In plain words
The first major-scale rule: running down from the tonic, third, fifth or seventh, put one extra note between the sixth and the fifth. Barry showed it in B♭ major and said the major scale is a little different from the dominant, where the note goes between the tonic and the seventh. Six-and-five, he said, is what you generally do on a major scale, and you will do it a lot.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 20:374:40The 1998 workshop, part 335:55The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit0:34
The point is the sound and the rhythm. Barry said A♭ major played straight down from A♭ to A♭ does not sound like anything, but with E natural slipped in between F and E♭ it sounds right. With the extra note, the tonic, sixth, fifth and third take the beats. It is the same note that turns the major scale into Barry’s major sixth diminished scale.
The 1998 workshop, part 335:55Introducing the sixth diminished scale1:43jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris method (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶62
Barry did not stop at the tonic. He had the class run the scale down from each degree and work out where the added note goes each time. In A♭ major it sits between F and E♭ when you start on A♭, moves to between G and F when you start on B♭, and to between A♭ and G when you start on C. Where the spot is already a half step, he used a scale note instead.
Barry’s wider point: whatever you do can be done from any degree of the scale, with the added note in the same spot, and moving it changes what the phrase fits. Of one figure his class played, he said that from the first degree it was major, but from the second it was not; it could serve over C♯ minor 7 to F♯7, as on the bridge of ‘Cherokee’.
The 1998 workshop, part 125:01
Step by step
From the tonic, third or fifth, run the major scale down in eighths starting on the beat, with one extra note between the sixth and the fifth. The beats then carry 1, 6, 5 and 3, the notes of the major sixth chord. Barry’s list also includes the seventh; sources differ on how that start works (see below).
B♭ major from B♭- B♭
- A
- G
- G♭
- F
- E♭
- D
- C
- B♭
B♭ major from D- D
- C
- B♭
- A
- G
- G♭
- F
- E♭
- D
B♭ major from F- F
- E♭
- D
- C
- B♭
- A
- G
- G♭
- F
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 24:40The 1998 workshop, part 335:55jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris method (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶62
Then take the run from each degree in turn, moving the added note with the starting note: from the second degree it goes between 7 and 6, from the third between 1 and 7, and so on.
A♭ major from A♭: between F and E♭- A♭
- G
- F
- E
- E♭
- D♭
- C
- B♭
- A♭
From B♭: between G and F- B♭
- A♭
- G
- G♭
- F
- E♭
- D♭
- C
- B♭
Where the moved note would fall between two notes already a half step apart (A♭–G or D♭–C in A♭ major), use a scale note instead: Barry put B♭ between A♭ and G, and E♭ between D♭ and C.
From C: B♭ between A♭ and G- C
- B♭
- A♭
- B♭
- G
- F
- E♭
- D♭
- C
an added note, outside the scale
How he said to practise it
Learn the rule well enough that it is automatic, then play the major scale down from every degree, finding the spot for the added note each time.
The 1998 workshop, part 333:3135:23The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit0:34
In the same session Barry asked for plenty of practice starting on the ‘and’ as well as on the beat.
The 1998 workshop, part 337:00
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
A flat major scale like it is does not sound like anything. But if you... put that [half step] in between that [F] and that E flat, it sounds right.
You’re going to put a half step in between the six and five a lot of times.
The major scale is a little different... first rule is one half step between 6 and 5.
If you start on the A flat, you put the half step in between the six and the five, [F] and the E flat. If you start on the B flat, the half step is going to have to go in between the G and the [F].
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it11 moments in 6 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 2
- 4:40
First major rule in B♭ major: from tonic, third, fifth or seventh, one half step between six and five.
The 1998 workshop, part 3
- 35:55
A♭ major run straight down sounds empty; with E natural between F and E♭ it sounds right.
- 38:19
Starting on A♭, then B♭, then C, the added note moves: F–E♭, G–F, then A♭–G with B♭.
- 33:31
Asks the class to run the scale down from each degree.
- 34:49
Where A♭ major already has half steps (A♭–G, D♭–C), the filler notes are B♭ and E♭.
- 30:25
Asks for a run from the major seventh down to the fifth with the half step between six and five.
- 35:23
Repeats that the rules matter more than the scale, then gives six-and-five as one of them.
The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit
- 0:34
Gives six-and-five as the general habit on a major scale and on other scales.
The 5-4-3-2-1 phrase
- 0:36
In the ‘54321 phrase’ lesson: running the scale down, put the half step between six and five.
The 1998 workshop, part 1
- 25:01
Any figure can start on any degree, note in the same spot; from the second it suits C♯ minor 7–F♯7.
Introducing the sixth diminished scale
- 1:43
Defines his sixth diminished scale: a major scale with a note between the fifth and sixth.
