How To Build Bebop Lines - Level 4 - Day 27 - Elongating the Line
Bebop is a language. It has grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. The goal to level up your lines is to learn the rules of the language and then increase the length of the lines while still following the rules. Bebop musicians would add substitutions, use chromaticism, or use the bebop scale to extend the line and level up their playing, all while following the ground rule to land on chordal tones on a the downbeat. I started posting bebop lines organized by levels on my social media, and am now taking the time to transcribe my ideas and post them to this blog.
In this exercise, I wanted to create a line that would catch the ear and provide a long four bar sequence of eighth notes. This is a four bar ii V7 I line of eighth notes. I started on the 9th scale degree of the minor ii chord, and enclosed the tonic, before going up the dorian scale, which tonicized the I chord. This process of starting on the 9th of the chord is quoting an often used improvisational technique by JJ Johnson.
At the top of the dorian line, I skipped a third to land on the 3rd of the V7 chord. This way the chordal tones fall on the downbeats. Then I used the dominant bebop scale coming down with an enclosure around the 9th of the major I chord.
On the major I, I used an arpeggio up to the ninth (another JJ-ism) followed by the descending bebop scale down to the third.
In building this bebop line, I kept in mind to always land on the chordal tones on the downbeats. I did this using the bebop dominant scale as well as chromaticism. I aimed toward the ninth, quoting a technique by JJ Johnson, which is considered a compliment in jazz. (He was an amazing musician and composer!) Notice that the line goes up and down, up and down, so as to be able to continue the lengthen the line while also staying in a decent range. This is a high quality line, and I evaluated it at Level 4 because of the length, the emphasis on the upper structure of the chord, chromaticism and skilled usage of the bebop language. Although it is not overly complex, the line is long and therefore more of a level 4 line, although it uses devices that I would consider Level 2. The longer you can play a line while still keeping to the rules of Bebop, the higher the level of the line, in my humble opinion.
Below you will find a backing track along with PDFs for the exercise.
Follow me on Instagram at @jazztothebone to see daily content. Subscribe to download the PDF, or view it on the screen if you scroll down. If you subscribe to my Improv Insight newsletter you will receive the download immediately, including a zip file with each part separated out. Become an annual member to access the full library of PDF downloads.
