how to use bebop scales

Chordally, the flat sixth of the major bebop scale helps define structures that a jazz improviser regularly encounters. ; The bebop scale is used most often. Your Bebop Scale Action Steps. To be truly effective with this scale you need to be able to start on any note of the scale throughout the entire range of your instrument. 1, 3, 5 or 6 for tonic and 1, 3, 5 or 7 for dominant. And in today’s post were going to put this scale under the magnifying glass and turn it inside out to show you everything you’ve ever wanted to know. These licks are based on the dominant form of the bebop scale. Here’s a great example of Mulgrew Miller using the major bebop scale on a Major 7 chord from his solo on If I Should Lose You: Notice how in the second bar Mulgrew moves from the root of the chord directly to the b6 and resolves to the 5th. The most common way to use the bebop scale is over dominant 7th chords… Practice applying the bebop scale to static dominant chords. In other words, bebop scales can help you to start think more melodically as opposed to harmonically. You can certainly use a bebop scale as a pitch collection but that would not be the point of it. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Jazz and Applied Saxophone at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. With this lick, you play down the scale and when you reach the 3rd of the scale, you simply play an ascending diminished 7 arpeggio that brings you back to the top of the scale, via the b9. But where do bebop scales come from, and how can they be used in the practice room and in practical playing situations? 0:51 The Scale and How I Play it. Play the scale descending from G (G, F#, F, E, D, C, B, A, G). But the true versatility of this scale comes in applying it to the other chords in your solos. Scales can be one of the most overwhelming parts of learning jazz improvisation. The trick is to avoid mechanically regurgitating the scales, because that just makes your solo sound like a dry intellectual exercise. Here’s the bebop scale with three passing tones: Here are a few examples of bebop scales in action over the II-V-I progression: *The bracketed notes marked with the asterisk (*) are a “chromatic surrounding tone” gesture – you can read my guide-tone post to learn more about surrounding tones. For instance, instead of using the 'plain' dominant 7th (mixolydian) scale on a C7 chord: C E F G A Bb The Jazz guitarists (and other musicians) started adding a passing tone like this: C E F G A Bb B I’d advise using a Bb7 arpeggio on the Bb7 chord and moving to the Phrygian Dominant bebop scale over the G7 chord to begin with. Combining multiple of the bebop scale within one line: Again, the faster you can visualize the b6 of a half-diminished chord and the related bebop scale, the more adept you’ll be at utilizing this scale in your solos. This is a tongue-in-cheek tutorial on how to approach bebop jazz. The "Melodic Minor" Scale. As a relative beginner, I am still confused about how to use these scales, but this really helps point me in the right direction and get a few steps down the road. Finally check out how Mulgrew Miller uses the b6 in this line over the melody to If I Were a Bell: Keep in mind that you don’t have to play the entire scale. Perhaps you’ve read or heard about bebop scales before – they’ve been mentioned in passing on LJS in the past. These are frequently used in jazz improvisation and are derived from the modes of the major scale, the melodic minor scale, and the harmonic minor scale.These scales are most often used by David Baker and Barry Harris as a tool to teach jazz improvisation. The Bebop scale is coming out of the Bebop tradition. You can use G dominant bebop-scale on that (the G bebop dominant scale works on G7, Dm7 and Bm7b5). The bebop dominant scale outlines the sound of a dominant 7 chord, and due to the fact that the subdominant and dominant harmonies in a ii-V are so closely related, the bebop dominant scale of the V chord can be used to generalize both the ii & V chords. But there is one important thing to notice here: he starts on the 5th of the scale instead of the root. Below is a practical fingering for a two octave major bebop scale and a lick that uses the major bebop scale lick which you can apply to tunes that you are working on. Check out this line from Joe Henderson’s solo on the tune Totem Pole: Over an F7 chord he plays a descending F bebop scale. One of my favorite places to use bebop scales is over ii-V progressions. This is shown in figure and audio example 9a. Super fun!! In this comprehensive lesson, I teach you how to easily come up with all the variants of the original bebop scale, how to instantly apply them to improvise over any II-V-I, and to conclude I show you an exercise over a Rhythm Changes bridge.. 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The bebop scale stems from the bebop language invented by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and other legendary jazz musicians from the early to mid-1940’s. The use of this two notes gives the chord progression a "Jazzy flavor." The thing that really adds value to Steve’s book is his use of what he calls links. 2. This should sound like music to your ears. Again, focus on descending stepwise melodies with chord tones falling on strong beats. Or that when you do, something just sounds off. I appreciate it! It is important to note that the notion of bebop scales is a concept that arose after bebop had already emerged as a distinct style of jazz. And because of the inherent voice leading (chromaticism) the scale sounds melodic. This is a complicated question, but I can try to provide a basic framework for understanding the history and derivation of bebop scales. Taking this familiar scale and approaching it in new ways – and this is where things get interesting. Here are 3 examples of this technique over an F7 chord: As shown in the examples above, experiment with using techniques like enclosures or approach notes to start your lines and incorporate alterations and substitutions along with these scale fragments. The Bebop Scale. Historically, bebop musicians started to add notes to "regular" diatonic scales. In the line below Bill Evans utilizes the b6 to 5 movement over both V7 and Major chords in his solo over Autumn Leaves: Over the F7 chord he uses the Db (b6) as an approach note to an F major scale fragment and over the EbMaj7 chord he uses a major bebop fragment to approach the 5th. The second Bebop scale lick we’ll check out is a diminished arpeggio from the 3rd of the scale, the note E in the example below. Check out how Freddie Hubbard uses this technique with a Db bebop scale over an Ab-7 chord in his solo on Dolphin Dance: A great way to practice this technique is by visualizing minor chords around the cycle and thinking of the related bebop scale. ; Some jazz scales, such as the bebop scales, add additional chromatic passing tones to the familiar diatonic scales. 