March 2010 Archives

Last night, we studied/practiced/improvised with the bebop scale. We played with different ways to get from a non-chord tone (on the beginning of a beat), to a chord tone by the second beat. They included:

• playing the non-chord tone as a quarter note, then going up or down to a chord tone on the next beat.
• using a chromatic "passing tone" (where a full step is required to get to a chord tone... e.g. from the 6th to the 5th).
• "enclosing" the chord tone... e.g. 6th to b5th to 5th (similar to a "neighbor tone group" or "changing tone")

We also added a 'bebopy" way to start a phrase. The following example shows both the starting idea, and the chromatic "passing tone" method of getting from the 6th to the 5th, in one beat:

And, of course, the ever popular Melodica demo:

Bebop scale, using chromatics between the 3rd and root, and starting on a non chord tone, using the "enclosure" method to get to the 3rd by the second beat.

  

Here's a little demo video, made on ustream.tv: