Welcome to "Mastering The Bebopscales"

Purpose

The purpose of this website is to provide exercises to make the bebopscales

work for you. If you are interested in practicing bebop-inflected lines, this is
just your site.

GOALS

Flowing/legato playing

The idea of this is to help you sound more fluent, more flowing, more bebop.
The frequent use of chromatic tones made the beboppers sound more fluent
than the bigger intervals used during the swing era, where arpeggio’s ruled
the improvisations.

Smaller, chromatic intervals are hard to hear at first. For beginning

musicians hardly easy, but as you practice it more, you’ll get more adept.
Charlie Parker came to this additional chromaticism through long hours of
study and he commented on his studying habits a lot. Analysing the music,
listening to classical music and practicing as he did, he became –if not the
inventor- the hero of bebop music.

You should listen to bebop-players a lot (not only Parker, but also Miles and
more advanced modern players like Yusef Lateef and Coltrane) to hear how
they flowed throughout their improvisations. Yet they tended to phrase very
carefully, emphasising some notes, ghosting others. They sound legato, but
never dull.

Playing fast

Charlie Parker played fast, unbelievably fast, like lightning. Whether you will
be able to play as fast is only up to you and how many hours you are
prepared to study. Amateurs like myself will probably never play as fast as
Bird, but still, you can do a great jobs on slower tempos. Think of yourself as
Miles on the Prestige-albums. Slower than Bird, but Bebop bebop bebop...

It will make you play fluent double-time lines and still sound meaningful. No
scalerunning as you’ll hear a lot of beginners do, but clear and fast
beboplines.

Playing changes fluently

Playing bebop is also about connecting the chords. In Swing there was a lot
of arpeggiating going on, Bebop emphasised the use of chromatic tones and
landing the chord tones on the strong beats. If you use the rules of thumb in
these exercises, it will make you easier to connect the chords in the
harmony. Listen to what Charlie Parker did on all of these great bebop-tunes
and standards. He nailed the changes right there.

Sounding mainstream

If you practice these exercises, you will eventually sound Bebop.

Revolutionary in the 40’s, mainstream (in the jazzworld) today. Though this
is true, you just might like bebop and want to infuse your playing with
bebop-elements.

You should also remember that the great geniuses of modern jazz (Coltrane,
Miles, Steve Coleman) worshipped Charlie Parker and came to their
revolutionary music through and after the thorough study of bebop.

Will this make you more reactionary, will you become old-fashioned. I don’t
believe it. It will turn your ear and your playing to the intricacies of bebop.
You should keep an open eye to the really modern players (Steve Coleman,
probably seen in thirty years as the Charlie Parker of the 21st century). Even
if I don’t like –esthetically- what goes on in modern jazz (John Zorn,
Threadgill) and am more moved by mainstream, I am always open to the
great revolutionaries of this music.

What do I like? If i were to take four albums to a deserted Island

Kind of Blue (Miles Davis)

Gnu High (Kenny Wheeler)

Any recording of the Keith Jarett trio

Any recording of the European Quartet of Charles Lloyd

Pretty lame, hé?

RULES OF THUMB
1. Starting on a chord tone is always ok
2. Moving to a chord tone from a weak beat: insert NO or an even number
of notes
3. Moving to a chord tone from a strong beat: insert ONE or an UNEVEN
number of notes
4. On skips:
a. Octave displacement is always ok (doesn’t interrupt the flow)
b. If you’re still on track (CT’s on a strong beat, NCT’s on a weak
beat)

Skips from any CT to any NCT are always ok

Skips from any NCT to any CT are always ok
c. When skipping from any CT to any CT or any NCT to any NCT:
insert ONE or an UNEVEN number of notes before continuing

Chromatic
Diatonic
Beat STRONG BEAT WEAK BEAT

Starting
note
Chord tone OK Insert NO or an Insert ONE or an UNEVEN
EVEN number of notes number of notes before
before continuing. continuing

Non-Chord Insert ONE or an OK Insert NO or an EVEN

Tone UNEVEN number of number of notes before
notes before continuing continuing

A word on Strong and Weak beats.

If you play eight notes the first, third, fifth and seventh note are on the
STRONG beat, the others on weak beats. If you play chord tones on STRONG
beats you have a lot of freedom to adlib on weak beats. In the following
example the scale of G7 is outlined. You get the following notes on STRONG
beats: G (1), G, F (7th), D (5th), D, B (3rd) and B again.
How to practice
If you practice these ideas you could use two methods: cycles and chord
changes.

