Barry HarrisThe method

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

Minor sixth diminished chords in drop 3 and drop 2-4

Episode 13 · 15:54 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris continues episode 12, playing the minor sixth diminished scale of chords for D, G and B flat minor 6 on guitar, now as drop 3 and drop 2-and-4 voicings, alternating each minor 6 with its diminished chord up the neck. He then applies them to the opening of Yesterdays, where Barry’s thinking turns D minor, E half-diminished and A7 into D minor 6, G minor 6 and B flat minor 6, and asks you to find the closest voicing each time.

Step by step

  1. 0:00Following episode 12: the minor 6 diminished scale of chords in D, G and B flat minor for Yesterdays, now in drop 3 and drop 2-4
  2. 0:32Drop 3 is play a string, skip a string, play three: D minor 6 with the fifth in the bass on strings 6, 4, 3, 2 at frets 5, 3, 4, 3
  3. 1:12Next the diminished (6, 5, 6, 5) and minor 6 (7, 7, 7, 6), then move to strings 5, 3, 2, 1 and keep alternating up the neck
  4. 2:20G minor 6 (Barry’s name for E minor 7 flat 5) in drop 3, root in the bass on strings 6, 4, 3, 2: frets 3, 2, 3, 3
  5. 4:04B flat minor 6 in drop 3, starting with its sixth, G, in the bass: frets 3, 3, 3, 2
  6. 5:49Drop 2-4 is two strings, skip one, two strings: D minor 6 with the fifth in the bass at frets 5, 5, skip, 4, 6
  7. 8:18G minor 6 in drop 2-4 from the root on the sixth string: frets 3, 5, skip, 3, 5
  8. 9:38B flat minor 6 in drop 2-4 with the sixth in the bass: frets 3, 4, skip, 3, 6
  9. 11:30Yesterdays: from any D minor 6, find the closest G minor 6 (E minor 7 flat 5) and B flat minor 6 (an altered A7)
  10. 14:05With a slow metronome: a bar of D minor 6, two beats each of G minor 6 and B flat minor 6; then try C minor and F minor

Chords and notes in this video

Tap a time to jump to it in the video.

Dm60:32
××Dm6
C2AC3FBC4D
diminished drop 31:12
5fr××diminished drop 3
C2C3GC4EB♭D♭
Dm61:12
4fr××Dm6
C3DBC4FA
Gm62:53
××Gm6
C2GC3EC4DB♭
Bbm64:22
××Bbm6
C2GC3FC4B♭D♭
Dm65:49
4fr××Dm6
C2AC3DBC4F
Dm67:02
5fr××Dm6
C3DAC4FB
Gm68:18
××Gm6
C2GC3DC4EB♭

Barry’s own words on this

9.5 The minor 6th diminished scale and its diminished partner9.4 Playing the scale of chords (block chords up and down the 6th dim scale)9.6 Half-diminished = minor with the sixth in the bass; major -> relative minor -> minor/610.5 Drop voicings

In the course

Minor ii-V-i as three minor 6 chordsDrop 2, drop 3 and drop 2 and 4Least movement: find the closest voicingYesterdays

