Bebop Scales
An eight note scale, which sounds like a technicality until you hear why. Seven notes running in eighth notes put the chord tones on alternating beats, so half the time they land off the beat. Add one passing note and the chord tones line up every time.
- 8 notes
- seven notes plus one passing tone
- the added chromatic note
which styles use it
- Jazz
- Swing
- Big band
- Bossa nova
How it is built
Take the scale that matches the chord and add one chromatic note. For a dominant chord, add the natural seventh to Mixolydian. For a major chord, add the raised fifth. The choice of which note to add is made by where you want the chord tones to fall, not by how the scale looks.
Almost identical to the scale it came from, until you play it in time. Then the difference is obvious: the line sits in the groove instead of drifting against it.
Where to use it
In jazz lines over a walking bass, which is what the scales were invented for. Anywhere you are improvising in continuous eighth notes and the accents keep landing in the wrong place.
The chords that go with it
Each bebop scale belongs to one chord type. The dominant version over a dominant seventh, the major version over a major chord, and so on. Used over the wrong chord the added note stops being a passing tone and starts being a mistake.
What it gets confused with
With ordinary modes, since they differ by one note. The difference only shows up in time, which is why hearing them in tempo matters more here than on any other scale page.