In plain words
In Barry’s classes a called scale goes from the tonic to the seventh and stops there; you never run it tonic to tonic. A major scale stops on its major seventh, a dominant seventh scale on its flat seventh. ‘Up’ means climb from the tonic to the seventh. ‘Down’ means start on the seventh and come down. ‘Up and down’ means climb to the seventh and come straight back down.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 10:0014:26The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit27:15
The scales are played in eighth notes, not quarter notes. Those who wrote the system down or learned it in class (Howard Rees, Frédéric Galliano, Chris Parks, students on guitar forums) treat each call as a length too: ‘up’ or ‘down’ fills one bar, ‘up and down’ fills two. So one call per chord covers the chord for as long as it lasts.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 10:37My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris19:22Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶134jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶20jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶21Howard Rees, Chord Explorations ¶9
Why stop at the seventh? Howard Rees, who produced Barry’s workshop videos, says that leaving out the octave and doubling nothing is what keeps you in time; going to the octave turns the time around. Tom Cleary, who teaches Barry’s approach, gives a second reason: ending on the seventh suggests the sound of a seventh chord, where ending on the root does not.
Getting Started with Scales for Improv1:48Howard Rees, Chord Explorations ¶9Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Root systems ¶3
A call can also name where the scale lands. ‘B♭ major up and down to the third of G’ comes back down but ends on the third of the next chord instead of on the tonic. Calls like this let one scale run straight into the next, and Barry strings them together through whole tunes, such as the B♭ blues and Indiana.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 11:11Practising the blues with the horns, part 24:31Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 10:01Getting Started with Scales for Improv5:15
Step by step
‘Up’: start on the tonic and climb to the seventh. Stop there; do not play the octave.
B♭7 up- B♭
- C
- D
- E♭
- F
- G
- A♭
B♭ major up- B♭
- C
- D
- E♭
- F
- G
- A
Practising the blues with the horns, part 10:00
‘Down’: start on the seventh and come down the scale to the tonic.
B♭7 down- A♭
- G
- F
- E♭
- D
- C
- B♭
Practising the blues with the horns, part 10:00
‘Up and down’: climb from the tonic to the seventh, turn round and come back down to the tonic, without touching the octave.
B♭ major up and down- B♭
- C
- D
- E♭
- F
- G
- A
- G
- F
- E♭
- D
- C
- B♭
Practising the blues with the horns, part 10:00Getting Started with Scales for Improv1:48
‘… to the third of’ another chord: come down as usual, but finish on the third of the next chord instead of the tonic. For the I to VI7 move this is the note a half step above the tonic.
B♭ major up and down to the third of G- B♭
- C
- D
- E♭
- F
- G
- A
- G
- F
- E♭
- D
- C
- B
Practising the blues with the horns, part 11:11Getting Started with Scales for Improv5:15Howard Rees, Part 1: Scales & Chords / Part 2: Scale Rules ¶6
an added note, outside the scale
How he said to practise it
Play each call in time, in eighth notes, straight after a count-off. Barry opened one class with B♭ major up and down, reminded the players that jazz is played in eighth notes, not quarter notes, then called the scale just up.
Notice where a ‘down’ starts. Barry showed that C7 down to the third of A comes out right when it starts on the beat; started on the ‘and’, it needs a triplet on the F and G to come out right.
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
If I say up, you just go up. If I say down, you just go down from the seventh.
If I say up and down, that means up and down. You never go from tonic to tonic. You go from tonic to major seventh.
If we were gonna play it up and down... you would only go to the seventh note.
If you start on the beat, you come right down... it goes perfect.
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.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 1
- 0:00
Sets the rule: tonic to seventh, never tonic to tonic; defines up, down, and up and down.
- 0:37
Asks for eighth notes, not quarter notes, then has the class play the scale just up.
- 14:26
Calls C major up and down and reminds them: not tonic to tonic, only to the seventh.
- 1:11
Calls B♭ major up and down to the third of G.
The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit
- 27:15
Halts the class: played up and down, a scale only goes to the seventh note.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 2
- 4:31
The whole B♭ blues as scale calls: up, up and down, and B♭ major to the third of G.
Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 1
- 0:01
Calls the last 16 bars of Indiana in A♭ as up, down and ‘down to the third of’ scales.
Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 2
- 0:14
More Indiana calls: E♭7 up and down, D♭ major up, G♭7 up.
Confirmation
- 11:02
C7 down to the third of A: starting on the beat comes out right, off the beat needs a triplet.
The 1998 workshop, part 1
- 41:45
Asks for major scales up and down, then up again.
Major scales on the bridge of Cherokee
- 2:21
Cherokee bridge drill: the student plays C7 starting on the seventh, straight after G major.
From the lessons1 lesson, 2 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
How Barry calls a scale
- Exercise
When Barry calls a scale, never play it from the tonic to the tonic an octave up. A major scale runs from the tonic up to the major seventh; a dominant seventh scale runs from the tonic up to its (flat) seventh. ‘Up’ means ascend only. ‘Down’ means start on the seventh and descend. ‘Up and down’ means go from the tonic up to the seventh and back down. Try his drill: B-flat major scale, up and down.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 10:00
- Idea
Barry said everything he taught was based on logic, which is why he felt no music teacher could face him down. He dismissed the common habit of describing scales as half-step/whole-step patterns, and provocatively claimed that the major scale handed down to us is wrong: it has eight degrees, he said, and should have nine.
In writing5 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
Lists the first exercises as two lengths of the same idea: seventh scales up to the seventh and back down make a two-bar phrase, seventh scales down from the seventh make a one-bar phrase.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶20jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶21
Turns the calls into a rule for mapping changes: a chord lasting one bar gets its scale in eighth notes from the root up to the seventh; a chord lasting two bars gets that climb and the way back down to the root.
Defines ‘up and down’ as a scale played from its tonic to its seventh and back to the tonic, and a two-bar phrase as a phrase or scale that finishes inside two bars.
Jazz School Online (Howard Rees), Glossary of Terms ¶7Jazz School Online (Howard Rees), Glossary of Terms ¶3
Adds a second form of each scale: the major scale up and down to its own flat second, which is the third of VI7 (F major landing on the third of D7), and the C dominant scale up and down to the third of A7, for Em7♭5 to A7.
Howard Rees, Part 1: Scales & Chords / Part 2: Scale Rules ¶6Howard Rees, Part 1: Scales & Chords / Part 2: Scale Rules ¶9
Outlines ii–V progressions where each chord lasts a bar by running each scale in both directions, either ‘7 up and down’ or ‘7 down and up’.
How other teachers explain it5 videos
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Getting Started with Scales for Improv
Barry’s rule explained: no octave, seventh then straight back down to stay in time; then major up and down to the third of VI7.
7 min, transcript On YouTube
- My Chat With Chris Parks From Things I Learned From Barry Harris
Barry’s scale outlines: ‘up’ meant one measure, ‘up and down’ two, so the call also gives the length.
62 min, transcript On YouTube
- Jazz GUITAR Reflections on BARRY HARRIS
A conversation about Barry’s ideas; one guest shows practising the D7 scale up to the seventh and back down.
1.7 h, transcript On YouTube
- Jazz Mandolin Instruction Barry Harris Lesson Dominant Scale Pete Martin
Mandolin lesson on Barry’s dominant scale.
16 min On YouTube
- Jazz Mandolin Instruction Barry Harris Lesson Major Scale - Pete Martin
Mandolin lesson on Barry’s major scale.
12 min On YouTube
Read further3 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 that state the one-bar and two-bar scale rules and apply them to whole tunes.
- jazzguitar.be Official Barry Harris thread, post #21 (joe2758, 14 Oct 2016): attendee-style outline of the ‘ABCs’ on Rees DVD 1 (important minor ignored for soloing; scale up and down tonic-to-7th; thirds, thirds with half step below, triads, triads with pickup, 4-note chords, chords with pickup; 3 important arpeggios in all inversions; pivoting)
player summarising Barry’s DVD — Free forum outline of the ‘ABCs’ from Barry’s first workshop DVD, starting with scales tonic to seventh, up and down.
- 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) — Barry’s own workshop video and workbook (paid), where these calls are used throughout.