1. Cycles
You could practice all these exercices on cycles of chords. For instance using
the cycle of fourths so as to practice in all keys each different chord.

It can help your ear and develop your sense of chords. Especially useful for
practicing the techniques on “stranger” scales, like phrygian, lydian, altered
and so on.

2. Chord changes and standards slow at first...

You could take a standard or a song, read over the chords and then take an
exercise and use it over the whole chorus. At first you don’t use a steady
beat. Just pay attention to using the techniques. Then play it at slow tempos
first, then till you master and use these techniques at a comfortable tempo
till you reach the right tempo.

Don’t worry if you can’t play Beboptunes at 300 bpm. Go over your Prestige-
recordings of Miles and relax, don’t worry.

Above all, be patient. Master each technique thoroughly before moving on. It could take you
minutes, hours of months, who cares. Each step is a step forward. BE PATIENT and practice as
much as you’re comfortable with. Don’t expect miracles, but you’ll definitely be sounding more
bebop as you progress....
LIST OF SCALES
The principle for the bebopscales is easy. For each dominant or minor chord
that isn’t a I chord, you insert an extra chromatic tone in between b7 and
the root.

For each major chord or minor chord that is a I chord, you insert an extra
chromatic tone in between the 5th and 6th.

For harmonic major and harmonic minor, you could use the same principle,
but these scales are not covered. The I chord of harmonic major doesn’t
have a bebopscale.

Using the bebopscale of dominant and dominantb6 (melodic

minor).

I frequently use the dominant bebopscale on other chords:

Phrygian: if you play the dominant bebopscale from the third of the phrygian
scale, you sound fine.

Lydian: if you play the dominant bebopscale from the second of the lydian
scale, ... gorgeous

Aeolian: if you play the dominant bebopscale from the b7th, it sounds great.

Locrian: if you play the dominant bebopscale from the b6th, you sound
bebop

Altered: if you play the dominantb6 bebopscale from the b6th or #5th, it
sounds wonderful

Dominant#11 or lydian dominant: if you play the dominatb6 bebopscale

from the second, you ‘ll end up sounding fantastic.

Major

Ten note scale

Dorian

Ten note scale

Phrygian

Ten note scale

Lydian

Ten note scale

Dominant
Ten note scale

Aeolian

Ten note scale

Locrian

Ten note scale

Melodic Minor

Ten note scale

Lydian dominant

Ten note scale

Locrian (mel minor)

Ten note scale

Altered

Ten note scale

. Step by step – The Neverending Scale
Exercise
Random changing of direction or the old up and down. In this chapter (follow
the links above) you'll find a lot of exercises to get to know the bebopscales
and to play in a bebop way.

Chapter 1. is all about the basics, getting to know the chord tones and
emphasizing them.

1.1. The Old Up And Down

1.2.Random Changing

1.3. Delay Chord Tones

1.4. Combining CT and Octave Displacement

1.5. Coltrane Blues Thing

1) The old up and down

You can create very powerful phrases just running up and down (following
the changes as they go by) and not changing direction before you run out
of keys or strings or cymbals.

Examples

NOTE: before moving to Cmaj 7 I had to insert an extra chromatic tone in

order to start the first beat of the third bar with a chord tone. We’re
talking rule of thumb n°3 here: moving to a chord tone from a strong
beat (4th beat of the G7 chord), insert one or an uneven number of notes.

Using the whole-tone scale (starting whole tone things on the third
beat...)

Examples
1) Random changing

Remember you can change direction on every note. If you do it right, you
will always have your chord tones on a strong beat.

NOTE: before moving to the third bar I already anticipated the Cmaj7
bebopscale one beat ahead.

Examples

Using diminished

Using Whole Tone

Examples
Delaying chord tones and then continuing up or changing
direction

If you are running up and down, you might want to delay the chord tones by
an EVEN number of notes like in this example:

From above with two extra notes for example

Examples

NOTA BENE: A small note on approach notes. If you are approaching

a chord tone from above, you should definitely want to use a diatonic
tone (see note). If you are approaching a chord tone from below, you
could use chromatic approach tones.

Note: But: it’s just in case you want to sound bebop. Remember Bill
Frisell... His teacher told him what the avoid notes are and being a
rebellious little gangster he checked these out first, only to emphasize
them in his playing. It makes him a wonderful musician, far removed from
bebop, but what beauty and modernity... Great!