From the lessons1 lesson, 2 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
Running a major scale down: the half step between six and five
- Idea
The basic rule: when you run a major scale down, you generally put a half step between the sixth and the fifth. Barry said the A-flat major scale played straight down doesn’t sound like anything, but adding E natural between F and E-flat makes it sound right. In his rules for the major scale this is the first rule whenever you start on the tonic, third, fifth or seventh (he demonstrated it in B-flat major). He applied the same six-and-five idea to other scales, such as the harmonic minor.
The 1998 workshop, part 335:55Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 24:40The 1998 workshop, part 2: breaking the habit0:34The 5-4-3-2-1 phrase0:36
- Exercise
Practise the descending scale from every degree, not only from the tonic, and work out where the extra half step belongs each time. In A-flat major: starting on A-flat it falls between F and E-flat (six and five); starting on B-flat it moves to between G and F; starting on the next degree it goes between A-flat and G. Barry also ran it from the major seventh down to the fifth. Notice that the scale already has its own half steps, A-flat to G and D-flat to C.
In writing3 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
Alan Kingstone’s summary of the full major set mirrors the dominant rules with 6–5 in place of 1–♭7: from 1, 3, 5 or 7, one added note (6–5) or three (3–2, 2–1, 6–5); from 2, 4 or 6, none or two (2–1 and 6–5).
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), How do you use Barry Harris’s Dom. 7th dim and Dom 7th b5 scales? ¶198jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), How do you use Barry Harris’s Dom. 7th dim and Dom 7th b5 scales? ¶199
A reader of the Workshop Video workbook reports the same second rule for 2, 4 and 6 (added notes between 2–1 and 6–5), and that the workbook gives the minor-scale rules as the major ones apart from the flat third.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), The Barry Harris Half-Step Practice Model (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶4jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), The Barry Harris Half-Step Practice Model (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶8
Going up from C with G♯/A♭ added, C, E, G and A fall on the strong beats and the in-between notes on the ‘and’s. Those in-between notes form a diminished chord, so harmonising the scale in thirds alternates C6 and diminished chords.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris method (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶61jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris method (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶62jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris method (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶72
How other teachers explain it7 videos, 7 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- TILF Barry Harris Episode 25 Major Scale Half Step Rules
Episode 25: the major scale half-step rules.
13 min, transcript On YouTube
- Barry Harris Major Half Step Rules
17 min On YouTube
- Jazz Mandolin Instruction Barry Harris Lesson Major Scale Half Step Rules Pete Martin
Mandolin lesson on the major scale half-step rules.
13 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris - Major scale rules for improvisation
14 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Scale Rules - Major (simple version)
A simple version of the major scale rules.
5 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Method: Extra-Note Rules on Major/Combinations ()
Extra-note rules on the major scale and combinations.
9 min On YouTube
- STOP Playing Boring SCALES! Do This Instead! Barry Harris Major Scale Rules
15 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.
Where the accounts differ1 point
Which starting notes take the six-five note? Barry grouped the seventh with the tonic, third and fifth, as does Kingstone’s summary. Galliano’s notes, built on Chris Parks’s videos, treat the sixth like a chord tone and the seventh like 2 and 4; he calls this his own reading and warns that sources disagree, and another forum player says the seventh belongs off the beat in major. One more adds that putting the note in at once from the seventh puts non-chord tones on the beats, and that Barry and Roni Ben-Hur usually added it only in the second octave.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 24:40jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), How do you use Barry Harris’s Dom. 7th dim and Dom 7th b5 scales? ¶198Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶90Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶93Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶104jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶1432jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), David Baker Bebop Scales — Barry Harris half-steps ¶22jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), David Baker Bebop Scales — Barry Harris half-steps ¶24jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), David Baker Bebop Scales — Barry Harris half-steps ¶29
Read further6 links
These open on the web.
Free to read
- jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), David Baker Bebop Scales — Barry Harris half-steps
— Thread on the major scale case: Barry’s 1-3-5-7 grouping against Baker’s 1-3-5-6, and what happens starting on the seventh.
- YouTube
— Chris Parks’s free videos, including an episode on the major scale half-step rules.
- ejazzlines.com
— Roni Ben-Hur’s studies drill the major scale rules in all twelve keys (paywalled).
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 table of added notes for major scales by starting degree, with a warning about how sources treat the sixth and seventh.
- Paul Berliner, Thinking in Jazz (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994): section ‘The Harris Half-Step Practice Model’ with dominant/major/minor rules
scholar (ethnography; quoted in Rees Workshop booklet) — Berliner’s Thinking in Jazz sets out the major rules within the Harris half-step practice model (library or paywalled).
- 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 and workbook with ‘The Major Scale Half-Step Rules’ (paywalled; contents list free).