Chris Parks · Stage 3: Where chords come from
We don’t know triads
Using the A minor 6 diminished scale, Chris shows how much more there is to triads: run them up and down the scale, repeat the middle note as Bird did, add a half step below the bottom, top or middle note, and start them on the ‘and’. Then he disguises them inside solos, mixed with pivots and half-step rules.
Step by step
- 0:36The A minor 6 diminished scale is A minor 6 (A, C, E, F sharp) plus B diminished (B, D, F, A flat).
- 1:11Triads are play a note, skip a note, play a note; run them up and down the scale.
- 1:47Bird sometimes repeated the middle note, making a four-note shape; practise that up and down.
- 2:24Start on the first note, go a half step below it and back, then come up the triad.
- 3:22Do the same on the top note, and on the way down on the bottom note.
- 4:03Put the half step below on the middle note.
- 4:46Put it on two notes: the first and top, or the first and middle.
- 5:19Start each version on the ‘and’ instead of on the beat.
- 7:49Disguise them in a solo: mix one with a pivot or a half-step rule, or use one to start or end a solo.
Chords and notes in this video
Tap a time to jump to it in the video.
- A
- C
- E
- F#
- B
- D
- F
- A♭
Barry’s own words on this
In the course
Triads up and down the scaleFeel the ‘and’Nap backThe minor 6 diminished scaleUse pieces with taste; disguise themThere is no ‘having it together’
Transcript
- 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 147 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would talk about pretty ways to practice triads. And maybe we can use Barry’s A minor 6 diminished scale to just show a couple of examples. So for those of you that are new to Bear Harris’ thing, he has four scales of chords that he uses generally for chording. But one in particular that I like to use also for soloing, which is the minor 6 diminished.
- 0:36And it consists of these two things. It consists of the four notes of A minor 6, A, C, E, F sharp. and also the four notes of B diminished. B, D, F, A flat. So now if you put those four notes of the A minor 6 and the four notes of the B diminished together, you’re going to get this beautiful eight note scale. Fantastic. So now if we take the concept of a triad, which is basically measured by play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note.
- 1:11So that’s play a note, skip a note, play a note, skip a note, play a note. First one’s going to be an A minor. Next one is going to be a B diminished. Next one, an A minor, but from the third. So what’s weird is you have this, even though that’s supposed to be a third, it’s actually just a second. You have the third, the fifth, and since we’re skipping the flat six, you have the major six, and so on. So you keep going up the, sorry. So those are all the triads on A minor, six diminished. Now, obviously those are nice to practice them up.
- 1:47Really pretty. And then same thing down. Those are really pretty. Another way to practice them is sometimes Bird used to play a phrase where he would repeat the middle note. note so now you have instead of three notes you have a four note thing and now you also have repeating the middle note so you have which are really pretty also same thing coming down sorry
- 2:24but what we started looking at in the open studio class that I’m teaching or one of them is all these different little pretty things that you could do with the minor. For instance, let’s say I started on the first note, the A, and I didn’t want to just play A, C, E. I started on A, did a half step below A, back to A. So I said, and then came up the triad. These are pretty. Same thing now, but let’s start with the top note and do a half step below it. Those are really pretty. If I can do it on the first note,
- 3:22Maybe I can do it on last note. So instead of doing it on the A, and by doing it, I mean starting on the note, going a half step below, and going back to the note. Maybe I can do it on the top note, the E. So let’s hear what that sounds like. Really pretty. And let’s do now, if we’re going to do it down, let’s do it opposite. So let’s do the bottom note on the way down. Those are really pretty.
- 4:03Suppose I said let’s do just the middle note. So instead of doing it on the A, or instead of doing it on the E, we did it on the C. That one feels different, but it’s still good. It’s still good, trust me. Same thing we’ll do the middle note again on the way down. Those are pretty.
- 4:46Those are really pretty. What if I did it on the first note, the A, and I did it on the E? So we’ll say... And so on. What if I did it on the A and the C? So you see there’s a million things that we could practice with this. Now, the next thing that I was thinking about that we started talking about in class was, suppose I said let’s start on the and
- 5:19so every one that we’ve been doing so far has been starting on the beat so we’ve been saying which is pretty or if we do the first one, the A let’s say 1, 2, 3, 4 that’s really pretty but what if we put it on the and what if we said 1, 2, 3, 4 Oh, see how pretty that is? Oh, man. That’s a good one.
- 5:56Let’s do it down. One, two, three, four. Oh. Hmm. Those are great. What if I did it on the top note, but still starting on the end? So now we have this one, two, three, four, one. Oh. So now let’s do it on the bottom note.
- 6:43So let’s do it. So as you can see, there’s a million variations of these. You can start on the and, do just one note. You could do just two notes and so on. There’s a million things you could do with triads. So this is another thing that I loved about going to Barry’s class
- 7:18is just when you think you have something together, like you have a scale together, you don’t have it together because there is no really having it together. There’s endless ways to practice these scales, which is also what’s beautiful about music, is that there’s no end. You just keep going. There’s always another thing. There’s a next thing to look at. But see, these are so powerful. That was right up. Let’s see.
- 7:49One, two, three, four. So you just, again, you’re not going to play several of them in a row. So let’s see. Maybe you’ll play two in a row. But what’s nice about these little tiny things like practicing these triads is you put them together with other things. You don’t just keep them by themselves and do a pattern up, a pattern down. So I don’t know if it’s the right term, but I use the term disguise it.
- 8:26So in other words, if you practiced a bunch of these, the next time you take a solo and you’re using A minor, You don’t want it to sound like, oh, listen, who’s practiced his patterns for A minor? He or she has practiced their patterns. You want to be able to say, it’s part of my solo. So I might do one of these, but mixed with a pivot or mixed with a half-step rule or mixed with something else. So you really disguise it, you know. But I think to go through this stage of like checking out each one from each degree that gives you different sounds, like maybe you might end your solo with. That’s a really pretty thing.
- 9:07Or maybe you’ll start with that. I mean, there’s just so many options for it. so um anyway i just thought i would uh discuss that for a little bit uh talking about triads and all the different ways we can look at it which is endless really like everything else the barry shows us so uh enjoy practicing your infinite ways of looking at triads until next time