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello and welcome to episode 13 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. I think we’re going to continue with what we were working on in episode 12. We worked on drop 2 of some of the minor 6 diminished chords and the scale of chords. We did it in D minor, we did it in G minor 6, and we did it in B flat minor 6. So, and we looked at it in relationship to the song yesterdays. So maybe we’ll stay with that.
  2. 0:32And today we’ll work on drop three. And maybe drop two, drop four. Let’s see if we can get to it. But let’s do drop three. So drop three is basically, play a string, for guitar players, is play a string, skip a string, play three strings. So if we started, that would be the first D minor 6 starting with the fifth and the bass. I’ll call out the notes. Now this is starting with the sixth string. So starting with the sixth string, skipping the fifth, and then playing the fourth, third, and second. So here are the frets. Fifth, skip a string, third, fourth, third. That’s the minor six from the
  3. 1:12fifth. The next one is a diminished, sixth fret, skip a string, fifth, sixth, fifth. Next one is a minor sixth. Seventh fret, skip a string, seventh, seventh, sixth. Next one we’ll do is another diminished. We changed the next set of strings, so now it’s going to be the fifth string, skip the fourth string, third, second, first, and here are the frets. Fourth fret, third fret, fifth fret, third fret. Now it’s with the root in the bass. Fifth fret, fourth fret, sixth fret, fifth fret.
  4. 1:48Another diminished. Seventh fret, sixth fret, eighth fret, sixth fret. Another minor six. Eighth fret, seventh fret, tenth fret, seventh fret. another diminished 10th fret, 9th fret and then back to minus 6 with a 5th and a bass again which is 12th fret, 10th fret 12th fret, 10th fret
  5. 2:20so these are all D-minus six, drop three. The next chord we played was E-minus seven to five five, which Barry refers to as G-minus six. So we’re going to do our G-minus sixes in drop three. And again, starting on the six-string root,
  6. 2:53so it’s going to be six-string, skip fifth string, fourth, third, second. So we’ve got to have the first one is, with the root in the bass, is third fret, second fret, third fret, third fret. Next one’s a diminished, fifth fret, fourth fret, fifth fret, fourth fret. Next one’s another minus six. Sixth fret, fifth fret, seventh fret, fifth fret. Next one, let’s change strings. We’ll go and we’ll play the diminished on the next set of strings. So now it’s fifth string, skip the fourth string, third, second, first. So now we have third fret, second, fourth, second. Now with the fifth in the bass it’s going to be fifth fret third fifth
  7. 3:36third. Now another diminished. Sixth, fifth, seventh, fifth. Another G-minor six. Six in the bass. seventh seventh eighth sixth another minor six ninth eighth tenth eighth and another minor six of the root tenth ninth eleventh tenth okay now that’s G minor six drop three now we need B flat minus six drop three so we’ll start here on the G also we’ll start with the six in the bass and now we have again same thing
  8. 4:22six string skip the fifth string fourth third second so we’re gonna have third fret third fret third fret second fret next one diminished we’re gonna have fifth fret fourth fret fifth fret fourth fret minor six with the root, sixth, fifth, sixth, sixth. Another diminished, eighth, seventh, eighth, seventh. Now we’ll change strings with the third and the bass, and now we’re on the fifth string, skip the fourth string, third, second, first. So now we’re on fourth fret, third fret,
  9. 4:58sixth fret, third fret. Now we’re on diminished, sixth fret, fifth fret, seventh fret, fifth fret, minor six to the fifth in the bass, eighth fret, sixth fret, eighth fret, sixth fret, another diminished, ninth fret, eighth fret, tenth fret, eighth fret, and then we’re back to the B-6 with six to the bass again. So now we’re on tenth fret, tenth fret, eleventh fret, ninth fret. So now all the B-minus sixes.
  10. 5:49I mean, even those, just practicing those are so beautiful up and down the fretboard. Now that’s drop three. Now maybe we should do, let’s just look at drop two, drop four. Drop two, drop four is basically play two consecutive strings, skip a string, and then play two more consecutive strings. So if we did the one with the fifth and the bass, the D-6, the fifth and the bass, it would be two strings, skip a string, two strings. It’s a little strange to play at first, but They’re really beautiful on guitar.
  11. 6:25So now let’s take a look at these drop 2, drop 4. Starting with D-minus 6 with a 5th and a bass. Now you got, remember, if we’re going to do, now these are going to take 5 strings because you’re going to have 2 strings, skip 1 string, and then 2 more strings. So let’s see how this works out. Now we got 5th fret, 5th fret, skip a string, 4th fret, 6th fret. Now we have diminished. Sixth fret, seventh fret, skip a string, sixth fret, eighth fret. Now we have another minor six.
