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Charlie Parker, AKA ‘Bird’, is one of the best know Jazz musicians of all time. He was a saxophonist
and is generally considered the quintessential Bebop musician.
Parker wrote a song called Blues for Alice which has become a Jazz Standard, and the chord
progression from Blues for Alice has become known as Bird Changes.
They are fast – both in tempo and in chord changes (Harmonic Rhythm
(http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chords/harmonic-rhythm/))
They have angular, jagged and harmonically complex melodies
They are stu ed full of II-V (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-
chord-progressions/ii-v-functionality/)‘s
Bebop musicians would often take simple and well established chord progressions and then just ll
them with II-Vs. And so Bird Changes is just a 12 Bar Blues with a heap of non-resolving, descending
II-Vs inserted.
12 Bar Blues
Below is the basic 12 Bar Blues. As you can see, it is quite boring – there are long periods of time
where nothing happens.
1 2 3 4
F7 F7 F7 F7
5 6 7 8
B♭7 B♭7 F7 F7
9 10 11 12
C7 C7 F7 F7
Bird Changes
Bird Changes is a much more interesting variation on the 12 Bar Blues, again, stu ed with
descending II-V’s.
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
Because bebop songs generally have a fast tempo and angular melodies, you generally want to keep
the chord voicings quite simple and sparse – otherwise it may get in the way of and clash with the
melody. Try using:
These voicings are much truer to the Bebop style. Rootless (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-
piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/rootless-voicings/) and Quartal
(http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/quartal-voicings/) chord
voicings were only developed after the Bebop era.
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