Tony Grey Bass Academy

Transcription

1 Tony Grey Bass Academy BeBop Study Lesson 1 Step 1 Tony Grey Bass Academy This lesson is taken directly from inside the Tony Grey Bass Academy were we do a full course on all of the different approach techniques over all Chord types. What Is BeBop? BeBop is a style of Jazz Music that was developed in the 1940 s. Some characteristics of BeBop are the fast tempos, virtuosic improvisation and the harmonic structure. Some of the great BeBop musicians are Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt and Clifford Brown. These musicians pioneered a style and vocabulary that is still the foundation for todays improvising musicians. In the Tony Grey Bass Academy we will be studying this vocabulary in detail with a series of exercises and different Approach to Chord Tone patterns.

2 We will be studying these exercises over the different chords we find, a series of II V I patterns and over some Jazz Standards. What Are The Benefits Of These Lessons? Improve Your Ears Improve Your Understanding Of Harmony Better Awareness Of Your Instrument More Usable Vocabulary A Clear Understanding Of How To Outline Harmony Improves You Compositional Skills Improves Your Technique A Clear Path To Help Create And Develop Your Own Voice As An Improvising Musician Approach To Chord Tone Exercises Minor 7 Chords When you are improvising over a progression you are using the harmony as a road map for your ideas. In BeBop the chords and harmony can move very quickly and change keys often. These different approaches are a great way to use BeBop vocabulary over a series of chord changes.

3 Nothing outlines and spells out the harmony more so than the Chord Tones. Only using Chord Tones would become very boring and predictable so the BeBop guys found a system of approaching these Chord Tones using a series of Scale and Chromatic notes. Throughout these lessons we will be exploring each of the Chords you will commonly find in Jazz and BeBop standards along with common turnarounds and cadences such as the II V I and the actual progressions based on the standards themselves. We will be approaching the Chord Tones from each of these chords by using Scales Tones/Passing Tones and Chromatic notes. This lesson will focus on approaching the Chord Tones to the Minor 7 Chord from a scale degree above. We will be practicing these lessons in 3 different ways. For the Minor 7 Chord we will be using the Dorian Chord Scale. Scale Degree to chord Tone 2-1, 4-b3, 6-5 and 1-b7

4 Step 1 Single String Firstly we are going to study these Scale Degree From Above To Chord Tone Approaches across each single string on our instrument. I am demonstrating this over a C Minor 7 Chord but I want you to do this for all 12 Keys. There is no point being more comfortable in one key more than another so it s really important to treat each key with the same amount of importance. All I want you to do is start from the lowest available Chord Tone and work up in order until you reach the highest Scale Degree From Above To Chord Tone Approach then descend back down the string. If we were thinking of the E String, our lowest chord tone for C-7 would be a G on the 3 rd fret. We would approach that from the A on the 5 th fret, next we would approach the Bb (6 th fret) from the C on the 8 th fret and so on. It is important to be able to do this on each string ascending from the lowest up to the highest without any mistakes and without stopping.

5 Please note that this is NOT a technical exercise it is more of an Ear Training exercise. It will also get you playing this Approach Pattern in every position on the instrument. If you do make any mistakes just start the exercise again from the lowest string. Also I recommend doing this whilst playing a sustained related Major 7 chord or a drone from the Root of the chord. It s very important to be able to hear the approach in context. Once you are comfortable with this exercise in all keys move on to Step 2.