Barry HarrisThe method

Chris Parks · Stage 9: Sixth chords and the scales of chords

Every guitar player should know this: inside the drop 2

Episode 119 · 10:58 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris takes the drop 2 voicings of Barry’s C minor 6 diminished scale and shows the smaller intervals hidden in each shape: tenths, sixths, fifths, flat fifths and thirds. He practises the scale by moving just those pairs of notes, then does the same on the C major 6 diminished scale in All the Things You Are, using the familiar drop 2 as a map for the rest.

Step by step

  1. 0:00Build the C minor 6 diminished scale: C, E flat, G, A from C minor 6 and D, F, A flat, B from D diminished.
  2. 0:35Harmonise it in drop 2: C minor 6 and D diminished chords alternate up the scale.
  3. 1:13The outer notes of the drop 2 (C and E flat) make a tenth, and C to A and E flat to G are sixths: know the scale in tenths and in sixths.
  4. 1:50There are fifths (C and G), flat fifths and fourths too, and the two middle notes are a third of the scale even when they look like a second.
  5. 2:31Practise by playing the chord, then moving only the two middle notes up in thirds, then the next chord.
  6. 3:15Do the same with the flat fifth on top, then with the fifths on the bottom.
  7. 4:49Then with the tenths and with the sixths.
  8. 6:09Repeat it all on the C major 6 diminished scale: C, E, G, A with D, F, A flat, B.
  9. 7:13Try the sixths and the other intervals in All the Things You Are.
  10. 9:36Use the drop 2 you already know as the guide for seeing these smaller shapes quickly.

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

Line0:00
𝄞♭♭
CGAC6DFBE♭A♭
  1. C
  2. E♭
  3. G
  4. A
  5. D
  6. F
  7. A♭
  8. B
Line6:09
𝄞♭
CEGAC6DFBA♭
  1. C
  2. E
  3. G
  4. A
  5. D
  6. F
  7. A♭
  8. B

Barry’s own words on this

9.5 The minor 6th diminished scale and its diminished partner10.5 Drop voicings9.4 Playing the scale of chords (block chords up and down the 6th dim scale)9.3 The major 6th diminished scale (a major scale with one more note)

In the course

The major 6 diminished scaleThe minor 6 diminished scaleThe intervals inside a drop 2

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 119 of Things I Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would talk about one of Barry’s beautiful eight note scales, this one being the minor six diminished. And we’ll choose C. So a C minor six diminished scale, for those of you who don’t know, is a scale that consists of exactly what’s in the name, C minor six diminished. So the four notes of C minor 6, which would be C, E flat, G, A, and then the four notes of D diminished, which would be D, F, A flat, B.
  2. 0:35There’s our scale. Four notes of C minor 6, four notes of D diminished. When you put all those notes together, you get this beautiful eight note scale. And then when you start building the harmony from it, or chords from it, you start to see The first chord is a C minor 6. Second chord is a D diminished. You have another C minor 6, another diminished, another C minor 6, another diminished, and so on. Really beautiful stuff. So the first thing as guitar players that we usually learn are these beautiful drop twos, because these are what we use most of the time. But what’s really interesting
  3. 1:13is within the drop 2, and this is something that Thomas has focused on too over at Labyrinth of Limitations, which I’m forever grateful for going over this kind of stuff. But it makes you see, just from this drop 2, there is so much information in here that we have to learn. For instance, if we said, well, what are the two outside notes, the lowest note and the highest notes, C and E flat, well, that’s a tenth. So we should know our scale in tenths. or what is the let’s see this is the C and that’s the A there’s a sixth so you see we got a sixth in there too and also here with the G and the E flat there’s
  4. 1:50another sixth so that means we have to know them in six also which are really pretty how about just C and G that’s fifths or when you’re gonna see some flat fifths here and even some fourths but see these are all ways that you’re supposed to know the scale. The two notes in the middle. What are the two notes in the middle? Well it’s a second but Barry would probably call that it, I’ve heard him call that it’s a diminished third which just means it’s a third. And if as you can see in each one of the drop twos all these intervals are there. So we said there’s the tenth, there’s the third, there’s the sixth,
  5. 2:31there’s the sixth which is really beautiful. You see? All that is right in there. There’s the 5th, there’s the flat 5th right up here. So the same thing is true of the D Diminished. You’re going to do the same idea where there’s the 10th, there’s the 6th, there’s the 3rd. You see? All this stuff is right there. So, a nice way to practice it is maybe just move those two notes. So let’s take the two middle notes. Let’s take the thirds. So let’s do something. Maybe we’ll play the chord and then we’ll play two-thirds up. Chord, two-thirds up. Chord, two-thirds.
  6. 3:15really beautiful stuff I probably should have switched here gorgeous Now, how about if we do the flat fifth on top? That’s a nice one to the last one. I mean they’re all beautiful but
  7. 4:16really beautiful stuff. Now how about if we do the bottom fifths? Really something.
  8. 4:49How about tenths? Oh, let’s do it again. Sorry about that. Also pretty. That was the tenths. Did we do the sixth? Oh, I like the six.
  9. 5:41They’re really pretty. Wow, is that pretty. Oh, man. You see how pretty that is? But these are great ways to practice these. the minor 6 diminished, where now you’re also including some of the notes in the middle to see if you really know these. And obviously you should know them for every string set. But if you can do them for C minor 6, you can also do them for C major 6. So the only difference between C minor 6 diminished and C major 6 diminished is C major 6 diminished is going to now be C major 6, which would be C, E, G, A,
  10. 6:20and then D diminished, D, F, A, F, B. So then we have our scale. So there’s our scale. So now we should be able to do the same thing. Here’s our drop twos, which we use all the time. Oh, sorry. So now we should do the same thing, because if we notice, we have the same thing. We have a third, we have a tenth, we have a sixth, we have the fifths. So we should be able to do the same thing. Let’s try six right away. I love that.
  11. 7:13So let’s say we’re playing all the things you are. That’s pretty. We could have kept going, really. That would have been a nice way.
  12. 7:56I messed up the last one. It’s just great stuff. Let’s try the tenths. Not the tenths. Let’s try the fifths. This last one, sorry. That is so pretty quick.
  13. 8:35Let’s see going down. Those are fantastic. How about thirds? I love those. Let’s see.
  14. 9:36Oh, man. So look at how many beautiful things you could do with this. Look at how many beautiful things. I mean, there’s just so much. There’s so much packed into these drop twos. And then you just have to be able to see them quick enough. See, I think Thomas can see these individually. Like, he sees all these individually. I, for some reason, am not as fast as he is, so I have to see them within the drop two. But if I use the drop two as the guide, it really helps me.
  15. 10:11Now, I guess it could be drop two, it could be drop three, it could be broken drop two, or shell chords, as Thomas calls them. But I don’t know why. I like seeing them within the drop two. At least since we already know the drop two, we may as well use what we already know. So I happen to think these are really important things for guitar players to work on. Piano players also, any harmonic instrument. But it’s really something special to be able to do and then to be able to put into tunes, which is really important. Also your own compositions.
  16. 10:44these work beautifully well so okay until next time enjoy practicing and looking deeper into your drop twos