Bebop scales: dominant, major, minor and Dorian · Scales and modes lessons

Definition

Bebop scales are heptatonic scales with one added chromatic passing note, for a total of eight notes. The name and the systematization are owed mainly to the educator David Baker (How to Play Bebop), who derived them from the lines of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell. The key idea: with eight notes, a scale played in eighth notes starting from a chord tone makes all the chord tones fall on the strong beats (the downbeats) and the passing notes on the weak beats.

Dominant bebop scale

Degrees: 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 7.
On G (for G7): G A B C D E F F#.
The added note is the major 7th between b7 and the tonic.
Descending from G in eighth notes: G (1) F# F (b7) E D (5) C B (3) A G… → on the downbeats fall G, F, D, B: the notes of G7.

Major bebop scale

Degrees: 1 2 3 4 5 #5 6 7.
On C (for Cmaj7 or C6): C D E F G G# A B.
The added note is the #5 between 5 and 6. Descending from C: C B A G# G F E D → on the downbeats C, A, G, E: the notes of C6.
It is the basis of Barry Harris’s “6th diminished scale”: it alternates C6 (C E G A) and B°7 (B D F G#).

Minor bebop scales

Sources do not all use the same name:

Dorian bebop (David Baker, “bebop minor”): 1 2 b3 3 4 5 6 b7. On D: D E F F# G A B C. The added note is the major 3rd between b3 and 4: descending from D (or, better, from C, the b7 of Dm7), the notes of Dm7 fall on the downbeats. Used over m7 (the ii of a ii–V).
Melodic minor bebop (Barry Harris, “minor 6th diminished”): 1 2 b3 4 5 #5 6 7. On C: C D Eb F G G# A B. It alternates Cm6 (C Eb G A) and B°7. Used over a minor tonic.
Some texts call “Dorian bebop” the Dorian scale with the added major 7th (1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 7): always check the formula.

Rules of use

Start on a chord tone on the downbeat and proceed by scale degree, preferably descending.
If you start on a non-chord tone, add another chromatic note to “put the line back in phase”.
Combine with enclosures (approaching a target note from above and below: A – F# – G over G7), arpeggios and leaps to avoid mechanical lines.
Swing: the eighth notes are swung, often with an accent on the second eighth (upbeat).

Example line over a ii–V–I in C

Dm7 (D Dorian bebop descending from C): C B A G F# F E D.
G7 (dominant bebop descending from G): G F# F E D C B A.
Cmaj7 / C6 (major bebop): G G# A … up to the third E.

Listening to the notes on the downbeats you hear the harmony even without accompaniment: it is the secret of Parker’s lines.

Pieces and references

Charlie Parker, “Donna Lee”, “Confirmation”, “Billie’s Bounce”, “Ornithology”: lines full of bebop passing notes.
Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt, Cannonball Adderley, Barry Harris (teaching method).
In modern music: walking bass, “jazzy” synth lead lines in nu-jazz and lo-fi, fusion guitar solos.

Use for a producer

Programming a walking bass line in eighth notes with the dominant bebop scale makes the bass sound natural (chord tones on the downbeats).
Bebop lines on a Rhodes or a sampled vibraphone instantly give a lo-fi beat a jazz flavor.
In the FL Studio Piano roll use a snap of 1/2 beat (eighth note) and then add swing (50–60%) from the channel or the Groove template.

Common mistakes

Using the added note as a long note or on the downbeat: it is always a passing note.
Going up and down mechanically for eight notes: the line becomes an exercise. Vary direction and rhythm.
Applying the dominant bebop scale over a maj7 chord: the b7 clashes with the major 7th.

Exercise

Over a G7 play the descending dominant bebop scale from G, from B, from D and from F in eighth notes, checking that the chord tones fall on the downbeats.
Program 8 bars of walking bass over a blues in F using the dominant bebop scales of F7, Bb7, C7.
Over a loop Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 write a synth lead line in swung eighth notes that uses the three bebop scales.

The jazz ii–V–I; Mixolydian mode; Dorian mode; Guide tone lines; Blues scales; Chord-scale theory.