Bebop music came out after the Big Band Swing Era.  Bebop is a style that was very fresh to the audience's ear.  This breakthrough emerged in the 1940's and was still going strong in the 1950's. It filled a void that was so needed for creative improvisers that were cropping up all around who wanted to leave behind the restricted sounds of big band music.

Bebop bands were mainly quartets, sextets and quintets, which made common sense because it gave musicians more opportunity to solo.  They could play over common blues changes.  The chords and rhythm sections evolved at a fast rate with the Bebop breakthrough to a more heavy swing feel with fast tempos and more complex chord changes.

Bebop has an attractive sound with a lot of emphasis on the demands of the rhythm section.  Musicians were experimenting with complex chord changes and hip melodies with strong friendly notes on the down beat in the bars of the music. This really makes the song groove.

This bebop genre of jazz music became extremely popular and was considered a more intellectual style of jazz.  One thing's sure, whether listeners were intellectuals or not, jazz club owners were thrilled because their clubs were packed each night with adoring fans of the new style.

With my new Bebop DVD, I give the student in-depth instruction on how to make bebop scales, and examples on how to use them with good phrasing by understanding  where in the bar you will find the strong beats and weak beats.  Bebop is the art of learning to play any chromatic tone on any chord.  That is easy to say, but it is hard to do.  An experienced Bebop player has the wisdom to choose the right altered notes at any given moment and uses chromatic lines to make the music adventuresome.

To begin adding some Bebop scales and phrases to your blues playing, you should take a second look at our old, friendly Mixolydian Mode.  It is sometimes called the dominant scale because the notes found in this scale work well against dominant seventh chords.

There are two ways to look at the Mixolydian Mode. I am going to pick the note C and then make a C scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C). This C scale is a Major Ionian Diatonic Scale.  Notice that the B note is a Major 7th.  This is simply a C Major Scale, not a Mixolydian Scale.  The C major key has no sharps or flats. 

Now let's turn the C Major scale into a C Mixolydian Mode. I will again use the C note as my starting point to create this scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C).  You see that I added a Bb note. This B flat note is a Minor 7th.   The Bb note is now one tone away from the last note of the scale. The Bb note gives a wonderful solid tone.

Let's look at it this way.  The C Mixolydian Mode is the 5th degree of a key center. What is that key center?  If you count up four degrees from C to find the starting note of the key center is F.   Now let's start on F and count up: F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F. This all makes perfect sense because the key signature for F Major has only one flat and that is Bb.

Okay, let's think about what you've just played. You played an F Major Scale and you know that the 5th degree away from the F key center is C.  You can clearly see that the key of F has only one flat note and that note is Bb.  Let's review the C Mixolydian scale it is, C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C.

When you make the C Mixolydian scale turn into a C Mixolydian Bebop scale you have to use one extra note. There are now eight notes instead of seven. This is an important point to pay attention to.  To make this a Mixolydian C Bebop scale we have to make sure the scale has the Bb, and the B natural.  The notes used to play a C Mixolydian Bebop Scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, B natural, C.  

The other Bebop scale is  what I call a 'Bebop fully loaded scale'.  Over the years it got this name the Major Bebop scale. In this scale you add the flat 6th degree to the Mixolydian Bebop scale.  Now the scale is called a Major Bebop scale. The notes for a Major Bebop scale are: C, D, E, F, G, Ab, A natural, B natural, C. 

The other variation of a Bebop scale is to play C, D, E, F, G, Ab, A natural, Bb, B natural, C.   This one has all the chromatic notes.  It is a cool sound but you're ear may get bored of it.  It is best I think to mix them all up when you are improvising.

Study the bebop scales slowly, learning through experience. Slowly play a C minor pentatonic blues scale from your favorite blues licks in your comfort confident zone.  Combine the F bebop scale F7 chord ( 1 )  chromatic notes of your choice and then go back to the pentatonic blues licks and the  scale you are really familiar with.  Repeat this for learning to use the Bb Bebop scale for the Bb7 chord ( 1V ) , and the C Bebop scale for the C7 chord ( V ).

I strongly believe you will learn very fast because you are playing it with the minor blues pentatonic phrases that you already are so familiar with.  My Bebop DVD   slowly adds the bebop scale to blues licks and blues scales. I have seen this work really well for my students in the past.  I also will show you how phrasing is so important and crucial to where the scale tones fall on strong or weak beats of the bar.

Through my teaching method, I show my students how to take certain cluster of notes on the fret board that will instantly trigger their mind to know where the 1, 1V, and V chords are, and you will be able to play the corresponding Bebop scale to these chords at a drop of a hat.  It really is a blast to point this out because I am excited to show my students how to use a Bebop scale, and feel that excitement in ones improvisation.

These bebop scales should only be used as scales, not to construct melodic phrases; otherwise the added chromatic notes will no longer be passing notes and will not fit the chord. The b7 (or call it Minor 7), the b6th degree and the 6th natural are awesome chromatic tones. 

The Bebop era was an amazing time and a fresh break from the normal style of music.  Bebop made such an impact by changing dance music into an art form.  Although all styles of jazz and blues are still active today, bebop is considered a true mainstream. This is why so many young musicians are revisiting the music of bebop master musicians and bebop's stimulating sound.  It is a timeless form of expression.

By: Rick Washbrook

June 14, 2011

http://www.washbrookmusic.com 

Guitar lesson Newmarket Add Bebop Scales Into Your Playing? Rick Washbrook