How to Play Bebop Scales on Guitar

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When it comes to learning scales on the guitar, theres certainly no shortage with so many to learn, so which ones do musicians actually use and incorporate into their playing that will make you a better jazz guitarist? Well theres no shortcut for knowing the major scale, its the most important scale for any musician to learn because countless scales, modes, and shapes are derived from it, and its essential that a thorough knowledge of this scale is established before working through this lesson. This article will investigate the four common bebop scales and how you can incorporate them into your guitar playing by creating bebop lines from them to use in improvisation. Why use bebop scales? Using modes and major scales for playing over changes is great and you need to be able to do it, but bebop scales give us some extra flavour that can be used to embellish the fundamental scales. For example if you used a major scale to improvise over a major chord only notes within that chord harmony are produced which is great but bebop scales allow use add some extra notes that are not diatonic within the scale which will be explored. For each of the three main chord types (major, minor and dominant) there is a bebop scale that can be used to achieve some of these crunchier sounds. Bebop scales are 8 note scales so they fit the 4/4 time signature very well because when a bebop scale is played in eighth notes each chord tone lands on a downbeat, and the non-diatonic notes land on an upbeat that creates tension and resolution.

Major Bebop Scale

The major bebop scale is just a regular C major scale but with an added b6th or #5 used a passing note to add crunch. Major Bebop Scale Formula: R, 2, 3, 4, 5, b6, 6, 7 Major Bebop Scale in C: C, D, E, F, G, A, Ab, B, C. The major bebop scale can be used over any major 7 chord so 6, 6/9, major 9, major 7 and the many variations.
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Below is a practical fingering for a two octave major bebop scale and a lick that uses the major bebop scale lick which you can apply to tunes that you are working on. Click the play button below each example to hear how it sounds.

Minor Bebop Scale

There are two minor bebop scales that jazz musicians use, the first one has the same notes as a Dorian rd mode but with an added major 3 Minor Bebop Scale Formula: R, 2, -3, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7 Minor Bebop Scale in the C: C, D, Eb, E, F, G, A, Bb This is a great bebop scale, but its worth noting that in a II-V-I this will just give you the same notes as th the dominant 7 bebop scale. D-7 Bebop Scale = D, E, F, F#, G, A, B, C G7 Bebop Scale = G, A, B, C, D, E, F, F#, G This minor bebop scale can be used to play over minor 7th chords and its various chord types such as minor 7th, minor 6, minor 9, minor 11, etc. Check out the example below for a two octave fingering of this scale The second minor bebop scale has no major 3 but has a raised 7 as well as a flattened 7 , so it is like a th melodic minor scale with one extra note, the flattened 7 . Minor Bebop Scale 2 Formula: R, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, b7, #7 Minor Bebop Scale in the key of C: C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb, B Here is an efficient two octave finger that you can use for this scale followed by a cool II-V-I lick using this scale.
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Dominant Bebop Scale

The last bebop scale to look at is the dominant 7th bebop scale. As mentioned earlier it has the same notes as the first minor bebop scale but it can be used effectively in its own right. The dominant bebop scale is a mixolydian scale but with an added major 7th note. Dominant Bebop Scale Formula: R, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, b7th, #7th Dominant Bebop Scale in C: C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, B