BEBOP – PERPETUAL MOTION EXERCISES
Round and around and around we go… The laws of thermodynamics don’t apply to jazz. Bebop is much more than just one parcular style, it is prey much the !grammar" of modern jazz, and bebop !lic#s" are not so much clich$s as essenal elements of speech within the jazz language. %ere are some bebop e&ercises to pracce that repeat themsel'es o'er and o'er and ma#e musical sense, so they wor# in the real world. (layers as di'erse as )hic# )orea, *c)oy Tyner, )ecil Taylor Taylor,, (aul Bley and others all de'eloped original styles that seem far remo'ed from the sound of bebop. But if you ta#e a close loo# at what they’re they ’re playing, you’ll +nd it’s saturated saturated with bebop principles. There’s a good reason for this. The early bebop players de'eloped a system that made it easier to impro'ise strong solo lines. There’s nothing arbitrary in this system, the !rules" are there for sound logical and musical reasons. The #ey elements of bebop are -.)onsistent -.)onsistent addion of certain passing tones to scales so that the strong chord tones coincide with the strong beats. ./se of encircling gestures to crea'ely delay the arri'al of any gi'en tone. 0.1trong chord tones are approached smoothly across the bar by whole2step, half2step half2step or by e&tending an arpeggio. 3.Balance between the use of arpeggios and scales. 4.Balance between the use of upward and downwar downward d moon. 5.6otes are o7en doing more than one job 8 eg, appearing as part of an arpeggio and also as part of an e&tended encircling gesture that follows. 9.6otes used at the point of change between chords either ancipate the chord that follows or wor# o'er both chords. :ctually, these are mostly generally useful guidelines that will ma#e any melodic line in any musical style sound good. There are plenty of boo#s out there that will gi'e you the details of bebop scale theory. There are also boo#s containing hundreds of bebop paerns, but it has been my e&perience that when musicians truly internalize just one single paern, it can transf transform orm their playin playing. g. ;nowi ;nowing ng why why the phrase phrase is const construc ructed ted the way way it is, is the #ey to this this deeper deeper understanding. <’'e gi'en a lile tal#2through of what’s going on in each of the eight +gures that follow. =earn them parrot2fashion if you wish, but you’ll get ten mes more out them if you de'ote some me to analyzing how they’re constructed. The +gures gi'en here are composed of lots of di>erent fragments, 'ery common and representa'e bebop gestures, strung together and designed to repeat across two bars. They +t the major <<2?, <<2?2<2?< and minor <<2?2< progressions that form the bac#bone of modern jazz. These chord se@uences o7en repeat in real2life music, so it’s natural to loop them when you’re praccing. The fact that these are !perpetual moon" e&ercises should also help you get more out of your pracce me by ma#ing the process of repeon logical and musical. =earning fragments strung together as a line li#e this is 'ery eAcient. nce you ha'e a two2bar +gure under your +ngers, you may wish to rale o> the whole thing. : much more crea'e approach is to use fragments from the complete +gure when the occasion demands. erent ways if you’'e learned some e&les of how it ’s done from the 'ery start.
HAVE YOU GOT RHYTHM?
:nother #eystone of this style is 'ery ac'e use of rhythm. Chile bebop is predominantly played in a stream of eighth notes, it is common to mi& things up using rests and rhythmic displacement. 1omeone once said of )harlie (ar#er D<
forget whoE that the rhythms he played were so strong that any notes would ha'e sounded good o'er them. 1ome speci+c e&les of rhythmic de'ices, and the players associated with them, are as follows F/se of triplets and classical2style ornaments based on semi@ua'ers D(ar#erE D(ar#erE F/se of crotchet triplets DBill G'ans 8 whose style was more inHuenced by bebop than many people recognizeE F/se of odd note groupings 8 4s and 9s 8 to +t e&tended ideas into the space of two of four beats DIizzy Jillespie, later )oltraneE The ne&t me you’re listening to a good bebop solo, focus on the rhythms 8 it’s actually @uite easy to transcribe just the rhythms if you don’t worry about the note pitches, and well worth doing to e&pand the rhythmic possibilies in your own playing.
