This is What Makes Bebop Sound Like Bebop (feat. Kellin Hanas)
- Jazz Lesson Videos
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Today we're going to be looking at one of the most important ingredients in jazz improvisation, which is approach notes and enclosures. These are devices that can help connect your lines, create harmonically interesting ideas, and make your improvisation sound more like the players we all love listening to—like John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. So we're going to tackle five essential ways to implement them into your own improvisation.
Everything we’re going to talk about today comes from Kellin’s resource with Jazz Lesson Videos, 25 Approach Notes and Enclosure Etudes. In this collection, you'll find 25 etudes that explore approach notes, enclosures, bebop vocabulary, major and minor ii-V-I language, and ways to combine these concepts, so that you can feel more fluent when improvising.
If you want to follow along with Kellin as she plays through any of the examples we cover today, make sure to check out our accompanying YouTube video, This is What Makes Bebop Sound Like Bebop (feat. Kellin Hanas).
Now let’s get playing!
Contents
Approaching chord tones
Some of you may know what chord tones are, but for those who don't, chord tones make up the meat of a single chord, the 1, 3, 5, and 7, whether it's dominant or major. It's important that these notes are present in our improvisations, because it's kind of the base of the harmony. The reason why approach notes are so important is because without them, we would only be playing chord tones, and our ideas would sound choppy and out of place. The good news is that we can use every single note in our chromatic scale to help us cleanly approach our chord tones. An approach tone is just a note that acts as a bridge from one note to another, so for example, if concert Bb is the note that you want to approach, you can either approach it from above with a B natural or from below with an A natural. Here's an example from the resource using approach notes to approach a chord tone.
So as you can see in this measure from the solo on “After You've Gone,” we’re targeting the 1 and the 5 in this measure, targeting G of the G7 by going a half step below it and approaching it that way, and then we’re also targeting the 5, which is D on the “and” of 3 through also an approach note of a half step below.
You can also see a few measures later in the same line that we’re approaching the root of this Ebm7 chord just from a half step above, so in this one line we’re approaching notes both from a half step below and a half step above, and it's important that you learn how to do this, so that you can emphasize the chord's harmonic base while still being able to extend your ideas past the chord tones, and all while creating tension and release, which is everywhere in this music.
Approaching non-chord tones
We just talked about how important it is to use chord tones, but it's equally important to get other sounds in there as well. Focusing on chord extensions in our playing and being able to approach non-chord tones gives you another tool in your toolbox and another sound to use. These extra sounds that you can use are the 9 (or 2), 11 (or 4), and 13 (or 6). You can get even more complicated than this with the b9, #9, #11, and b13 for even more colors. Here's an example from the resource approaching non-chord tones.
As you can see in this solo on “Lullaby of Birdland,” we’re using two different ways of targeting non-chord tones. The first way, we’re approaching the major 3 of a minor chord, and we’re getting there through a half step above the target note. So, approaching a non-chord tone by a half step allows you to even go further outside of the key, like we do later, and then eventually we resolve.
The second example in this line is that we target the b9 of a dominant chord, and approach that also from a half step below, which is the root. This kind of chromatic movement also happens in bebop scales, and the reason why we add these chromatic tones to bebop scales is so that all of the chord tones happen on the big beats, and you can see that that's what we do in this line.
Being able to play and hear non-chord tones is essential to you becoming more fluent and expanding your language.
Enclosures
The third concept of today is enclosures. Enclosures are a way to approach notes, but this time, instead of just approaching from either above or below, you're doing both and making them work together. You can think of enclosures as a device that cradles a target note.
Adding enclosures is another way to extend your ideas and also make your ideas sound less like you're playing linear ideas or scales. So, here's an example from the resource utilizing enclosures.
You can see in this measure on the “and” of 3, we’re playing C and we’re trying to enclose it from below first with A, and then finishing off the enclosure after the C, cradling it with a Bb. Not all enclosures have to be approaching notes from half steps. It can also be whole steps. And then, in the next measure on beat two, we’re trying to enclose a G and approach it below from an F#, and then we’re ending the enclosure with an E. An enclosure is basically the child of an above and below approach note. So, once you can play all three, you'll be on the right path.
ii-V-I language
For our next concept, let's take a look at ii-V-I language. ii-V-I progressions are a type chord progression that show up everywhere in jazz, and being able to navigate them is imperative to improvising over most jazz standards. It's important to be able to play ideas that move throughout the entire progression, so that things don't feel disconnected. This is where our best friends, approach notes and enclosures come in. Take a look at this example from the resource, using approach notes over a ii-V-I progression.
You can see that there are many approach notes, so the “and” of 4 going into beat 1 is an approach tone. The first note of this triplet is an approach note into the second note. The third note of that triplet is an approach tone into beat 3, and then the “and” of 4 is an approach note into beat 1 of that Abmaj7. And then also at the end of this measure on beat 2, we have an enclosure to beat 3.
Putting it all together
Our final concept of the day is combining everything together into complete ideas. Everything that we covered today are individual concepts, but the greats that we all know and love utilized all of them within a single solo, and even in a single line. And eventually, by doing these exercises, your solos will start to sound less like the exercises and more like you're speaking a language fluently. So, in the resource, you can find all of today's concepts within single solos and single lines. Let's take a look at a line where we use approach notes, chord tones, non-chord tones, and enclosures.
Now, of course, getting to this point takes a lot of careful practice and time, so in your own practicing, try playing a single line over ii-V-I using both approach notes and enclosures within the same line. So maybe on the ii chord you'll focus on chord tones, on the V you'll focus on non chord tones, and then maybe your tonic chord you can have an enclosure in it. It's all about experimentation, and listening to your favorite players and how they approach things is key.
So that’s all we have for today, but if you want to hear how Kellin played through anything we talked about, make sure to check out our accompanying YouTube video This is What Makes Bebop Sound Like Bebop (feat. Kellin Hanas). And if you want to dive deeper into any of the concepts from today, make sure to check out our resource, 25 Approach Notes and Enclosure Etudes.
We’ll see you next time!