In plain words
Barry believed improvising could be taught simply, the way he himself was taught. Play a C major scale, then play it in thirds. Take a C major triad and make it minor, then major again, augmented and diminished. Add the whole-tone scales and the diminished seventh chords and you have the raw materials. From these things, he said, we learn how to hear.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished0:321:141:47Jazz theory, part 3, with score1:29
He tied this to classical training. He recalled Schoenberg writing out the C major scale in thirds and then telling the reader to learn the other eleven keys, and said the same holds for our scales. When talk turned to Bud Powell making a whole introduction out of scales like that, Barry’s point was that if Bud did it, we should know how to do it too.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished2:222:563:30
These are the things students like least. Barry named triads, arpeggios and the plain major scale as what people hate most, yet said you must know them in order to create, and only then learn about movement. He called major arpeggios and diminished sevenths, known all over the instrument, the ABC’s of the music, and in a 1998 workshop reminded the class that they should already know all their triads, minor arpeggios and diminished chords.
Jazz schools and the basics2:12Believe: a talk to musicians14:2214:57The 1998 workshop, part 31:131:45Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶511
Step by step
Play the major scale, starting in C.
C major- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- A
- B
- C
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished0:32
Go up the same scale in thirds: from each degree, play the note a third above it, then move to the next degree.
C major in thirds, going up- C
- E
- D
- F
- E
- G
- F
- A
- G
- B
- A
- C
- B
- D
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished2:22
Take the C major triad and change its quality: major, minor, augmented, diminished.
C major- C
- E
- G
C minor- C
- E♭
- G
C augmented- C
- E
- G♯
C diminished- C
- E♭
- G♭
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished1:14
Add the two whole-tone scales and the three diminished seventh chords to the scales and triads.
Whole-tone scale on C- C
- D
- E
- F♯
- G♯
- A♯
Whole-tone scale on D♭- D♭
- E♭
- F
- G
- A
- B
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished1:47Jazz theory, part 2: drop voicings4:58
How he said to practise it
Once a key is done, learn the other eleven. Barry passed on Schoenberg’s instruction after the C major scale in thirds and said we have to do all of it with our scales too.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished2:56
Use the materials to train the ear: Barry might ask you to play from C up to C, then put notes in between particular pairs of notes.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished1:472:22
Sing the triads as well as playing them. With his singers Barry called for a major triad, then the augmented, minor and diminished, going back to major in between, and caught out anyone who slid up or down into the notes instead of hitting them.
Aim to play major arpeggios and diminished sevenths all over your instrument, in all inversions; Barry complained that college students he met could not.
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
Give me a ... C major triad, make it minor, make it major, augmented ... make it diminish.
[You] got scales, got the whole tone scales, you got triads, you got the diminished sevens. And so from these things we learn how to hear.
Now you learned the other 11. See, that’s the secret.
If the people don’t know the ABC’s of the music, then how are they going to learn the music?
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it11 moments in 8 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished
- 0:32
Says improvising is simple to teach, then recalls the old start: a C major scale, then the scale in thirds.
- 1:14
One C triad made minor, major, augmented and diminished: how his generation started improvising.
- 1:47
Sums up the materials (scales, whole-tone scales, triads, diminished sevenths) as the way we learn to hear.
- 2:22
Schoenberg wrote out the C major scale in thirds, then told readers to learn the other eleven keys.
Jazz theory, part 3, with score
- 0:36
Another captioning of the same talk: scale, thirds, the four triads, whole-tone scales and diminished sevenths.
Jazz theory, part 2: drop voicings
- 4:58
Part Two of the same series: so far we have the two whole-tone scales and three diminished sevenths.
Rehearsing April in Paris with the singers
- 0:32
Has the singers sing a major triad, then augmented, minor and diminished, and checks they hit each note cleanly.
The 1998 workshop, part 3
- 1:13
1998 workshop: tells the class they should know all their minor arpeggios, diminished chords and triads.
Jazz schools and the basics
- 2:12
The basics people hate most (triads, arpeggios, the major scale) are what you must know.
Believe: a talk to musicians
- 14:22
Almeria talk: to teach improvising you need the basics first, then movement.
Practising the sixth diminished scales
- 6:20
Practises a whole-tone scale in several ways, including in thirds, and urges finding many ways to practise.