Or from above and below (one note above, one note below)

Or by inserting an extra half step from below

Examples

Using four notes can make things even more interesting

Using diminished

Examples

Using Whole Tone

Examples
Example
Combining delaying the chord tone with octave displacement

In this example I use the fifth mode of harmonic minor on A altered.

What happens: I move to the chord tone from above, then progress
downwards but an octave higher and then I approach the next chord tone
with a delay (even number of notes).

Another example in which I approach the last chord tone with a different
kind of delay...

Listen

Just to show you what is possible, the old II-V. It’s a little bit stupid-
sounding, but shows you what you can do with this powerful technique.

Using diminished
Listen

Using Whole Tone

Listen
The Coltrane Blues Thing

• From CT down

In one of his late-50’s solo recordings he starts his chorus on the blues like
this

From the point of view of Mastering the Bebop Scales he does something
very specific: every time he hits a chord tone, he goes in the other direction
and plays the chromatic neighbouring tone (approach note, if you will).

The use of this can be limitless, keeping your bebopscale in mind.

Let’s take another blues example, but start on a different chord tone.

Listen

See what’s happening?

Let’s go back to the old II-V and make up an example using dorian and
mixolydian...
Now for the use of Diminished...

Listen

And for the Whole Tone Scale

Listen

But what if we turn the phrase upside down. Moving down, that is, instead of
moving up.

Well, the same thing goes...

Listen
Another way is:

• From the CT up

Listen

Listen

Downwards it gives you

Listen

Using Diminished

Listen

Using Whole Tone

Listen

• To a CT

A bit strange, since the chord tones don’t fall on strong beats is the following
example (but then again, it’s only theory, isn’t it...?)

Listen

Watch out for the seventh. You should use it, but it behaves strangly... you
could try this...

I put a little egg over the seventh....

Listen

Diminshed sounds just fine

Listen

Whole tone ‘s nice too...

Listen
Just one small note (for example: from a chord tone to the
third above and then back, or to the fifth and then back)

An example using a third above and moving downwards.

Nota Bene: I use the third as in a regular scale. So, if you take the third
of the b7th of a dominant scale, you play the ninth and not the root.

Listen

Let’s just say you skip to the third, but you don’t return to the original
chord tone but to the next non-chord tone. Then you’ll have to insert an
extra chromatic tone from above or below before the next chord tone.
Again, notice the trouble with the seventh of the dominant chord! I
haven’t resolved this to any set of solutions. It’s a dilemma: deal with it,
you can try to solve the problem, but you might as well leave it there
with a question mark. Still, this sounds good.

Listen

A third possibility is skipping to –let’s say a third- and then continuing not
with the starting CT but with a lower CT: listen,

Listen
Listen to how well it sounds with the diminished scale:

Listen

Try different intervals

Fourths:

Listen

Listen

Listen

Fifths.......experiment
Sixths.........experiment
Approaching each chord-tone from the opposite direction

If you are playing from low to high instead of inserting the next NCT before
approaching a CT, you take the NCT after the CT you are approaching. Let’s
make it clear with an example:

Listen

Or Diminished

Listen

Or Whole Tone

Listen

From high to low you can use the NCT after the next CT you are reaching for

Diatonically:
Listen

Or Chromatically

Listen

The same goes for the Diminished (even though you stick to the diatonic
tones)

Listen

For the Whole Tone Scale I suggest you stick to the diatonic tones also,
listen...

Listen
From any NCT to any CT or from any CT to any NCT

From any non chord tone to any chord tone...

Just the principles outlined in the rules of thumb.

In the example I focus on the G dominant scale, just to be sure...

Listen

Listen

Using diminished

Listen

Using Whole-Tone-Scale
Listen
From any CT to any CT and from any NCT to any NCT

Let’s just say you like to bend the rules a little and you want to move from
CT to CT. Well, no problem, just insert an extra tone before reaching the
next CT.

Listen

Listen
One starting note

• From below

If you approach the starting chord tone from below, you might consider
using a (chromatic) approach tone. You will prefer to start on a weak beat...

Listen

Using wider intervals you could get:

Listen

• From above

If you approach it from above you will mostly use a diatonic tone. Using a
chromatic approach tone from above will make you sound more modern, but
this course is focusing on bebop-phrasing.

Listen

Using wider intervals would get you into this example

Listen
Two starting notes

• From above

You insert an extra chromatic tone if the distance is a whole tone. Refer to
from above and below if the distance is only a half tone...

Listen

You could also use two diatonic tones...