SUGGESTIONS SUGGESTIONS FOR PRACTICE
-.(racse the +gures round and round as wrien. )oncentrate on what is going on harmonically as you play through them. .G&periment with lea'ing di>erent tones out to isolate the internal fragments and alter the feel of the whole +gure. =ea'in =ea'ing g notes notes out andKor andKor compress compressing ing parts of the +gures +gures into triple triplets ts is a good good way way to bring bring more more rhythm rhythmic ic sophiscaon into your playing. 0.erent +gures, crea'ely altering the rhythms to +t them together. together. 3.Linally, 3.Linally, impro'ise freely o'er the chord se@uences, loo#ing to insert pieces of the +gures to launch, e&tend or end your line. By the way, it’s best to begin by assimilang these #ind of lines thoroughly in one #ey, before you ta#e them round the cycle of ?s. Mou will e'entually need them in all #eys, but you’ll be able to learn them much @uic#er in all the #eys if you are completely clear about what’s going on in one #ey +rst.
BEBOP PERPETUAL MOTION FIGURE 1
The +rst si& notes are a popular fragment using the segment of the bebop scale with the passing tone. The ne&t four are a truncated 'ersion of the same fragment, but in a di>erent place in the bar. The line is e&tended up the J9 chord in 0rds, using a sharp --th to bypass the !a'oid" note, and then bac# down the J9 scale Dwhen the --th doesn’t need to be raised because it falls on a wea# upbeat. This +gure also wor#s the other way round 8 the bars can be re'ersed against the chords 8 Dwhere the )N is oponalE.
BEBOP PERPETUAL MOTION FIGURE 2
?ariaon on the +rst +gure. This +gure also wor#s the other way round 8 the bars can be re'ersed against the chords 8 Dwhere the )N is oponalE.
BEBOP PERPETUAL MOTION FIGURE 3
Treat the +rst note as a pic#up to a 'ery common bebop gesture which is all about lowering the root of Im9 by semitone steps, seesawing with the 4th below, to approach the 0rd of the J9bO chord that follows. The line then climbs the diminished scale that goes with J9bO in thirds, descends the scale for two tones, and ends with a chromac approach to the opening pic#up. :ny of the abo'e three +gures can also resol'e to ).
BEBOP PERPETUAL MOTION FIGURE 4
The +rst three notes are another popular fragment which chromacally encircles the root of the Im9 chord. Then it’s up the scale that +ts both Im9 and J9 with a s#ip at the end. The ) doesn’t need raising o'er the J9 chord because it appears on a wea# upbeat.
BEBOP PERPETUAL MOTION FIGURE 5
Iescending melodic cell paern D40-E o'er the Im9, then the +rst four notes of the popular fragment of the bebop scale o'er the J9. This leads smoothly, upwards this me, to the 9th of the ) chord. Then down a )P arpeggio to a seesaw +gure on the :9bO chord between the 0rd and bOth. The three +nal notes DBb, J and JNE form an e&tended chromac approach to the 0rd of the Im9 chord D:E that we started with.
BEBOP PERPETUAL MOTION FIGURE 6
That popular bebop scale fragment again, with the +rst two tones acng as a pic#up, then an e&tended chromac encircling DJ, L, I, INE of the 0rd of the ) chord. The line then drops to the root of ), then ancipates the :9bO chord by a beat with its 0rd and 4th. Linally up to the 9th and root of the :9bO chord, arri'ing bac# at the pic#up.
BEBOP PERPETUAL MOTION FIGURE 7
The +rst three notes descend the Im9 scale. The ne&t four notes just ignore the J9 chord altogether and form an e&tended chromac approach to the 4th of the ) chord. The line then descends a melodic cell D40-E in ) and ascends the diminished scale that goes with the :9bO chord in 0rds.
BEBOP PERPETUAL MOTION FIGURE 8
: lile something in minor. The +rst four notes go up a 9th chord in IQ , then the ne&t three notes descend the diminished scale that goes with J9bO or J9alt. The :b and LN also form an encirclement of J, which is the 4th of the )m chord that follows. Then down a melodic cell D40-E in ) minor, minor, which connects naturally with another melodic cell D30-E 8 'ery bluesy sounding. The Gb, ) and )N then form an encirclement bac# to the I. 6ote also that the +nal four notes in the second bar +t both )m and :9alt Dthe ?< chordE.
STRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
This is the sort of thing you can come up with by crea'ely combining the fragments from the +gures with some connec'e material Dthe chord se@uence is Im9 J9 S )P :9bO repeang o'er and o'erE