The 7th diminished and 7th flat 5 diminished scalesThe four scales of chords

Take a chord and practise moving its notes in every possible way: move the top and the bottom, or only the left hand. Barry says that when he hits a chord he wants to know how to move everything, and he relates this to knowing the diminished around it. Sometimes simply leaving one note where it is sounds pretty.

Chording as a scale0:451:203:48Chords become scales3:48

Barry demonstrated simply going up one of these scales on E-flat in chords and letting his ear tell him where to go. For him a chord becomes a scale: chording, he says, has to be learned as scales, and that is the only way to real creativity. On F6, for example, he notes that he has the C and also the D-flat to work with.

Chording as a scale5:259:00Chords become scales5:188:59

Everybody should know these scales, Barry says, in tenths as well, and you can practise them in all kinds of ways, even as stride.

Chording as a scale8:16Chords become scales8:16

A pianist may play decent chords yet not know that each chord belongs to a scale of chords. Once you know which scale a chord belongs to, Barry says, you know where you can move it, and that is when it becomes fun.

Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes6:537:27

Barry said that even good guitar players do not know the scale of chords unless they have been in his class, and that he never heard any of them use the dominant seventh with a flat five, a chord he clearly loves. There are four scales of chords you should know; once you learn them your instrument becomes connected, and you move horizontally through a scale of chords instead of going chord to chord vertically. He said a guitar player is supposed to know everything, and that the instrument is, in his view, perfect.

Believe: a talk to musicians27:4451:3052:3856:03

Start from C6 (C, E, G, A). Barry points out that its notes come from two of the three diminished seventh chords: E and G belong to one, C and A to another. The third diminished chord (D, F, A-flat, B) has no notes in C6, so you add it, and C6 plus that diminished chord is the scale: C D E F G A-flat A B. In other words, a major scale with an extra note between the fifth and the sixth.

Introducing the sixth diminished scale1:081:43

The same method works from other chords. Barry notes that the dominant seventh, minor sixth, major sixth and seventh-flat-five chords all come from two of the diminished chords, then asks his secret question: what do you do with the third diminished, none of whose notes are in those chords? Combine it with them. With B7 the third diminished is C-sharp diminished; take the next inversion and you have B major sixth with that diminished, which together make the B major sixth diminished scale.

Jazz theory, part 5: the sixth diminished scale4:265:035:387:03

Every major sixth chord is also a minor seventh chord: C major 6 has the same notes as A minor 7. Barry remembered reading this in his first theory book without seeing why it mattered; later he understood its importance. When you see a minor seventh chord you should know its major sixth, because the major sixth is what makes the sixth diminished scale.

Jazz theory, part 6: every major sixth is a minor seventh0:32Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes6:186:53

What the scale gives you, according to Barry: it contains not only the dominant of the major key but also the dominant of the relative minor. It also gives you a scale of chords, which you should know. As he builds it he names the chords in turn: six, diminished, six, diminished.

Introducing the sixth diminished scale2:16Practising the sixth diminished scales0:03