  12. 7:02Seventh fret, eighth fret, skip a string, seventh fret, tenth fret. Now we’ll do another diminished. Now I changed strings. So now we’re going to have fourth fret, fifth fret, skip a string, fifth fret, sixth fret. Now D-6 with the root and the bass. 5th fret, 7th fret, skip a string, 6th fret, 7th fret. Now the diminished, 7th fret, 8th fret, skip a string, 8th fret, 9th fret. Now the minor 6, 8th fret, 9th fret, 10th fret, 10th fret. So 8th fret, 9th fret, skip a string,
  13. 7:4210th fret, 10th fret, another diminished. Really pretty chord too, these diminishes. 10th fret, 11th fret, skip a string, 11th fret, 12th fret. And then back to minor 6 with a 5th in the bass, 12th fret, 12th fret, skip a string, 12th fret, 13th fret. So if we were going to play these. Really beautiful.
  14. 8:18Next one. G minor 6. Drop 2, drop 4. Again, we’ll start on the 6th string root. We’ll start with the root and the bass, and we got... Here’s the first one. 3rd fret, 5th fret, skip a string, 3rd fret, 5th fret. Next one. Minor 6, 5th fret, 6th fret, skip a string, 5th fret, 7th fret. Next one. Six fret seventh fret skip a string seventh fret eighth fret Eighth fret ninth fret eighth fret sorry eighth fret ninth fret skip a string eighth fret tenth fret
  15. 8:57Now we got from the fifth Fifth fret fifth fret skip the string fifth fret sixth fret next one Sixth fret seventh fret skip a string seventh fret eighth fret next one 7th fret, 8th fret, skip a string, 8th fret, 10th fret, next one. 9th fret, 10th fret, skip a string, 10th fret, 11th fret, and then back to... back to... 10th fret, 12th fret, skip a string, 11th fret, 12th fret.
  16. 9:38So these are beautiful also. Beautiful. And usable, very usable. Next one is Bb-m6. So we’ll try the first one with the 6 in the bass. 3rd fret, 4th fret, skip a string, 3rd fret, 6th fret. Diminished. 5th fret, 6th fret, skip a string, 5th fret, 7th fret. Next one, another minor 6. The root of the bass. 6th fret, 8th fret, skip a string, 6th fret, 8th fret.
  17. 10:24Next one, diminished. 8th fret, 9th fret, skip a string, 8th fret, 10th fret. Next one, we’ll do another minor 6, I guess. We’ll do it from here. 4th fret, 5th fret, skip a string, 6th fret, 6th fret. Diminished. 6th fret, 7th fret, skip a string, 7th fret, 8th fret. Next one. 8th fret, 8th fret, skip a string, 8th fret, 9th fret.
  18. 11:029th fret, 10th fret, skip a string, 10th fret, 11th fret, and... 10th fret, 11th fret, skip a string, 11th fret, 13th fret. So the B minor 6s are... Sorry. And those are also really beautiful. So now, if you remember from the last episode, what we said that would be a good exercise to do,
  19. 11:36is using any one of those, well in this case we’ll use either drop three or drop two, drop four, any place where you are, let’s say if we take the D-6, drop three with the fifth in the bass, Now we should find where is our closest G minor 6 for the E-7-5-5, and then where is our closest B-flat-minus-6 as an altered A7. So we’ll say there’s D-minus-6, there’s G-minus-6. so if we’re playing yesterdays and we say one two three two three
  20. 12:15beautiful rich chords sounding beautiful now let’s move to the um the six in the base so let’s say here’s now we could do this same one or we could go higher we could go to the next G-6, which is this. So, that’s this G-6 to this B-flat-6. Here’s the next one. And here’s the last one.
  21. 12:53So all those work. D-6 to E-7-5-5 to A-7 is really D-6 to G-6 to B-flat-6. and all them sound pretty. Let’s do a few of them in drop two, drop four. The one in the fifth and the bass. And now we’ll do G minor six. G minor six. And then I guess we’ll end on another D minor six. Here’s another one.
  22. 13:27D minor six. Here’s another D-minus-six here. And then we’ll say... Another one. and then ending on that’s a pretty one actually or you could have said
  23. 14:05beautiful but anyway I’m not exactly there’s a million different ways to practice this but the way that I feel about it is if you see those chords together and you find out what are the quickest ways to get from one minor six to the other minor six. That’s a great exercise. And put the metronome on and put it on a really slow tempo and see if you could do it. So a D minor six for a full measure and then an E half diminished or a G minor six for two beats and then an A7 or a B flat minor six for two beats. And those are great ways to see if you can really see them on your
  24. 14:43fretboard. Now, of course, that’s just D minor six, G minor six, and B flat minor six. And then change key make it into C minor or make it into F minor and then follow along the same way with the same type of chords but those are great ways to look at it so after Really looking at episode 12 and this episode, episode 13, you should really know your minor six diminished scale of chords in drop 2, drop 3, and drop 2, drop 4. And I think if you really work on that and accomplish that, that’s a great goal to have to shoot for to really get comfortable with those chords.
  25. 15:24and then slowly but surely implement them into all your songs all your standards where they fit which is in a lot of different places anyway i appreciate you uh commenting and your suggestions have been wonderful really appreciate it i hope you’re enjoying these i’m like i said before i’m having a lot of fun making them so okay enjoy practicing your drop three and your drop two drop four thanks