Listen

• From below

Listen
Listen

Or you could also use two diatonic tones

Listen

• From above and below

Mostly you would use a chromatic approach note from below and not a
diatonic tone

Listen

Listen
Three starting notes

Listen

Listen

Listen

Listen

Listen
Listen
Four starting notes

You expand on the ideas you have already learned. I will limit myself to
some examples...

Listen

Listen

Listen
Chromatic Stretches

Inserting a larger number of notes (even or uneven)

• Bridging the interval of an uneven number of half steps:

The following intervals have an uneven number of half steps:

Minor Third

Fourth

Fifth

Sixth

Major Seventh

The rule here is

If you start on a strong beat: insert an extra tone before the CT you want to
reach. You can do this by approaching the CT from above or using the
technique described in Methenisms, Milesisms.

If you start on a weak beat, insert no extra tones...

Say you want to approach the b7th of G7 from the 4th: this makes an
interval of a Fifth. Then you insert an extra tone...

Listen

Listen

Say you want to approach the third of G7 from the fifht of G7. This is an
interval of a Third. The same goes here...
Listen

Listen

Same goes for the other direction: going up gives you the same rules as
above:

Listen

Let’s go for the sixth interval: from b7 of G7 to the 5th of G7:

Listen

• Bridging the interval of an even number of half steps:

Intervals with an even number of intervals are:

Major third

#11

#5
b6

b7

Here the rule is: If you start on a strong beat and the CT that you want to
reach is an even number of halfsteps away, you have to insert NO or an
even number of notes. You just walk chromatically to the CT.

On the other hand: if you start on a weak beat, insert one or an uneven
number of notes.

Take the same exercises as above, but with intervals with an even number
of half steps.
Methenisms, Milesisms

Pat Metheny, a dedicated follower of Miles Davis embellishes lines by

inserting ghost notes a third or minor third lower. The emphasis is on the
notes on the strong beats and the notes in between are just slightly
touched on, hardly played, you can’t identify them, but they are mildly
dissonant, and should be...

Listen

Miles used this technique extensively far before Pat Metheny could even
say ma-ma or pa-pa. Miles didn’t use these ghost notes (intervals of
thirds and minor thirds), but used whole steps down as ghost notes. Oh
Miles.........., man....

Listen

Principle is:

If you start on a strong beat insert the ghost tone immediately after your
starting tone. By the time you reach the CT, you’re back in sync
Listen

If you start on a weak beat, go down a chromatic tone before inserting

your ghost tone and then continue...

Listen
Using triplets

First some examples....

Listen

Listen

So, what’s the idea behind the use of triplets. Triplets break the flow of the
eighth notes, so you have to add an extra chromatic tone to regain the flow
of chord tones on strong beats, if you stay within the scale without skips.

Triplets add a nice touch, you get off course, and you get back by inserting
that extra note, terrific.

You can expand on this using arpeggio’s and so on. For these, the rules all
go. If you use a three note arpeggio, you should check your next note after
the triplet. If you land on a chord tone (on this first beat, a strong beat),
nothing’s wrong, if you land on a non chord tone, you should add an extra
half tone...

Listen
Listen
Using arpeggio’s

• Arpeggio turnback

Listen

We use our chord tone as a starting point and the arpeggio turns back to it.

If you use three note arpeggio’s as in the example above, you land on a
non-chord tone on a strong beat. You should consider inserting an extra
chromatic tone.

The arpeggio can be turned upside down like in the following example

Listen

If you use four-note-arpeggio’s, you stay far removed from trouble.

Listen

• Arpeggio’s to continue

Between the chord tone and the next tone you insert the three note arpeggio
from the next tone and then continue down or up or changing direction
Listen

You could think of the same two notes F and E and consider taking a three
note arpeggio from above, but –as much as I advise you to use your
imagination- use your ears to judge if it’s any good.

• Leaping off the scale with arps

You can always insert arpeggio’s but keep in mind the rules of thumb. If the
last note of your arpeggio is a CT on a weak beat, insert an uneven number
of notes before continuing. If it’s a CT on a strong beat all’s well. If the last
note is a NCT on a weak beat, you’re ok, if it’s on a strong beat insert an
uneven number of notes before continuing..

Listen
Embellishing the triad

• 1 embellishing tone

Approaching from below (means using chromatic tones)

Approaching from above (means using diatonic tones)

• 2 embellishing tones
 • 3 approach notes

You can find as many examples as you can think of... it’s up to you...
Examples
Embellishing every scale tone

After the chord tone I went up to the next diatonic tone, you could easily use
the third, to great effect...

Sounds beautiful with dominant b9th

Examples