In plain words
In Back Home Again in Indiana, where the pianist plays E♭ minor 7 to A♭7, Bird played a whole D7 phrase, the tritone of A♭7, right against it. Barry played it for the class, said that was the way Bird did it, called it really effective, and said it should be written out.
Bird’s D7 line on Indiana0:341:11Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You0:00
So horn players should work on the tritone forms as well as the written changes: A♭7 into D7, or D7 straight against the E♭ minor to A♭7. Barry also played A7 in place of E♭7 and tried running it on into D7. A pianist can play the chord and hear how far outside the line is; a horn player has to practise it without that help. He complained that he does not hear horn players play tritones on their records.
Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You1:105:50Bird’s D7 line on Indiana2:543:304:375:13
On Embraceable You, while the pianist plays G minor 7 to C7, Barry turned the C7 into F♯7, and he showed Bird doing the same: on the tritone of C, Bird played F♯7’s tonic, fifth and ninth. Barry would not call it a ninth, only a second. He then had a trumpet player take the tonic of C7 and climb chromatically from its second to its third, repeat that on F♯7, and on reaching F start on the second rather than the tonic.
Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You2:334:014:40Bird’s tritone line on Embraceable You0:000:32
Bird’s tunes were also material for building phrases with a band. On Confirmation Barry had the players fit a quick sixteenth-note triplet into a C7 phrase that lands on F, and play the chord on the seventh of F7 from a half step below before coming down chromatically to B♭. The bass player had to learn the phrases too, and a phrase that would jump register was to be pivoted up an octave instead.
Step by step
Indiana: where the pianist plays E♭ minor 7 to A♭7, play a D7 line, the tritone of A♭7, against it.
Bird’s D7 line on Indiana0:34Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You0:001:10
Barry’s experiment in chaining tritones: for E♭7 play A7, its tritone, then try running the A7 on into D7, the tritone of A♭7.
Bird’s D7 line on Indiana2:54
Embraceable You: where the pianist plays G minor 7 to C7, play F♯7. Bird used its tonic, fifth and second (the ninth).
F♯7: tonic, fifth, second- F♯
- C♯
- G♯
Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You2:33Bird’s tritone line on Embraceable You0:000:32
Barry’s trumpet drill: on C7, the tonic, then the second rising chromatically to the third. Do the same on F♯7, its tritone. Then, arriving at F, hit the second (G) instead of the tonic.
On C7- C
- D
- D♯
- E
Same on F♯7- F♯
- G♯
- A
- A♯
Confirmation, F7 to B♭7: play the chord on the seventh of F7 starting from a half step below its first note, beginning on the ‘and’ of one with a triplet; come down chromatically to B♭, then play the fifth, sixth and seventh of B♭7.
Chord on the seventh of F7, from D- D
- E♭
- G
- B♭
- D
Then 5, 6, ♭7 of B♭7- F
- G
- A♭
an added note, outside the scale
How he said to practise it
Practise each dominant into its tritone (A♭7 into D7, not only E♭7 into A♭7), and practise the tritone into the tonic as if it were the main chord: E7 into E♭ major as well as B♭7 into E♭ major.
Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You1:10Bird’s D7 line on Indiana5:13
Write out Bird’s phrases, as Barry wanted done with the Indiana line, and learn them. In a band class everyone, the bass player included, should learn the phrases.
Build the phrase in pieces over the tune, then play it with the band in time, and add a pickup or a triplet where the rhythm needs it.
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
He played a whole D-seven against E-flat minor to A-flat seven.
While some of the horn players are... practicing E flat minor 7 into A flat 7, they should be practicing A flat 7 into D7.
[Tritone] notes are unbelievable notes.
I don’t like to call it 9th, I call it 2nd.
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it12 moments in 5 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Bird’s D7 line on Indiana
Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You
- 0:00
Indiana again: Bird played the whole tritone while the piano played E♭ minor to A♭7.
- 1:10
Horn players should practise A♭7 into D7, or D7 right against the ii–V.
- 2:33
Embraceable You: plays G minor 7 to C7 but turns the C7 into F♯7.
- 4:01
Trumpet drill: tonic, then second up chromatically to the third, on C7 and F♯7; land on G.
Bird’s tritone line on Embraceable You
- 0:00
Bird on Embraceable You: F♯7 for C, tonic, fifth and ninth, which Barry calls a second.
Confirmation
Bird Feathers
- 0:36
Bird Feathers: think of the rhythm of Bird’s lines rather than the notes, and sing it.
