In plain words
Barry built chords straight out of the scale. Start on any degree and skip a note, skip a note, skip a note: that is a chord. He disliked naming the chords on a scale because the names confuse people, and asked his players to imagine playing a C minor 7 without even knowing what it was called. So each degree of the scale has its own chord.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 20:130:46Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished4:37
He then had students find which degrees of the major scale carry each type. Major sevenths sit on the 1 and the 4, so a major 7 chord belongs to two keys. Minor sevenths sit on the 2, the 3 and the 6, so a minor 7 belongs to three: D minor 7 is the 2 of C, the 3 of B♭ and the 6 of F. A dominant 7 and a minor 7 flat 5 each belong to one key only.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished4:375:105:43The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are1:104:39
The counts are practical. A chord with only one home tells you the scale at once: with B minor 7 flat 5 in the left hand you know you are in C major, so you play the C major scale until you change to the E7 it goes to. A minor 7 leaves three possibilities, so you have to work out which key you are in. Barry said every pianist should know this.
The degree also tells you what the chord is doing. Something he heard from Monk showed Barry that the chord on the third of a key can be a one chord: you might think of it as A minor 7, but it is working as the one.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished4:04Jazz theory, part 3, with score3:52
Step by step
Build a chord on every degree of the major scale by taking every other note: the degree, then three more notes a third apart.
1 of C- C
- E
- G
- B
2 of C- D
- F
- A
- C
3 of C- E
- G
- B
- D
4 of C- F
- A
- C
- E
5 of C- G
- B
- D
- F
6 of C- A
- C
- E
- G
7 of C- B
- D
- F
- A
Practising the blues with the horns, part 20:46Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished4:37
Sort them by type: major 7 on the 1 and the 4; minor 7 on the 2, 3 and 6; dominant 7 on the 5; minor 7 flat 5 on the 7.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished5:10The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are4:39Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶91
Count the keys: a major 7 is in two keys, a minor 7 in three, a dominant 7 in one, a minor 7 flat 5 in one. For a minor 7, name all three: it is the 2 of one key, the 3 of another and the 6 of a third.
D minor 7 as the 2 of C- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- A
- B
D minor 7 as the 3 of B♭- B♭
- C
- D
- E♭
- F
- G
- A
D minor 7 as the 6 of F- F
- G
- A
- B♭
- C
- D
- E
The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are1:104:39Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished5:43
When you meet a minor 7 flat 5 (or a dominant 7), it points to one key only: play that key’s scale.
B minor 7♭5- B
- D
- F
- A
so: C major scale- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- A
- B
How he said to practise it
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
A minor seventh is in three keys, a major 7th is in two keys, a dominant 7th is in one key, a minor 7 flat 5 is in one key.
We got it ... on the two chord, on the three chord, on the six chord. So that means it’s on the two of one scale, the three of one scale, and the six of one scale.
You should know that a minor 7th is in three keys. Figure out what key you [are] in.
I even hate to call the chords by name on the scale, you know, because then you get confused... as if you didn’t know any chord... so you’d play a C-7 and you wouldn’t even know what it was.
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it11 moments in 4 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are
- 4:39
The counts: minor 7 in three keys, major 7 in two, dominant 7 and minor 7♭5 in one.
- 0:34
Stops a student and asks the class how many keys each chord type is in.
- 1:10
D minor 7 is not in G, which needs F♯; it belongs to C, B♭ and F.
- 5:14
B minor 7♭5 in the left hand means C major: play that scale, then change for E7.
- 8:18
Every pianist should know a minor 7 is in three keys and work out which one applies.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished
- 4:37
‘A chord on each degree’: asks where in C major a major 7 is found (the 1 and 4).
- 5:10
Minor 7 sits on the 2, 3 and 6, so each one belongs to three scales.
- 5:43
The demonstrated minor 7 is the 2 of C, the 3 of B♭ and the 6 of F.
- 4:04
Monk showed him the chord on the third can be a one chord, though it looks like A minor 7.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 2
- 0:46
A chord is just the scale taken skipping notes; he would rather not name the chords on a scale.
Jazz theory, part 3, with score
- 4:26
Another captioning of the same talk: a chord on each degree and the minor 7 in three scales.
