In plain words
In Barry’s creation story the chromatic scale is the universe: it gives the two whole-tone scales, they give the three diminished chords, and from the diminished the rest of the chords branch out. What matters about the diminished, he said, is not whole steps and half steps but where it comes from and what it gives us: families.
The last train to Monk: an interview30:48Howard Rees, Evolutionary Voicings, Part I: Barry Harris Keeps Things Movin’ ¶5Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶39
The family that comes up most in his recorded classes is the dominant one: lower each note of a diminished and the four dominants are brother and sister, a minor third apart, so their triads sound right over each other. But he used the word for keys too. C, E♭, F♯ and A majors are brothers and sisters, he told a student, so working in C you are practising four keys; the family is minor thirds.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished8:369:10Introducing the sixth diminished scale13:41Jazz theory, part 1: key families a minor third apart4:585:35The minor-third family0:00
The same holds for every chord moved out of one diminished. Raise each note in turn and you get four minor sixths (half-diminished chords); move neighbouring pairs and you get major sixths (minor sevenths); move opposite pairs and you get 7♭5 chords. Each set lies a minor third apart. Barry’s second workshop video lists them as families of dominant 7th, minor 6th (m7♭5), major 6th (m7) and dominant 7♭5 chords.
Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes3:20Eyes of the Masters: the first progression1:54Jazz theory, part 5: the sixth diminished scale1:15Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶54Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶20
In that video the families are put to work on V7 to Imaj7: outlining it with the families, combining sixth chords from two different families, playing minor 6, diminished, dominant 7th over a dominant (and the same with the 7♭5), then moving chords on the C7 and C7♭5 diminished scales. Minor six, diminished, dominant is the progression Barry called probably the first one to know.
Eyes of the Masters: the first progression0:02Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶20Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶42
Step by step
From one diminished chord, collect the families. From C diminished (C E♭ F♯ A), by Vera Marijt’s chart:
Dominants, one note lowered (B7, D7, F7, A♭7): roots- B
- D
- F
- A♭
Minor sixths, one note raised (F♯m6 or G♭m6, Am6, Cm6, E♭m6): roots- F♯
- A
- C
- E♭
Major sixths, two neighbours raised (A6, C6, E♭6, G♭6): roots- A
- C
- E♭
- G♭
Major sixths, two neighbours lowered (D6, F6, A♭6, B6): roots- D
- F
- A♭
- B
Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶54Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶55Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶56Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶57Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶58Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶59Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶60Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶61Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶62
Over a dominant, move from a minor sixth of its family through the diminished to the dominant: raise a note of the dominant’s diminished, put it back, then lower it.
G minor 6- G
- B♭
- D
- E
C♯ diminished- C♯
- E
- G
- B♭
C7- C
- E
- G
- B♭
Eyes of the Masters: the first progression0:02Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video Part 2: product page and 156-page workbook table of contents ¶20Vera Marijt (research coach Jarmo Hoogendijk), Barry Harris: Exploring the Diminished (MA research paper) ¶42
How he said to practise it
Practise in four keys a minor third apart, as Barry had a student do: what you work out in C, also in E♭, F♯ and A.
Jazz theory, part 1: key families a minor third apart4:585:35
Over a dominant, play a minor sixth from its family down through the diminished to the dominant, the progression Barry called probably the first to know on the piano.
Eyes of the Masters: the first progression0:02
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
You’ve got to know where it comes from. What is it composed of? What does it give us? It gives us families.
Everything is minor thirds. Minor thirds is the most important thing of all.
The family is minor thirds. C is the family [of E flat]... F sharp...
That’s why it sounds alright. Because family, family.
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it8 moments in 8 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
The last train to Monk: an interview
- 30:48
The diminished scale matters for where it comes from and what it gives: families.
Jazz theory, part 1: key families a minor third apart
- 4:58
C, E♭, F♯ and A majors are brothers and sisters; practising one is practising four keys.
The minor-third family
- 0:00
The family is minor thirds: C, E♭, F♯, A; then the sixth diminished scale.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished
- 8:36
Lowers each note of C diminished for B7, D7, F7, A♭7; play with your family first.
