Tag: locrian bebop

These series of posts are going to cover bebop scales and possible uses – so let’s jump right in.

As a quick refresher: the bebop era of jazz grew from the trends taking place during the 1930’s in the United States, but didn’t become fully developed and established till the 1940’s.  During improvisation, some players would use the convenience of these “bebop scales,” which were no more than diatonic scales with a single added chromatic passing tone in-between to push chordal tones on downbeats.

So, now let’s take a look at the locrian bebop scale:

Note that the scale degrees are | 1-b2–b3-4-b5-b6-b7-7-8 |

Some points where they work great is over the vii7(b5) and V7 chords in the key.  However, experimentation is encouraged, as this is just a jumping point to start from.  Also, building creative lines using the bebop scale should NOT use EVERY SINGLE note.  Add space.

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