long bebop lines

MinorBlues · September 2006

Hey Andreas, I've been listening to a lot of your Bebop stuff and I was wondering...were there any specific things you did to reach that level of connecting/making long lines? Or were there any specific solos you transcribed that helped you get there? I read in one of your posts that you are working on another book with more modern/bop lines, will that book cover any of these things? Thanks a lot for any help!

AndreasOberg · September 2006

Hi,
The new book will be a lick/solo-book like Gypsy Fire, still based in Gypsy Jazz vocabulary with some more modern bop lines in it.

If you're interested in mainstream jazz/bop, I would recommend you to learn phrases from the masters like Wes, Benson, Pass and Martino and then try to incorporate the phrases into your own style.

One of my teachers also pointed out a very useful thing about playing jazz/bop- that you can create melody lines that implies chords, bass etc. almost like in Baroque-music.
A good bebop-phrase and a written line by Bach have one important thing in common. When you here the melody only, you feel like you hear the bass, the chords and the progressions very clear (although it's not actually being played )because the melody-line is so strong!

When I teach other guitarists how to play bop I always let them improvise over the chord-changes with steady time (8th notes) without any chords and basslines. This always reveals if they got the ability of playing over chord-changes or not.This way I practice songs myself as well, trying to play a solo-line so clear that people can immediately tell what song I'm playing without hearing the chords or the "actual" melody. Then, after a while you can expand your vocabulary and go more outside the changes.

Best Regards
Andreas

MinorBlues · September 2006

Thanks for all the info! I will definitely try everything you listed. Here's a video of some sweet playing by benson in honor of this thread:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2QQG_JRhayE

Elliot · September 2006

Andreas, may I ask a follow-up question?

Does this mean that you think of target notes, like notes in the arpeggio of the chord which fall on the beat, which are then filled in perhaps using the scale or melody you are dealing with and then add in passing notes to fill the spaces?

Thanks,

Elliot

AndreasOberg · September 2006

Yeah, it can be described like that but after a while you start to do it unintentionally(without thinking) and you start to hear long lines that goes through the changes.
Best Regards
Andreas

djangology · September 2006

hey, i am just guessing but i think "passing notes" is not the right phrase. i would say that "rotations" might be a better way to say it?

AndreasOberg · September 2006

The so called bebop-scale is a good example how one chromatic passing note can make a mixolydian scale sound more jazzy.

Works over a C7 chord.

Descending from C

C, B, Bb, A, G, F, E, D, C, B, Bb, A, G, F, E, D, C etc.

Best Regards
Andreas