How To Construct Bebop Lines

In this live podcast recording I’m going to show you how to construct incredible, gorgeous sounding bebop lines. And in slowwww motion. You definitely won’t want to miss this.

[@skimanization]

This is a real Bebop education I have ever watched on KZbin. Thanks.

[@borneel2311]

5:19 scalar motion, leading into a chord tone on a ii - V 12:00 scalar motion, leading into a chord tone on a ii - V - I 15:04 the beginning of a line 18:37 bebop approach notes: examples of half step below 25:21 bebop approach notes: examples of half step below + chord scale above 33:12 common jumps and skips 36:42 extensions 39:31 rhythm, space, ornamentations (trills) 45:53 recap Thanks Brenden for a clearly explained and very useful lesson! Excellent exercises to be found here.

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thanks!

[@CAPSLOCK63]

Excellent!! This is by far one of the best lesson/videos on understanding the Bebop language that I’ve seen. The way you break it down tonally slow then in tempo is great. Makes it easier to understand how Bird and Diz came up with the language. Thank you a million times for this. I feel like I’m on a jet plane rolling down the runway getting ready to lift off and soar.

[@jazzpianoschool]

So glad this was helpful!

[@Adam-nj8mz]

coming back to basics makes me realize how much of the easy stuff i was missing before going to polyrythms and crazy stuff

[@jazzpianoschool]

yes! The fundamentals are so important - that's your foundation!

[@JuroJanik]

Im just half the video in, but I can already say this is prolly the best bebop lines tutorial on YT...

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thank you so much for this comment, Juraj!

[@CHYPCAR]

Thanks Brenden. Your enthusiasm always shines through in your lessons and fires up the desire to hit that keyboard and try to emulate what you’re teaching! Keep up the good work. You’re definitely opening up the magic of bebop to the world!

[@Pleasure1964]

52:00 love that answer thank you!!!!!!!

[@piotrsycz1]

Hello You are a wonderful Master, give me a lot of lessons with you. I cordially greet you and thank you for everything. Peter

[@jazzpianoschool]

I appreciate your comment, Piotr!

[@mrcatfishjohnson]

Excellent lesson!

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thank you, Ed!

[@davidpauker]

Yes...Chick Corea was a giant in terms of pushing the envelope in the genre of modern jazzfusioin music for the piano.!!!My heart goes out to him and his family. And he has left us a wealth of keyboard music to try and play

[@jazzpianoschool]

Chick was a master and as you say, he has left us with a wealth of music to play and enjoy!

[@paulosylwan1377]

Thanks, this is gold

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thanks, Paulo!

[@jdmxxx38]

Great stuff. Clears up a ton of confusion for me. I can set some doable goals and expect results. Thanks

[@jazzpianoschool]

That makes me so happy to hear!

[@chriscatapano1788]

Another great lesson Brenden. I take away so much from your lessons. It really clears things up for me. Thank you

[@jazzpianoschool]

So happy to hear this, Chris! Thanks for tuning in!

[@Jazzmarcel]

Great lesson that I will surely come back to as I absorb the basics!

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thanks for popping in!

[@garval5498]

I find strange that a jazz educator advises against transcribing. Transcription is not only useful to find which notes are played and thus to acquire melodic and harmonic vocabulary, which, sure, it's good to have supported by a solid theoretical background. First and foremost, it's a way of engaging in very active listening, and the second stage of transcription is playing yourself the music just as it sounded in the record. That gives you rhythmic vocabulary, articulation, groove, sense of beat, pocket, phrasing, intonation, sound quality... which you learn by aural imitation. It's an essential part of any aspiring musician's education in any style, music is about sound, after all. Too often music educators give excessive focus to pitch material (which notes you play), and completely neglect how you play them. It's understandable, the former is much easier to teach, after all. JPS published content is no exception. I'd suggest complementing it with more visceral, less pitch-centered approaches to jazz education, like those of Hal Galper or Mike Longo.

[@hugoescobar2243]

Beautiful comment

[@davidallsopp4030]

Amazing content

[@jazzpianoschool]

That you, David!

[@bradking1107]

Thanks for sharing hope you are well God loves you deeply Shalom 🤗🐼❤️✝️💐 Philippians 4:8

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thanks for visiting!

[@rik-keymusic160]

Great stuff man !!! Maybe you could reflect on what to play behind a soloist . On the recordings, they do a ton of stuff and never really get in the way of that soloist. I just don’t know how one would practice that 🤷

[@jazzpianoschool]

Great suggestion! Thanks, Richard!

[@rhythmculturerecords1017]

Really liking your approach to teaching this. Just what I’ve been missing. One thing I don’t understand is how the bebop scale plays into the line construction? Seems like notes are just selected from chord tones and approach notes. And videos or classes that dive into?

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thanks for the comment. We go much more in depth with this in our Bebop Bootcamp course, visit our website to sign up!

[@carlosmiranda6419]

Excellent explanation about constructing Bebop lines, is there course/mini course about it?...for people that'd like to practice at their own pace

[@jazzpianoschool]

Yes we have many courses about bebop!

[@Fenouil2020]

I order to play the changes, should I play chord tones on each four beats or only the first one ? By the way thank you so much for all these free lessons !

[@jazzpianoschool]

Thanks for watching, Paul! As to your question, both - each four beats is harder and will keep you more on your toes, so I would start with just 1 then all 4 as you get more comfortable. Hope this helps!

[@Fenouil2020]

Thank you for your answer !

[@maxsegali5588]

Why the delay?

[@romainbertrand253]

Around 20:30 21:00, you explained how to use 1/2 step approach right on beat one to start a line. I have some doubts about that. I don't think bebop players do that. It actually sounds weird/off in a bebop context. Later in the video (around 23:00), you say that chord tones should be on the downbeat (which is right) so why showing lines with a non-chord tone on the first downbeat?

[@jazzpianoschool]

Hi Romain: thanks for the question. What you’re wondering about is what we call a ‘delayed resolution’. You can start with an approach note on the beat and be “off” so to speak for a couple beats, but beat 3, beat 4, or soon in the next measure you will want to find a way to get back ON the beat with the chord tones. Hope this makes sense!

[@romainbertrand253]

@@jazzpianoschool Hi there! Thanks for the answer. Really appreciate. But I'm not quite sure that guys like Charlie Parker or Sonny Stitt were doing that very often (if they even do it). So, as a first explanation for bebop lines, it seems confusing for beginners.

[@maxmustermann2707]

General question for 2-5-1: how can I fill the third and fourt beat with life?