2. 6:59 The Rules. Bebop scales are Major, Dorian, Mixolydian and Melodic Minor scales with an added “Chromatic” passing note making them 8 note scales. A good exercise is to use the bebop scale over the first four bars of the blues progression: Along the way study how your favorite players approach this scale melodically and rhythmically in their playing. 1. 3:31 Lick using Exercise #2. This first scale, the Altered Bebop Scale 1, can be used over both the iim7b5 and V7alt chord in a iim7b5-V7alt-im7 progression. Incredible study in jazz harmony and how to successfully use different melodic ideas over lots of different chords. As you do these exercises be aware of what scale degree you’re landing on and aim to end or resolve your line on different chord tones. Don’t fall into this trap with the bebop scale. As stated previously, the great bebop musicians were not consciously using bebop scales – they were simply creating lines using major and mixolydian scales and inserting the extra notes to help them flow. The bebop scales add a chromatic passing tone to the basic scales so that strong chord tones occur on the strong beats. The dominant bebop scale (usually just referred to as the bebop scale) adds a chromatic passing tone between the b7 and the 1. I think of it more as a melodic device than a scale. If I use the bebop scale over a Dominant 7 chord, I can also use it over a Dorian. Here is a list of the 16 most important scales for jazz improvisation and the harmonic contexts in which they can be used for... For some, learning jazz can be a daunting task. A great example of this scale in action is the opening to John Coltrane’s solo on Moment’s Notice: Over an Eb Major 7 chord he simply starts on the root and plays down an Eb major bebop scale. The next bebop scale is used over dominant 7 chords and is built by adding a major 7 th passing note to the Mixolydian scale. Check out how Bill Evans utilizes this sound over a half-diminished chord on Woody n’ You, starting his line with a bebop fragment from the b6: He creates a sequence with the bebop scale fragments. The trick is to find the Dorian (ii chord) that fits with the Dominant (Mixolydian, V7 chord). Knowing all your basic scales (major, minor, diminished, whole-tone, pentatonic…) is a necessary first step in understanding harmony and gaining some facility on your instrument. For example "Impressions" starts with Dm7. Another reason bebop scales are especially useful is that they can allow you to systematically control which part of the beat chord tones fall on when playing a stepwise melody. The addition of the b6 creates natural voice leading within the scale that lends a melodic character: And this is a melodic technique that you can apply to any solo…. But it’s something that you need to know, especially if you plan on playing tunes like Maiden Voyage, One Finger Snap, or Passion Dance…. One of my favorite examples of the bebop scale in action is from Mulgrew Miller’s solo on Bill Mobley’s reharmonization of The Touch of Your Lips: At around 2:00 minutes in, over what is essentially an extended G7sus or CMaj sound, Mulgrew plays the following line: The underlying chords look like this: [ Gsus2/F | A-sus2/G | Fsus2/A | Gsus2/E  ] and Mulgrew navigates this progression in a melodic way with the G bebop scale. You can also reverse this so you’re practicing moving from the Bb bebop scale to a G7b9 arpeggio. The next way you can apply the bebop scale to the chord progressions of tunes is over half-diminished chords. Here’s the simplest and most direct explanation: you can generate bebop scales by adding strategically placed passing tones to common scales and modes from traditional Western music theory, including the standard diatonic or “church modes” derived from the major scale. More Bebop scales. You say to not treat scales in a formulaic way but rather as pitch collections but the point of bebop scales is treat them in a formulaic manner but always using the added not as a passing tone. For more information, please visit: https://www.josiahboornazian.com. For example, if I see a G7 chord, I know that this chord is really in the key of C Major. Nov 4, 2018 - Perhaps you’ve read or heard about bebop scales before – they’ve been mentioned in passing on LJS in the past. Example: I D–7 G7 I use G7 bop scale for the whole bar. (Remember that C Major is the 1st mode and G Mixolydian is the 5th mode). In the example below you will see how the added chromatic passing tone makes the scale logical. You can utilize the major bebop scale or the b6 to 5 motion over Major and Dominant chords. The scale is built from the fifth mode of Harmonic Minor, with an added #7 included in the scale… For instance, instead of using the 'plain' dominant 7th (mixolydian) scale on a C7 chord: C E F G A Bb The Jazz guitarists (and other musicians) started adding a passing tone like this: C E F G A Bb B The “solution” is to use the Major Bebop Scale with the passing tone between the 5th and 6th of the chord (see scale below). The dominant sus chord often causes some confusion for improvisers. The dominant bebop scale is a mixolydian scale but with an added major 7th note. In this post, I’ll hopefully shine some light on where these useful scales come from and how you can incorporate them into your practice routine, compositions, and improvisations.

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