Barry HarrisThe method

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

Don’t Alter Your Dominant

Episode 90 · 9:22 · On YouTube · In the lesson player

Chris admits he spent years altering every dominant chord and shows how lovely a plain D7 sounds when it comes from Barry’s D7 diminished scale. He comps turnarounds in G major and G minor with drop 2s, triads and contrary motion from that scale, and explains that he thinks of the scales of chords for comping and of plain D7 for soloing.

Step by step

  1. 0:00Notice the habit of always altering the D7 in A minor to D7 in G.
  2. 0:45Build the D7 diminished scale: the four notes of D7 plus E diminished, a diminished chord between each D7.
  3. 1:27Comp turnarounds in G, hearing Am7 as C6 and playing plain D7 voicings from the scale.
  4. 2:20Do the same in G minor: A half-diminished from the C minor 6 diminished scale into a plain D7.
  5. 4:22Play the scale in triads: major, diminished, 3-5-flat 7, diminished, 5-flat 7-1, and so on.
  6. 5:36Use those triads over the A minor 7 to D7 turnaround.
  7. 6:09Add contrary motion within the scale, in major and in minor.
  8. 7:17Separate the jobs: comp from the four scales of chords, but solo thinking D7 (or F7 over A half-diminished to D7).

Barry’s own words on this

9.8 The 7th diminished and 7th flat 5 diminished scales9.1 Sixth chords rule11.6 Comping

In the course

Two prongs: the piano class and the horn classBarry’s four scales of chordsThe dominant 7 diminished scaleDon’t alter your dominantParallel, oblique and contrary motionComping with movement

Transcript

  1. 0:00Hello, and welcome to episode 90 of Things I’ve Learned from Barry Harris. And today I thought we would discuss playing, when we’re talking about chording, just playing a plain D7. Just a plain D7. Now the only reason why I’m making a video discussing this is because I made the mistake for a long time of thinking every time I came up across a dominant chord, Like, for instance, if we were in the key of G, and we played A minor to D7, I would always do something different to the D7 to alter it, to make it sound, you know, altered, obviously, because it’s a beautiful sound. All the altered sounds are beautiful.
  2. 0:45But as Barry people now, we know all of the altered sounds comes from one or more of the other scales of chords. So, but what I was overlooking was just this plain D7. Not altering anything, just playing a plain D7. Now, as Barry people, we know that this is not just a plain D7. You can think of it as coming from the D7 diminished scale, which is just if you put the four notes of D7 and the four notes of E diminished. Now you have your eight note scale, which then gives you these, a diminished every other
  3. 1:27one. So these are really beautiful. So I’ll give you an example. If we were playing A minor 7, which we as Barry people know as C6. So I’m just doing turnarounds in the key of G, and every time I get to the dominant chord
  4. 2:20I’m just playing a plain D7. But do you hear how pretty that sounds? Those are really beautiful. Let’s see. That time I did the diminished before the D7 diminished. I played the D7. But listen to how beautiful just plain D7 is. And what’s also nice is if we play it in minor. so let’s say if we’re going to G minor instead we have a half diminished which we as Barry people now belong to the C minor six diminished I mean gorgeous
  5. 2:57I mean doesn’t and then do this one and then maybe So again, those are just turnarounds in C minor, sorry, in G minor.
  6. 3:43So the first one turns around in G major, the second ones were turnarounds in G minor. But that sound of just the plain D7 is so beautiful, and it was something I was completely overlooking. And I probably played for years and years thinking, well, since I’m trying to play jazz, I have to do something to alter the dominant. Because that sounds jazzy. But that was completely wrong way of thinking on my part. And I just thought I’d share it with everybody, just in case you’re making the same mistake that I did for a long period of time.
  7. 4:22And I think I talked about this channel before, but Thomas Eccles’ Labyrinth of Limitations. You know, I think it really changed for me when I heard him and the pretty things he was doing with just a plain dominant. And I realized, why am I not using that plain dominant? It’s so beautiful. So I’m just playing drop twos. But now triads in this scale, which is Barry’s D7 diminished scale. Triads are so beautiful.
  8. 4:57also in this. So you got the first triad, which is major. Next one’s diminished. Next one is the third, the fifth, and the flat seventh, which is beautiful. The one on the fourth is another diminished. Now you got, which is the fifth, flat seventh, and the tonic, which is beautiful. Another diminished. Now you got the one from the seventh, tonic, third, which is beautiful. You know the diminished? Then you’re back to the beginning, so you’ve got this.
  9. 5:36Aren’t those pretty with triads? So if we said something in, let’s say, A minor 7, so we said. And then maybe. Again. Really pretty. That’s just triads. So let’s do it from maybe here.
  10. 6:09Those are just triads. But do you hear how beautiful those are? And then when you start doing things with contrary motion. I mean, listen to how pretty that is. That’s just contrary motion. or even in minor that’s pretty too
  11. 6:44I mean this stuff is really beautiful so as far as now again this is I’m just thinking purely harmonically because for me and I don’t know if this is the correct way to think about it But for me, I think of Barry’s scales of chords, his four scales of chords, as something harmonically. And then I think of soloing as something slightly different.
  12. 7:17So I compartmentalize the two. Not that there isn’t some overlap between the two, but I really compartmentalize the two. So for instance, if I was going to solo over A minor D7, I would just think D7 stuff, which is all the things that are included in D7. Or if I was thinking A half diminished to D7, I would be thinking F7 stuff to D7. So that’s just F7 stuff to D7.
  13. 7:51But then if I’m thinking about chording, I’m thinking about one or more of his four scales of chords. Major 6 diminished, minor 6 diminished, dominant 7 diminished, and dominant 7.5 diminished. And the one I’m focused on today playing is just that dominant. So see if that’s not helpful, because let me tell you, that has really, really helped me to hear it better. Like I said, I heard Thomas do it on his channel, and it’s really funny. we have a tendency to think like, oh, well, this person’s playing it on a classical guitar,
  14. 8:28so therefore it’s got to be something classically oriented. That’s really not true, because pretty is pretty, whether it’s on an acoustic steel string, whether it’s on a classical guitar played with fingers, whether it’s on a Strat, whether it’s on a Telecaster. Pretty is pretty. You know, if I played some of this stuff, some of these chords with an amp, with a flanger or a chorus or something like that, those are still going to be beautiful. So, just something to think about. So, remember, when something says D7, you don’t always have to alter it.
  15. 9:05Maybe don’t alter it. See how many beautiful things you can come up just using the dominant 7 diminished scale. Anyway, I thought I’d make a small one today or a little short one today. Until next time, have fun not altering your dominant chords. Thanks.