Introducing the sixth diminished scale
- 13:41
D7’s relatives F7, A♭7, B7: their triads sound right over D7 because they are family.
The dominant family and the sixth diminished scale
- 0:00
Short clip of the same lesson: D7’s relatives, then the sixth diminished scale.
Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes
- 3:20
Raising a note of the diminished instead of lowering it: minor sixths.
Eyes of the Masters: the first progression
- 0:02
First progression: a minor six down to the diminished, down to the dominant it comes from.
In writing5 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
The second workshop video’s workbook has ‘The Musical Universe’, then ‘Finding Common Chords Through the Diminished Chord’: families of dominant 7th, minor 6th (m7♭5), major 6th (m7) and 7♭5 chords; V7–Imaj7 outlined with them; sixth chords from two families; minor 6–diminished–dominant over a dominant; movement on the C7 and C7♭5 diminished scales; a reference chart.
Howard Rees’s chart puts the families round one diminished: lower its notes and you have the family of four dominants (V chords) below; raise them and you have a family of half-diminished II chords above, each a II to one of those dominants, all free to combine.
Howard Rees with Ernie Rideout, Diminished Dimensions ¶9Howard Rees with Ernie Rideout, Diminished Dimensions ¶10
Jazz School Online’s glossary defines both families the same way: four dominant 7ths, or four minor sixth chords, related to one diminished chord.
Jazz School Online (Howard Rees), Glossary of Terms ¶51Jazz School Online (Howard Rees), Glossary of Terms ¶53
A student’s notes from a Labyrinth of Limitations lesson: over D7 in G, the four minor sixths from D7’s diminished are A minor 6 (on the fifth), E♭ minor 6 (the tritone’s minor), F♯ minor 6 (on the leading tone) and C minor 6 (the iv minor). They connect by half steps; an étude harmonises a chromatic scale with them.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶2570jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶2571jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶2575jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶2581jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶2582
Rees quotes Barry’s creation story: the chromatic scale is the universe, the two whole-tone scales its first people, the three diminished chords their children, each carrying one tritone from each parent, and the rest comes from the diminished.
Howard Rees, Evolutionary Voicings, Part I: Barry Harris Keeps Things Movin’ ¶5
How other teachers explain it5 videos, 5 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Episode 14: The Extended Family (Barry Harris)
Episode 14: The Extended Family (from the title).
15 min On YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 64: Chromatic Movement Through the Family (Barry Harris Harmonic Concepts)
Chromatic movement through the family of minor sixths (from the title and a viewer’s notes).
18 min On YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 75: Learning Family from “Things I Learned from Barry Harris”
Learning family from Chris Parks’s series (from the title).
14 min On YouTube
- Little Labyrinth 18: Half Steps in the Family (response to TILF Barry Harris )
Half steps in the family (from the title).
13 min On YouTube
- Jazz GUITAR Reflections on BARRY HARRIS
Raising each note of a diminished for four minor-six ‘brothers and sisters’ over D7.
1.7 h, 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 further5 links
These open on the web.
Free to read
- researchcatalogue.net
— Vera Marijt’s thesis: Barry’s 2003 creation story and a chart of every chord family from C diminished.
- jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread)
— A student’s notes on moving through the family of minor sixths over D7, with an étude.
Books and paid courses
- Howard Rees with Ernie Rideout, ‘Diminished Dimensions’, Keyboard Magazine Apr 2004 (borrow from the diminished a half step above/below; lower a note -> family of dominants, raise -> family of m7b5)
student (Howard Rees) — Howard Rees’s chart of the dominant family below a diminished and the half-diminished family above it.
- 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) — Barry’s clinic sections ‘The Musical Universe’ and ‘Finding Common Chords Through the Diminished Chord’, with the four families (paid; contents free).
- Fiona Bicket, ‘Tutorial Part II: The Four Important Chord Types and Their Scales’ (20 pp): maj6, min6, dom7, 7b5 from the diminished scale; the four scales; the extended family; whole tone to diminished
student, sold on Barry’s official site — Fiona Bicket’s tutorial, sold on Barry’s site, includes the extended family (paid).