From the lessons2 lessons, 6 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
The raw materials of improvising
- Idea
Barry feels he now knows how to teach someone to really improvise, because it is simple. He recalls how it was taught: play a C major scale, then in thirds; take a C major triad and make it minor, major, augmented and diminished. That gives you scales, the whole-tone scales, triads and the diminished sevenths, and from these things, he says, we learn how to hear.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished0:321:47Jazz theory, part 3, with score0:361:29
- Exercise
Work through the building blocks: play a C major scale, then play it in thirds. Play a C major triad and change it to minor, augmented and diminished. Add the whole-tone scales and the diminished seventh chords. As part of learning to hear, Barry may also ask you to play from C to C and put notes in between particular pairs of notes.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished0:321:141:47
Start with the basics you would rather skip
- Idea
Barry admitted that the material students hate most is exactly what they need: triads, arpeggios and the plain major scale. He likened his teaching to the old European figured-bass approach (while saying he didn’t know much about figured bass), where players had to know basic things and then started making little things up from them; later, he said, Europe turned to writing music more than teaching people how to play and improvise. So the path is: know the basics so that you can create, start inventing small things from them, and then learn about movement.
Jazz schools and the basics2:12Believe: a talk to musicians13:4814:22
- Idea
- Exercise
Take a four-note arpeggio, such as D-flat minor in one position, and find every order its notes can be played in. Barry compared it to the digits of a number: three digits give six orders, four give 24. Starting from the low D-flat, the other three notes can follow in six ways, and the same is true for each of the other starting notes, which makes 24 in all. Aim to know every inversion and every combination.
- Exercise
After playing an Art Tatum ending and a Bud Powell ending, Barry said he used to have students take a simple chord and make up something of their own from it, such as an ending or a little figure built only from knowing those chords. He demonstrated several invented versions, then set up taking an idea through every key. Try it: pick a simple chord, invent a few endings from it, then move one of them through the keys.
In writing5 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
Barry wished he could sit down with the teachers of this music: he disliked meeting college students who could not play a major arpeggio or a diminished seventh all over the instrument in every inversion. For him these were the ABC’s, and without them he did not see how anyone could learn the music.
The Barry Harris Workshop Video opens with scale practice under the heading ‘the ABC’s’: what to practise and how, before the half-step rules and before any application to tunes.
Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video ¶5Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video ¶15
Notes taken from Chris Parks’s videos lay the scale exercises out in order: the scale in thirds, in triads, in seventh-chord arpeggios, then each of the three again with a chromatic pick-up note in front.
Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶6Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶7Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶9Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶12Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶14Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶16
A conservatory student who transcribed the workshop DVDs notes that the basic scale exercises are meant for any scale, and the arpeggio exercises for the minor and augmented arpeggios as well as the major.
Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶179Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶182
A forum member calls the scale in thirds, in triads and in seventh chords basic Barry material, and points out that three-note triads tend to fall into triplets; grouping them in fours lets you feel them as straight eighths or sixteenths instead.
How other teachers explain it5 videos, 12 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris
Recalls Barry’s basic list for each scale: up and down, up in thirds, triads, chords, pivots, half-step rules, later the chromatic scale.
62 min, transcript On YouTube
- Jazz GUITAR Reflections on BARRY HARRIS
A guest demonstrates the drill: scale up to the seventh and down, a third from every note, then a triad from every note.
1.7 h, transcript On YouTube
- Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris Episode 4 Barry’s Chromatic Scale and Other Things
Episode 4: the scale exercises in thirds, triads and chords that Galliano’s notes transcribe.
17 min, transcript On YouTube
- Triads EP 70 TILF Barry Harris
Triads (episode 70).
12 min, transcript On YouTube
- We Don’t Know Triads EP 147 TILF Barry Harris
We don’t know triads (episode 147).
10 min, transcript 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.
Read further2 links
These open on the web.
Books and paid courses
- 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 with the scale-in-thirds and scale-in-triads exercises written out in notation.
- The Barry Harris Workshop Video (Part 1), Howard Rees / Jazz Workshop Productions: 4+ hours, 5 clinic segments + 102-112 page workbook (ABCs, scales on song forms, movable chords, rhythm section, vocalizing)
Barry himself (produced and transcribed by Howard Rees) — The Workshop Video opens with Barry’s ‘ABC’s’ of scale practice; the table of contents is free, the video and workbook are paid.