor 6th Dim. Scales: Becoming Familiar with the 6th Diminished Scales ¶17
Let the motion lead into the next chord, not just decorate the current one. Howard Rees’ example: for Am7♭5 to D7, think C minor 6, move it along the C minor sixth diminished scale into the D7, and voice the D7 from the E♭ minor sixth diminished scale.
Am7♭5 as Cm6- C
- E♭
- G
- A
D7 as E♭m6- E♭
- G♭
- B♭
- C
Borrowed diminished notes on All the Things You Are7:52Howard Rees, Evolutionary Voicings ¶6
Use contrary motion: start both hands on one note and move them apart along the scale, filling in the voices between them.
Practising the sixth diminished scales4:104:45Barry Harris: Using Major 6 Diminished scale (with Live Transcript)1:00Howard Rees, Evolutionary Voicings, Part I: Barry Harris Keeps Things Movin’ ¶41
How he said to practise it
Play a chord, work out which scale it belongs to, and move it up the scale. Barry closed the last disc of his workshop videos with this advice.
Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes7:27Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶172
Start from every note of the scale in turn and move a chord from there, including in contrary motion.
Barry Harris: Using Major 6 Diminished scale (with Live Transcript)0:001:00
Practise the scales in contrary motion, fill in the chords between the hands, and then try the moves inside a song.
Practising the sixth diminished scales4:104:45Barry Harris: Using Major 6 Diminished scale (with Live Transcript)2:26
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
Then you know where to move it... If you know how to move it, oh man, it’s so much fun once you get started.
From any one of the notes you should be able to move... You know what will happen if I go contrary?... Just a little move, so he has to know the scale.
Practice your scales, play a chord, find out what scale it belongs to and move it up the scale
When you learn the scales, a scale of chords, your instrument becomes connected all up. It’s not a chord to a chord, it’s a scale of chords.
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it12 moments in 10 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes
- 6:53
Every chord a pianist plays belongs to a scale; knowing it tells you where to move it.
Barry Harris: Using Major 6 Diminished scale (with Live Transcript)
- 1:00
C6 is A minor 7; grabs its notes and moves them in contrary motion.
Borrowed diminished notes on All the Things You Are
Chords become scales
Eyes of the Masters: the first progression
- 1:20
Says the chord movement he just made up comes from knowing the scale of chords.
Believe: a talk to musicians
- 53:12
With the scale of chords your instrument is connected: not chord to chord but a scale of chords.
Practising the sixth diminished scales
- 3:36
Alternates minor sixth and diminished chords on the scale; has students practise contrary motion and fill in.
Introducing the sixth diminished scale
- 9:33
Moving a chord up the sixth diminished scale gives other chords than the major scale, fourths among them.
Chords and the diminished, in The Hague
- 2:14
At The Hague, complains that people try to make everything a ii-V.
Chord movement on the diminished scale
- 0:41
Spain 2008: tries chord moves on the diminished scale, noting what sits comfortably in the hand.
From the lessons1 lesson, 5 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
From chords to a scale of chords
- Exercise
Take a chord and practise moving its notes in every possible way: move the top and the bottom, or only the left hand. Barry says that when he hits a chord he wants to know how to move everything, and he relates this to knowing the diminished around it. Sometimes simply leaving one note where it is sounds pretty.
- Idea
Barry demonstrated simply going up one of these scales on E-flat in chords and letting his ear tell him where to go. For him a chord becomes a scale: chording, he says, has to be learned as scales, and that is the only way to real creativity. On F6, for example, he notes that he has the C and also the D-flat to work with.
- Exercise
- Idea
- Idea
Barry said that even good guitar players do not know the scale of chords unless they have been in his class, and that he never heard any of them use the dominant seventh with a flat five, a chord he clearly loves. There are four scales of chords you should know; once you learn them your instrument becomes connected, and you move horizontally through a scale of chords instead of going chord to chord vertically. He said a guitar player is supposed to know everything, and that the instrument is, in his view, perfect.
In writing6 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
For Rees the point of the whole system is to keep a voicing travelling along the right scale until it arrives at the next chord. His example takes Am7♭5 as C minor 6 along its scale into D7, then voices the D7 from the E♭ minor sixth diminished scale.
