The Bebop Scale In Jazz

In this lesson we are going to take a brief look at the jazz bebop scale and how to use the bebop scale when playing jazz. The bebop scale is used mainly by jazz players and the idea is that by adding an extra note to a seven note scale, the chord tones will tend to fall in the right places making jazz lines sound more interesting and melodic. All bebop scales are just regular seven note scales with an added chromatic note. The great thing about bebop scales is simply that if you play and eighth note run starting on a chord tone, the remaining chord tones will tend to fall on the strong beats making them really useful for jazz improvisation.

One thing I would keep in mind when learning bebop scales is that you should not get too hung up on them. In many ways bebop scales are an intellectual exercise and you should not get too obsessed with learning them in the same way you would learn any other scale. I like to use them to create interesting bebop lines but there is no need to start obsessing about learning the bebop scales inside out. They are useful tool for improvising but should be seen as nothing more than that. Let your ears guide your playing more than your intellect.

There are three common bebop scales the bebop major scale, the bebop dominant scale and the bebop dorian scale. Each bebop scale is just a regular scale with one more chromatic note added to make the scale flow more smoothly and allow you to target chord tones more easily.

The Bebop Major Scale

The bebop major scale is just a major scale with an added #5 note. In C, the bebop major scale looks like this:

C, D, E, F, G, G#, A, B

The Bebop Dominant Scale

The bebop dominant scale is a mixolydian mode with an added major seventh. The notes of the C dominant bebop scale are:

C D, E, F, G, A, Bb, B

The Bebop Dorian Scale

The bebop dorian scale, as the name implies, is simply a dorian scale with an added major third. The bebop dorian scale is a mode of the bebop dominant scale and contains, in the key of C, the notes:

C, D, Eb E, F, G, A Bb.

Bebop scales are nothing more than regular scales with an added note. All bebop scales contain eight notes. I hope you enjoyed this brief lesson on the bebop scale. Try experimenting with it in your improvisations but think of the bebop scale as a tool rather than an essential scale to learn.