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Minor Bebop Scale
The Minor Bebop Scale, along with its cousins the Dominant Bebop and Major Bebop Scales, is an important tool in the improvisational palette of any jazz soloist. Used by every major jazz improvisor of the last 100 years in some capacity, this scale permeates the solos of great players such as Pat Martino, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and countless others.
There are many ways to finger this scale, the most common is to take any Dorian mode you know and just add in the #7 passing tone, and I have included two of my favorites below. The first is a series of one-octave fingerings that stay in position across the neck, and the second are two, two-octave fingerings that shift down the neck as you descend the scale. Check both of these out and see how they fit under your fingers and in your playing.
The Minor Bebop Scale has 8 notes, and they are arranged as such, descending from the Root down.
Root – M7th – m7th – M6th – P5th – P4th – m3rd – M2nd – Root
So, for example, a C Minor Bebop Scale would be spelled with the following notes:
C – B – Bb – A – G – F – Eb – D – C
Because the Minor Bebop Scale is closely related to the Dorian Mode, you can use it to solo over any Minor 7th Chord in your improvisations. As well, check out this page of 21 Bebop Scale Patterns to spice up your practice routine and add tons of Bebop vocabulary to your soloing.
The following Minor Bebop Scales are written out in the key of C, but make sure you practice them in all keys so you have them at your fingertips no matter what key you’re soloing in.
One-Octave Minor Bebop Scales
Two-Octave Minor Bebop Scales
Click to return to the Essential Jazz Guitar Scales Page
4 Responses to "Minor Bebop Scale"
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Nice job.
Are these fingerings on purpose?
Don’t you think there might be some easier fingerings?
Yeah, these are just one option, you can basically take any Dorian fingering you know and just add in the maj7 interval and it will become the minor bebop scale
Agree.
Since fingering has always been a matter to me, I’ve come to conclusion it’s mostly dependent on your ease.
Anyway, I’m really enjoying your post.
Keep on dude.
For sure, a lot of it for me is where I am on the neck as well as tempo, those two things will often define what fingering I use.