BEBOP Chain Exercise – A Jazz Lesson
This is the free PDF companion to my YouTube video about the “Bebop Chain” exercises. These exercises will open up your world to the art of melodic construction – using passing tones, chromaticism and rhythm to weave through harmony.
It’s methodical and organized (as much as a left-handed brained person can be). I just used a C major 7th chord as an example, but obviously you can expand this idea into whatever chord type you want.
I used to think that improvising in a bebop style was some sort of magic – that musicians just had this amazing ability to envision these long and complex lines that included hip chromaticism and rhythmic phrasing.. and while that is true to a point, it’s also much less of a mystery now that I learned this “bebop chain” method.
When I learned this, it completely changed the way I practiced. I started writing my own lines, using shapes that fit well on the vibraphone and in different keys. I started to form good ‘habits’ – little melodic lines that I play without thinking about it.
This is how you can develop your vocabulary as a jazz musician – by learning the intricacies of these small melodic fragments, and then being able to weave in and out of them at will. This is how you master the bebop language.
I hope these exercises will inspire you to write your own bebop lines!
Feel free to contact me with any questions!
-Tim
