Bebop scale is a term referring to the practice of adding a note (typically a chromatic passing tone) to any common seven tone scale in order to make it an eight tone scale. Having eight notes enables the primary chord tones to continuously fall on the on-beats when the scale is played sequentially. This is unlike common seven note scales in which the chord tones do not all naturally fall on the on-beats due to an odd number of notes. These bebop scales are frequently used in

jazz improvisation Jazz improvisation is the spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts in a performance of jazz music. It is one of the defining elements of jazz. Improvisation is composing on the spot, when a singer or instrumentalist inv ...

. Jazz educator David Baker nicknamed these scales the "bebop scales" because they were used often by jazz artists from the Bebop Era. These artists include

Charlie Christian Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. He was among the first electric guitarists and was a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. A pioneer in the development of bebop and its associated contributions to jazz theory,Grove Powell's application of complex phrasing to ...

, and

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

, to name a few. In general, bebop scales consist of traditional scales with an added passing tone, and when the scale is played from any chord tone and placed on any on-beat, then all other chord tones will also continuously fall on on-beats. Chord tones on on-beats are characteristic of all strong melodies throughout musical history. The remaining notes in the scale are non-chord tones and all fall on the off-beats. As such, generally, any scale of seven notes may be modified by the addition of an additional note to accomplish the same effect allowing chord tones to naturally stay on the beat. The modifier "bebop" is reserved to indicate those modified scales most frequently used—and popularized—during the bebop era.

Bebop dominant scale

The bebop dominant scale is derived from the

Mixolydian mode Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic s ...

and has a chromatic passing note added in between the flatted 7th (7) and the tonic. The chord tones

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, 3rd, 5th, and 7th will naturally and continuously stay on the beat when played starting from a chord tone starting on an on-beat. Historically, in strong melody writing, chord tones are usually placed on the on-beats and nonchord tones are placed on the off-beats. The bebop scale helps enable this characteristic in melodic improvisation. : It has all the notes in both the major scale and the Mixolydian scale of the same root. This scale is often used over

dominant seventh chord Domination or dominant may refer to: Society * World domination, structure where one dominant power governs the planet * Colonialism in which one group (usually a nation) invades another region for material gain or to eliminate competition * Ch ...

s Miller, Michael (2004). ''Complete Idiot's Guide to Solos and Improvisation'', p. 96. . and over II-V chord progressions.

Bebop major scale

The bebop major scale is derived from the

Ionian mode The Ionian mode is a Mode (music), musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale also called the major scale. It is named after the Ionians, Ionian Greeks. It is the name assigned by Heinrich Glarean in 1547 to his new Gregorian mode#Authent ...

(

major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at doubl ...

) and has a chromatic passing note added (a 5) between the 5th and 6th degrees of the major scale. Adding the 5 note to the seven-note major scale allows the chord tones 1, 3, 5 and 6 (a major 6th chord) to land on on-beats when the scale is played sequentially. :

Barry Harris Barry Doyle Harris (December 15, 1929 – December 8, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. He was an exponent of the bebop style. Influenced by Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, Harris in turn influenc ...

called this scale the major sixth diminished scale and said that it is derived from a major sixth chord (1 3 5 6 of the scale), and a fully diminished chord from the second degree (2 4 b6 7 of the scale).

Bebop melodic minor scale

The bebop melodic minor scale is derived from the ascending form of the

melodic minor scale A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term c ...

(

jazz minor scale The jazz minor scale or ascending melodic minor scale is a derivative of the melodic minor scale, except only the ascending form of the scale is used. As the name implies, it is primarily used in jazz, although it may be found in other types of m ...

) and has a chromatic passing note between the 5th and 6th scale degrees. : It has all the notes of both the ascending form of the melodic minor scale and the

harmonic minor scale The harmonic minor scale (or Aeolian ♮7 scale) is a Scale (music), musical scale derived from the natural minor scale, with the minor seventh degree raised by one semitone to a major seventh, creating an augmented second between the sixth and ...

of the same root. This scale is often used over minor sixth chords. Barry Harris called this the minor sixth diminished scale and said that it is derived from a minor sixth chord (1 b3 5 6 of the scale), and a fully diminished chord from the second degree (2 4 b6 7 of the scale). These scales are listed in David N. Baker's books on bebop. They are also included, with the exception of the Dorian bebop scale, in Roni Ben-Hur's book ''Talk Jazz: A Comprehensive Collection of Bebop Studies,'' which is derived from the work of Barry Harris. Ben-Hur further elaborates on the concept of placing additional chromatic passing tones between other notes in the scales.

Bebop harmonic minor scale

The bebop harmonic minor scale (or bebop natural minor scale, as listed in Mark Levine's ''The Drop 2 Book'') is derived from the

and has a chromatic passing note added (an additional minor 7 (7)) between the minor 6th (6) and major 7th scale degrees. : It contains all of the notes of both the

and the

natural minor scale In Western classical music theory, the minor scale refers to three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending). These scales contain all th ...

(

Aeolian mode The Aeolian mode is a musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale also called the natural minor scale. On the piano, using only the white keys, it is the scale that starts with A and continues to the next A only striking white keys. Its a ...

) of the same root. It can be used on all three chords of a minor ii–V–I progression. It is the sixth mode of the bebop major scale: for instance, the C bebop harmonic minor scale has the same pitches as the E bebop major scale.

Seventh flat 5 diminished scale

The seventh flat 5 diminished scale (which is identical to Messiaen's sixth mode of limited transposition) is derived from the

whole tone scale In music, a whole-tone scale is a scale (music), scale in which each Musical note, note is separated from its neighbors by the interval (music), interval of a whole tone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, there are only two Complement (music)#Ag ...

, with an added fourth and a natural seventh degree. It is also a combination of a dominant seventh with a flat fifth on the first degree, and a fully diminished chord on the second degree. :

References

Bibliography

External links

The Bebop Scale
jazzguitar.be
Jazz Lesson: Bebop Line Building
nyjazzacademy.com {{scales Bebop Heptatonic scales Jazz terminology Hemitonic scales Tritonic scales