From the lessons3 lessons, 8 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
Each chord takes the scale it comes from
- Idea
Barry warned about a common mistake on a blues in F: going from the B-flat chord back to F, many players hit a B natural. You can’t play that B natural against an F major scale, because each chord takes the scale it comes from. Work out which key each chord belongs to and use that scale’s notes.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished4:044:37
- Idea
There is a chord on every degree of the major scale. A major 7 chord turns up on degrees one and four, so it belongs to two keys. A minor 7 turns up on degrees two, three and six, so it belongs to three: D minor 7 is the two of C, the three of B-flat and the six of F, and the scale you play over it depends on which of those keys you are in. A dominant 7 belongs to only one key, and so does a minor 7 flat 5. Barry said every pianist should know these counts and then work out which key they are actually in.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished5:10The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are1:104:398:18
- Exercise
Because a minor 7 flat 5 belongs to one key only, it tells you the scale straight away. Barry’s example: with B minor 7 flat 5 in the left hand you are in C major, so play the C major scale, then change to the E7 that the chord moves to.
The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are4:39
Know where a chord comes from
- Idea
Barry asks on which degrees of a major scale each kind of seventh chord is found. Major sevenths are on the 1 and the 4; minor sevenths on the 2, the 3 and the 6. So any minor seventh chord belongs to three keys: the one he demonstrates is the 3 of B-flat, and it is also the 2 of one key and the 6 of another (D minor seven, for example, is the 2 of C, the 3 of B-flat and the 6 of F).
- Idea
All the Things You Are: know which key each chord is in
- Idea
In All the Things You Are, D flat major goes to D flat minor and then to C minor. A student put a D natural over that C minor and Barry said it was wrong: this C minor 7 belongs to A flat major, so you play the A flat major scale, with D flat in it. He only allows a D natural there if you are thinking of it as the flat five of A flat, and then it has to resolve.
- Idea
Barry told of a very good pianist in Italy who played this tune as if its C minor 7 were the C minor 7 of B flat. You can’t assume every C minor 7 is the same; it depends on the key it belongs to.
The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are7:10
- Idea
When Barry recorded All the Things You Are, bassist George Duvivier told him how glad he was that Barry played the half-diminished chord at a spot where most people play a plain minor seventh, which Duvivier considered wrong. Barry thinks of that chord as minor seventh flat five because that is logical to him. His broader point: these songs hold pretty, correct chords that most players simply play wrong.
In writing3 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
The same counts worked out with C as the root: C major 7 is the 1 of C or the 4 of G; C minor 7 is the 2 of B♭, the 3 of A♭ or the 6 of E♭; C7 is the 5 of F; C minor 7 flat 5 is the 7 of D♭.
Rees’s worksheet uses one scale for several chords: the F major scale, with chords on its 1, 3 and 6, covers F major 7, A minor 7 (marked as standing for the I) and D minor 7; the C dominant 7th scale holds C7, E minor 7 flat 5 on its 3rd and G minor 7 on its 5th.
Howard Rees, Part 1: Scales & Chords / Part 2: Scale Rules ¶4Howard Rees, Part 1: Scales & Chords / Part 2: Scale Rules ¶5Howard Rees, Part 1: Scales & Chords / Part 2: Scale Rules ¶7Howard Rees, Part 1: Scales & Chords / Part 2: Scale Rules ¶8Howard Rees, Part 1: Scales & Chords / Part 2: Scale Rules ¶9
Rees recalls realising that a minor 7 could be the chord on the 5th of a dominant 7th scale; it showed him that chords sit at fixed places on scales, so he needed no new scale for each chord. In some progressions he hears a minor 7 as the chord on the 3rd of a major scale.
Howard Rees, Chord Explorations ¶7Howard Rees, Chord Explorations ¶38
How other teachers explain it4 videos, 1 series episode
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Explaining The Barry Harris Harmonic Method For Classical Pianists Lesson 2 The Minor 7th Chord
Lesson 2 of his Barry Harris method for classical pianists: the minor 7th chord.
9 min On YouTube
- TILF Barry Harris Episode 26 Chords in Major Scale Idea
Episode 26: chords in the major scale.
10 min, transcript On YouTube
- Jazz Harmony According to Barry Harris. Part 1 [SUBTITLES]
Shows root-third-seventh voicings built on every degree of the C major scale.
46 min, transcript On YouTube
- Barry Harris Method for Jazz Guitarists: Diatonic Chord progressions
Diatonic chord progressions for guitar in the Barry Harris method.
12 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.
Read further1 link
These open on the web.
Books and paid courses
- Howard Rees, ‘Chord Explorations’, Keyboard Magazine Mar 2001 (chords come from dominant scales; practise the 12 keys through the 3 dominant families)
student (Howard Rees) — Free article by Howard Rees on chords coming from specific points on scales, including the minor 7 on more than one scale.