In plain words
Working on Perdido, Barry reminded the class that every seventh scale is a major scale: the F7 scale is the B♭ major scale. When he asked them to start on the third of F7 and run down to the tonic of B♭, they were simply playing B♭ major starting from A. A dominant scale has the same notes as the major scale of the key it resolves to.
Fast phrases for Perdido2:523:25Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Root systems ¶5
Think dominant. Barry told Ted Panken that he believed in the dominant seventh scale because ‘dominant’ means it dominates, and that it can be applied to nearly everything you run into. He told one class that if he believes in sevens he has to find a way to play everything with them, and he said more than once that he doesn’t believe in twos (ii chords). Students’ notes turn this into a rule: over a ii–V, run the V’s scale.
Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 15:48Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle19:20Practising the blues with the horns, part 13:36Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶467Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶134jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶36
So an outline is mostly a chain of major scales and dominant scales. On the bridge of Cherokee Barry has the class play B major, A major and G major, then points out that the last two chords are dominants: no more major scales, play C7 and F7. Even a half-diminished chord is turned into a dominant: G half-diminished is the chord on the third of E♭7, so you play E♭7.
Major scales on the bridge of Cherokee1:081:41Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 13:33Frédéric Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris ¶134
Barry also varies where a run starts and where it lands: he has the class start on the second or third rather than the tonic, and names the target, such as the tonic of the next key or the third of the next chord. Howard Rees adds one exception: over a minor seventh on the third degree of a major key, stay on the major scale, since the dominant a fourth above brings in a note from another key.
The 1998 workshop, part 11:382:14Fast phrases for Perdido2:52Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 10:01Getting Started with Scales for Improv4:03Howard Rees, Chord Explorations ¶38
Step by step
To get the notes of a dominant seventh scale, take the major scale of the key it resolves to (a fifth below its root) and play it starting from the dominant’s root.
F7 scale = B♭ major from F- F
- G
- A
- B♭
- C
- D
- E♭
Fast phrases for Perdido3:25Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Root systems ¶5
Then choose a starting degree and a landing note. Barry’s call on Perdido: start on the third of F7 and run down the scale to the tonic of B♭.
Third of F7 down to the tonic of B♭- A
- G
- F
- E♭
- D
- C
- B♭
Fast phrases for Perdido2:52
How he said to practise it
Take a dominant, start on a named degree of its scale and run down to the tonic of the key it belongs to, in time; Barry used the third of F7 down to the tonic of B♭ while the class worked on Perdido.
Fast phrases for Perdido2:52
Play the same scale from different starting degrees: Barry had the class start the F major scale from its second and from its third.
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
Every 7th scale is a major scale, right? F 7 scale is B-flat major scale. So all we’re doing is playing B-flat major scale.
I believe in the dominant 7th scale. Because I figured dominant means dominating, and so if it’s supposed to dominate, then it dominates.
Those are dominants there. See, you don’t go to the major anymore, you go to dominants.
If I’m going to believe in sevens, I have to find a way to play everything [with sevens].
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it8 moments in 7 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Fast phrases for Perdido
- 2:52
Perdido: start on the third of F7, run down to B♭; every seventh scale is a major scale.
Major scales on the bridge of Cherokee
- 1:08
Cherokee bridge: three major scales, then the last two chords are dominants, so C7 and F7.
Scales on Indiana in A-flat, part 1
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 19:20
Interview: music isn’t measure by measure, like a bar of C minor 7 to F7; he doesn’t believe in twos.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 1
- 3:36
Calls a ‘two’ for the horn players’ sake while saying he doesn’t believe in twos.
The 1998 workshop, part 1
- 1:38
Has the class run the F major scale from its second, then from its third, instead of the tonic.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 2
- 4:31
The B♭ blues as scales: mostly dominant scales, with B♭ major in bars seven and eleven.
From the lessons1 lesson, 5 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
The dominant scale and its half-step rules
- Idea
Barry reminded his class that every dominant seventh scale is a major scale: the F7 scale is the B-flat major scale. So when he asked them to start on the third of F7 and run down to the tonic of B-flat, they were simply playing the B-flat major scale.