Rees lists sixth-chord stand-ins: the major sixth on the fifth for a major seventh, the minor sixth on the fifth (or a half step above the root) for a dominant, the major sixth for a minor seventh and the minor sixth for a half-diminished. Thinking in sixths lets you move along a scale and then resolve.
Howard Rees, Evolutionary Voicings, Part I: Barry Harris Keeps Things Movin’ ¶27
You need not wait for the dominant to start moving: in Rees’ example the movement begins on the Am7♭5 with voicings from the C minor sixth diminished scale, resolves to E♭ minor 6 over D7, then to a D6 over G for Gmaj7.
Howard Rees, Evolutionary Voicings, Part I: Barry Harris Keeps Things Movin’ ¶51
A Rees worksheet outlines Am7 to D7 as C6 to E♭ minor 6, repeats the figure a whole step lower twice, and has the scale practised with the right hand in fourths as well as thirds.
Howard Rees’ Jazz Workshops, Major & Minor 6th Dim. Scales: Becoming Familiar with the 6th Diminished Scales ¶13Howard Rees’ Jazz Workshops, Major & Minor 6th Dim. Scales: Becoming Familiar with the 6th Diminished Scales ¶9Howard Rees’ Jazz Workshops, Major & Minor 6th Dim. Scales: Becoming Familiar with the 6th Diminished Scales ¶8
Rees advises not naming each new chord before you play it: think of the half-diminished as a minor sixth and the minor seventh as a major sixth, and just reach up or down the scale for good voicings.
The harmony chapter of Barry’s second workshop video moves from taking a chord up a sixth diminished scale, through sixth-diminished movements in Body and Soul, to movement exercises thinking sixth, sixth, sixth instead of ii-V-I.
How other teachers explain it12 videos, 72 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Sixth Chord Moves for II V I VI Progression
ii-V-I-VI in C thought as F6, D minor 6, G6 and C6, moving to the nearest inversion each time.
7 min, transcript On YouTube
- Generating Chord Movement With Scales
A minor 7 as C6 moved through its scale into D7, voiced as A minor 6 or E♭ minor 6.
10 min, transcript On YouTube
- Harmonizing on “Once In A While”
Harmonising Once In A While with the sixth diminished scales.
11 min, transcript On YouTube
- Harmonizing “On Green Dolphin Street”
Harmonising On Green Dolphin Street: F minor 7 as A♭6, melody notes as sixth or diminished notes.
7 min, transcript On YouTube
- Barry Harris Method: The 6th Diminished Scale and ii-V-I ()
The sixth diminished scale over ii-V-I.
6 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Movements + Voicings Overview - explained in detail with examples
Overview of Barry Harris movements and voicings.
16 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris movements demystified on a tune
Barry Harris movements applied to a tune.
15 min On YouTube
- Apply Barry Harris Chord Movement to ANY Jazz Standard!
Applying Barry Harris chord movement to standards.
12 min On YouTube
- TILF Barry Harris Ep35 Movement Practicing Major to Sixth Dominant. Creating Lines
Movement practice and creating lines.
17 min, transcript On YouTube
- TILF Barry Harris Ep 41 Creating lines and playing movement 1 to b3 diminished
Playing movement from I to the ♭III diminished.
15 min, transcript On YouTube
- The Secret Behind Barry Harris’ Inner Voice Movement (And How To Use It)
Inner-voice movement in Barry Harris harmony.
60 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Inner Voice Movement Exercises
Inner-voice movement exercises.
13 min On YouTube
In the teaching series
Episodes on this idea in the long series by other teachers. Each name opens that whole series in order.
