How to Actually Learn Bebop (Step-by-Step) feat. Cecil Alexander

Mastering bebop language gives you a foundation for almost every style of jazz. 

And that’s why we created our 30 Day Bebop Chops course. This course is designed for players who love bebop, but when it comes time to sit down and organize their practice routine, feel like they don't have a clear structure for improving consistently.

If you want to hear how Cecil plays through anything we talk about today, make sure to check out our accompanying YouTube video “How to Actually Learn Bebop (Step-by-Step) feat. Cecil Alexander”

Let’s get playing!

Contents

Enclosure and chromatic approach exercise

Bebop lick from Sonny Rollins

1, 2, 3, 5 cells through “Scrapple from the Apple”

Motivic development over “Scrapple from the Apple”

Enclosure and chromatic approach exercise

Let's get into the first concept. We're gonna do an exercise that combines an enclosure and a chromatic approach with the bebop scales by just approaching the chord tones. 

So starting with approaching the root of Cmaj7 then the 3...

the 5 and the 6.

Let’s do the same with the G dominant bebop scale. 

So here's approaching the root, the 3…

the 5 and the b7. 

And then you could do the same with the E Phrygian dominant bebop scale. 

Here’s approaching the root, 3…

the 5, and the b7.

Bebop lick from Sonny Rollins

Next up, we're going to be checking out a bebop lick from a master. This is a lick from Sonny Rollins that's pretty heavily influenced by the playing style of Charlie Parker. 

So this lick is going to be over F7 and it looks like this.

We start off with the 4 of F7, give an enclosure to the 3, and then we have this shape, which is pretty cool because it has kind of two approaches built into it, so starting from the 3, chromatic approach up to the 2, and then a chromatic approach up to the root, and then another chromatic approach descending this time with an eighth note triplet down to the 6. Then a diatonic enclosure to the b7, and we have that classic bebop leap down a 6 within the scale, and then just a little melodic tag at the end, which is just 6 to 5. 

If you hear a phrase like this that catches your ear in a recording, you want to first sing it, just to make sure that you connect it to your ears, and then try transcribing it from your singing. This is going to help connect what you hear with what you play, and helps you grab these things from tunes you like. 

1, 2, 3, 5 cells through “Scrapple from the Apple”

Next up, we're going to be checking out using 1, 2, 3, 5 cells through the changes of “Scrapple from the Apple.” 

Just checking out a couple of the options we have here on our ii-V (Gm7 to C7). You can reduce this to one change, thinking of it as C7 and those related 1, 2, 3, 5, cells, you'd have off the root, off the 2, off the 4, off of the 5 (which is coincidentally also that ii chord), and also off the b7. 

So all of those cells will work really well over that ii-V section, then on that little bluesy walk up section.

We’re thinking F7 and then either Bb7 into B diminished as is written, or just Bb7 and fill the space of that B diminished by just thinking of Bb7 still. And there, we’ll think of all of those dominant 1, 2, 3, 5, cells off of F7 and also off of Bb7.

Usually on the B diminished, we can play arpeggio ideas highlighting that chord change. And then for the B section, where you have those extended dominant chords, you have so much freedom where you can place those 1, 2, 3, 5, cells.

So on A doing the same thing on D...

G...

and C, and you can even experiment with some substitutions too, if you want. 

Here's that over “Scrapple from the Apple”. 

Motivic development over “Scrapple from the Apple”

For the final workout, we're going to look at some motivic development through the changes of “Scrapple from the Apple”. 

For this one, we’re trying to take a melodic idea or rhythmic idea and develop it a little bit to create some call and response. We might change the notes up a little bit in order to fit different chord types. But really just follow your ear and try to be melodic. 

That’s all we have for today, but if you want to dive even deeper on this, make sure to check out our course 30-Day Bebop Chops or if you want to see how Cecil plays through anything we talked about, make sure to check out our accompanying YouTube video, How to Actually Learn Bebop (Step-by-Step) feat. Cecil Alexander.

We’ll see you next time!