From the lessons2 lessons, 6 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
The soloist plays the V into its tritone
- Idea
A guitarist who spoke at Barry’s funeral recalled a Barry workshop: after showing how to start singing a tune from any point in the bar, Barry turned to improvisation and told the room there is no such thing as a ii-V. The pianist plays the ii-V for colour, but the horn player plays the V, the dominant, into its tritone.
Barry Harris Funeral56:05The Great Pianist Barry Harris’ Funeral At Abyssinian Baptist Church In Harlem42:16
- Idea
Barry showed a spot in Back Home Again in Indiana where, while the pianist plays E-flat minor 7 to A-flat 7, Charlie Parker (Bird) played a phrase built entirely on the tritone: a whole D7 line against the E-flat minor to A-flat 7. Barry called it really effective and said it should be written out.
Bird’s D7 line on Indiana0:341:11Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You0:00
- Exercise
Practise the tritone versions, not only the written ones. Barry said horn players who only practise E-flat 7 into A-flat 7 should also practise A-flat 7 into D7, or D7 played right against the pianist’s E-flat minor to A-flat 7. He demonstrated a phrase running E-flat 7 into A7; over E-flat 7 he played A7, then tried running that A7 on into D7. He was frustrated that horn players on records so seldom play tritones.
Tritone lines on Indiana and Embraceable You0:001:105:50Bird’s D7 line on Indiana2:54
- Exercise
While the pianist plays his ii-V, G minor to C7, the soloist turns the C7 into F-sharp 7. Barry’s exercise for a trumpet player: play the tonic of C, then go from the second chromatically up to the third; do the same thing on F-sharp 7; then, arriving at F, hit the second instead of the tonic. He called the tritone notes unbelievable notes.
Confirmation: two phrases from Barry’s class
- Exercise
Over the C7, use the fifth and sixth (G and A) with the fourth in a quick sixteenth-note triplet, then go to E (the third of C) and the tonic C, then come down a triad starting from D. The last note lands on F major. Barry then added a pickup to the phrase, the D concert just before it, and liked it better that way.
- Exercise
In writing5 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
Tom Cleary hears Parker using Barry’s ‘seven down to the third’ scale (the E♭7 scale from its seventh down to E, the third of C, over G half-diminished to C7) on the C7♭9 of bar 10 in both his 1952 What Is This Thing Called Love and his 1953 Hot House: once over two bars, once in fast sixteenths.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), What is this scale called: Charlie Parker ¶4Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), What is this scale called: Charlie Parker ¶6Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), What is this scale called: Charlie Parker ¶7
Cleary also finds Barry using the same scale on Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby (At the Jazz Workshop) for G half-diminished to C7♭9, giving the figure a different rhythmic placement each time, as Parker did.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), What is this scale called: Charlie Parker ¶13
Brad Mehldau recalls a Barry master class where Barry chided everyone for endless chains of eighth notes: Bird’s solos mix triplets among the eighths, and without them, Barry held, the playing is not really bop.
Barry’s Workshop Video Part Two sets an excerpt of Scrapple from the Apple in its improvisation chapter, after ‘Feel the shape of the melody’ and before phrase building on rhythm changes, and also has turnbacks using the tritone and Barry’s own solo on Embraceable You.
Galliano’s notes, taken from Chris Parks’s videos, list two ‘Charlie Parker ideas’: a scale in thirds with a triplet on the top note, and an upper structure with a chromatic appoggiatura carried through the whole scale.
Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶23Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶25Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶28
How other teachers explain it2 videos, 7 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Jazz Mandolin Instruction Barry Harris Phrases From My Favorite Players Pete Martin
Mandolin lesson #47: phrases from favourite players.
7 min On YouTube
- Confirmation - Bop Scales and Barry Harris Ideas
Confirmation with bop scales and Barry Harris ideas.
34 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 further3 links
These open on the web.
Free to read
- Tom Cleary, BirdFeed blog: ‘Charlie Parker, Barry Harris and the minor ii-V’ (Eb7 up and down to the 3rd of C over Gm7b5-C7)
other teacher (Univ. of Vermont) — Free: Parker’s solos read through Barry’s ‘seven down to the third’ scale, with transcriptions.
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 a short section of Charlie Parker ideas in Barry’s method, in notation.
- 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) — Scrapple from the Apple excerpt, tritone turnbacks and Barry’s Embraceable You solo (paywalled; contents free).