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. An eight tone scale is balanced, meaning that it contains an even number of notes (8), and an even number of notes enables the primary chord tones to continuously fall on the strong beats of "1 2 3 4" (downbeats). This is unlike common seven note scale (an odd quantity of notes) in which the chord tones do not all naturally fall on the beats "1 2 3 4" (downbeats). 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. Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained nati ...

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

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of modern ...

, 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 improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

, 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 (1 3 5 6 in major) and placed on any downbeat 1 2 3 or 4,

downbeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

, then all other chord tones (1 3 5 6 in major) will also continuously fall on downbeats 1 2 3 and 4. Chord tones on downbeats are characteristic of all strong melodies throughout musical history. The remaining notes in the scale ( non-chord tones 2 4 5 and 7 in major) fall on the upbeats (the "+" counts between downbeats 1 2 3 and 4). As such, generally, any scale of seven notes may be modified by the addition of an additional note to accomplish this same eight note balancing effect that enables chord tones to naturally stay on the beat. The modifier "bebop" is reserved to indicate those scales most frequently used—and popularised—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 scal ...

and has a chromatic passing note added in between the flatted 7th (7) and the 8th

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

. The chord tones Root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th will naturally and continuously stay on the beat when played starting from a chord tone starting on a downbeat. Historically, in strong melody writing, chord tones are usually placed on the beats and nonchord tones are placed on the upbeats. 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 In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord, usually built on the fifth degree of the major scale, and composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. Thus it is a major triad tog ...

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

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. Life and career Harris was born in Detroit, Michigan, on December ...

, the dominant scale is played over the entire ii-V chord sequence. Harris explained there is no time to switch from a ii scale to a V scale. Thus, over a ii-V, such as , Dmi7 G7 , , according to Harris, a bop musician would simply play the G7 (bebop) scale.

Bebop major scale

The bebop major scale, or what

called the major sixth diminished scale, is derived from the

Ionian mode Ionian mode is a musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale also called the major scale. It is the name assigned by Heinrich Glarean in 1547 to his new authentic mode on C (mode 11 in his numbering scheme), which uses the diatonic octav ...

(

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 double i ...

) 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 makes it an even number, a balanced quantity of eight notes. This, means that the now balanced scale will enable the chord tones to stay on the beats which is historically a characteristic of strong melodies. The chord tones of the C major bebop scale are C E G and A (the C6 chord). The non-chord tones are considered D F Ab and B (2 4 5 and 7 which also happen to form an important diminished chord, see Barry Harris jazz theory). :

Bebop melodic minor scale

The bebop melodic minor scale, or what Barry Harris would call the minor sixth diminished scale, is derived from the ascending form of the

melodic minor scale In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...

(

jazz minor scale Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major f ...

) and has a chromatic

passing note A nonchord tone (NCT), nonharmonic tone, or embellishing tone is a note in a piece of music or song that is not part of the implied or expressed chord set out by the harmonic framework. In contrast, a chord tone is a note that is a part of the ...

between the 5th and 6th notes. Barry Harris further says 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). : It has all the notes of both the ascending form of the melodic minor scale and the

harmonic minor scale In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which als ...

of the same root. This scale is often used over minor sixth chords. 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 Roni Ben-Hur is an Israeli jazz guitarist who immigrated to the United States in 1985. His parents were Tunisian-Jewish from Tunisia. Biography Roni Bohobza grew up in Dimona, Israel. He is the youngest of seven children and one of two born aft ...

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

natural minor scale In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...

(

Aeolian mode The Aeolian mode is a musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale also called the natural minor scale. On the white piano keys, it is the scale that starts with A. Its ascending interval form consists of a ''key note, whole step, half step ...

) of the same root. It can be used on all three chords of a minor ii–V–I progression. It is the seventh 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 in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, there are only two complementary whole-tone scales, both six-note or ''hexatonic'' sc ...

, 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