Bebop-JazzGuitarTV at NYC
- Short: ii-V-I comping with the 6th diminished YouTube
- 6th diminished 4: how the chords of a ii-V-I work, basics YouTube
- 6th diminished 5: how the chords of a ii-V-I work, applied YouTube
- 6th diminished 6: ii-V-I comping with fifth-string roots YouTube
- 6th diminished 7: ii-V-I comping with sixth-string roots YouTube
JazzSkills
- Building-up-notes movement on The Girl from Ipanema YouTube
- Simple chord movements on Fly Me to the Moon YouTube
- Minor 6 movements and where they work YouTube
- Minor 7 flat 5 moves YouTube
- Major 7th moves with the two major 6ths YouTube
- Autumn Leaves minor 6 moves on three levels YouTube
- Filling time with inversions and movements YouTube
- Movement applications on Taking a Chance on Love YouTube
- Introductions from scratch, with Barry Harris movements YouTube
- Blue Moon chord movements YouTube
- Chord movements on Smile YouTube
- Single-step chord movements on Polka Dots and Moonbeams YouTube
- I Should Care: voicing 2 in action YouTube
- II-V moves on three levels YouTube
- Minor 6 moves and minor 7 flat 5 chords YouTube
- Chord movements on It’s Only a Paper Moon YouTube
- Minor 6 movements on three levels YouTube
Mike Hayes Guitar
- Dominant seventh chord movement into major and minor YouTube
- Dominant seventh chord movement with diminished chords YouTube
- Walking chords on I Got Rhythm YouTube
- The long-short concept for guitar YouTube
- The 2-5-1 with the important minor YouTube
- Walking chords on Autumn Leaves YouTube
- Richer 2-5-1 voicings and movement in C YouTube
- Chord movement with scale chords YouTube
- A 2-5-1 practice routine with sixth-diminished harmony YouTube
- Triads in contrary motion as moving chord lines YouTube
- Making static chords move on a ii-V YouTube
- Diminished movement through ii-V-I voicings YouTube
- Moving chords on the Autumn Leaves bridge YouTube
- Five ways through the minor ii-V-I YouTube
- Moving accompaniment on Ain’t Misbehavin’ YouTube
- Using the system in a song: Am I Blue, first eight bars YouTube
- Practising the system in songs, starting from a 1-6-2-5 YouTube
The Labyrinth of Limitations
- 5 levels of a turnaround in any key with scales of chords YouTube
- Episode 13.2: the “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” arrangement explained YouTube
- Foundations 4: the study of movement YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 12: the generative guitar YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 14: major key transformations YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 20: middle-voice movement YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 30: a movement from Blue in Green YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 55: Body and Soul with the scales of chords YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 57: seeing the inner movement in the scales of chords YouTube
Things I’ve Learned From Barry Harris
- Episode 46: infinite ways to play I-VI-II-V with the scale of chords YouTube
- Episode 47: infinite ways to play minor I-VI-II-V, scale of chords YouTube
- Episode 69: Autumn Leaves with Barry’s four scales of chords YouTube
- Episode 79: Barry’s scales of chords on a ii-V YouTube
- Episode 82: A minor 7 is beautiful YouTube
- Episode 98: C minor 6th diminished (with Thomas Echols) YouTube
- Episode 114: what can I do from the 3rd? YouTube
- Episode 140: reasons to practise major 6th chords YouTube
- Episode 141: what is ‘short’? YouTube
- Episode 142: what is ‘long’? YouTube
Read further5 links
These open on the web.
Books and paid courses
- Howard Rees, ‘Evolutionary Voicings Part 2: Applying the Barry Harris method to tunes’, Keyboard Magazine Nov 1998 (Star Eyes; m7b5 as m6; Eb minor 6 dim as the altered scale for D7)
student (Howard Rees) — Howard Rees’ free article shows voicings moved along the sixth diminished scales into the next chord, on real tunes.
- Josh Walsh (Jazz-Library), ‘How Barry Harris creates movement over Lady Bird’ (annotated transcription of Barry’s trio)
other teacher — A free annotated transcription of Barry’s own trio creating movement over Lady Bird.
- Frederic Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris (HTML + PDF, updated Jan 2026): scale exercises, chromatic scale, Parker ideas, families, 4 chord scales, moving in fourths, 5-4-3-2, half-step tables, important arpeggios, scale outlines of blues/rhythm/Cherokee/Donna Lee/How High the Moon/Night in Tunisia
attendee-of-videos notes (from Chris Parks’ TILF + Labyrinth + Kingstone) — Free notes covering the four chord scales and moving in fourths.
- Inside Barry’s World, Howard Rees YouTube series (from Jan 2026): four scales for chording, voicings, movement, harmonisation, solo development
student (Howard Rees) — Howard Rees’ free video series on chord movement and harmonisation.
- The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part Two, Howard Rees: ~4h15, 156-page workbook; chapters Improvisation (49 sections), Rhythm Section (17), Harmony (41)
Barry himself (produced and transcribed by Howard Rees) — Barry’s own workshop video (paid; contents free), with the sixth, sixth, sixth movement exercises.