Fast phrases for Perdido2:52
- Exercise
Barry’s half-step rules for running a dominant seventh scale down depend on the note you start on. From the tonic, third, fifth or seventh, the first rule is one half step, placed between the tonic and the seventh. From the third, fifth or seventh there is also a second rule: three half steps, between the third and second, the second and tonic, and the tonic and seventh. Practise each version and play it again.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 20:371:121:47The half-step rules0:00
- Exercise
From the second, fourth or sixth, the first rule is no half steps: just the scale notes going down. The second rule is two half steps, between the second and tonic and between the tonic and seventh. The whole set: tonic, 3, 5 and 7 take one half step (1 to 7); 3, 5 and 7 can also take three (3 to 2, 2 to 1, 1 to 7); 2, 4 and 6 take none, or two (2 to 1, 1 to 7).
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 22:19
- Exercise
Barry told everyone to write all the half-step rules down so they know exactly what to practise, beginning with tonic, third, fifth and seventh: one half step. Then practise the rules rhythmically, not just as notes.
Half-step rules on the dominant scale, part 12:52
- Idea
People asked Barry why he puts those half steps in, and he answered that they could go anywhere. Starting on the tonic, he had the student put the single half step between the six and the five instead of between the tonic and seventh, or, once you get down low, between the second and the tonic, and he called the result rhythmically correct.
In writing6 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
In a 2000 phone interview Barry said his thinking had changed over the years: he believed in the dominant seventh scale and that it can be applied to almost everything, but students also need basic harmony about getting from one place to another, combined with the scales.
Barry said he learned to play jazz without thinking about modes, and dismissed the Phrygian, Dorian and Mixolydian talk of jazz schools as nonsense.
Students note that Barry names a scale after its chord (the G7 scale, the C7 scale) and never says Dorian or Mixolydian.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris Practice approach (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶22Music Player Network members (Jazz+, Best online Jazz Training workshops ever! ¶45
Reports that Barry liked to say the dominant chord got its name because it dominates everything in music, and shows the C dominant scale holding C7, Em7♭5 and Gm7, all usable as voicings where C7 is called for.
Howard Rees, Chord Explorations ¶35Howard Rees, Chord Explorations ¶38
Learned from Barry to run the V’s seventh scale over both the ii and the V, so the two chords sound related rather than isolated; with the I added, each seventh scale uses the same notes as the major scale that follows it.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Root systems ¶4Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Root systems ¶5
A mapping rule from his notes on the method: over ii–V play only the V’s scale for the whole length of the progression; a major sixth or major seventh chord takes the major scale, a dominant chord the dominant scale.
How other teachers explain it5 videos, 4 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Using Dominant Scales for Improvisation
Using dominant scales for improvisation.
5 min, transcript On YouTube
- Getting Started with Scales for Improv
Soloing mostly thinks major or dominant scale; the iii minor 7 keeps the major scale.
7 min, transcript On YouTube
- Barry Harris Method: Importance of Major/Dominant Scales ()
Why the major and dominant scales matter in Barry’s method.
6 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Method: Exploring the “Basics” of the Dominant 7th Scale ()
The basics of the dominant seventh scale.
11 min On YouTube
- Jazz Mandolin Instruction Barry Harris Lesson Dominant Scale Pete Martin
Mandolin lesson on Barry’s dominant scale.
16 min On YouTube
In the teaching series
Episodes on this idea in the long series by other teachers. Each name opens that whole series in order.
Read further3 links
These open on the web.
Books and paid courses
- Howard Rees, ‘Chord Explorations’, Keyboard Magazine Mar 2001 (chords come from dominant scales; practise the 12 keys through the 3 dominant families)
student (Howard Rees) — Howard Rees, free: chords drawn from dominant scales and how to practise the dominant scales in all keys.
- Frederic Galliano, Notes on the Method of Barry Harris (HTML + PDF, updated Jan 2026): scale exercises, chromatic scale, Parker ideas, families, 4 chord scales, moving in fourths, 5-4-3-2, half-step tables, important arpeggios, scale outlines of blues/rhythm/Cherokee/Donna Lee/How High the Moon/Night in Tunisia
attendee-of-videos notes (from Chris Parks’ TILF + Labyrinth + Kingstone) — Free notes with the rule ‘play the V over the whole ii–V’ and outlines built from major and dominant scales.
- The Barry Harris Workshop Video (Part 1), Howard Rees / Jazz Workshop Productions: 4+ hours, 5 clinic segments + 102-112 page workbook (ABCs, scales on song forms, movable chords, rhythm section, vocalizing)
Barry himself (produced and transcribed by Howard Rees) — Barry’s own workshop video and workbook (paid): scales on song forms.