How To Build Bebop Lines - Level 4 - Day 29 - Dominant Substitutions

Want to learn how to play long lines of improvisation? I was inspired to start this series when I noticed that I had a few repetitive tropes in my improvisation. Namely, I tended to use patterns that laid well on the trombone, and I was using the same patterns over and over. So I created this series on how to build bebop lines to push myself to new creative patterns for long lines of inspiration. I also wanted to move away from the riff based improvisation on trombone.

In this exercise, I wanted to create a line which used all the alterations of the dominant seventh chord. Notice the second measure has the b9, #9, b5, #11 and b13. Although the second measure starts on the natural 11, I named it the Alt chord because it uses all those color tones. Normally, an Alt chord includes the #11, which was evident at the end of the phrase.

The first measure includes some descending chromaticism. I intended the first measure to use the minor bebop scale, which includes the natural and flat 3rd.

Below you will find a backing track along with PDFs for the exercise.

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Honeysuckle Rose Bass Line

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How To Build Bebop Lines - Level 4 - Day 27 - Elongating the Line