ii-Vs are some of the most commonly used and important chords in the jazz repertoire. It’s a progression you’ll see often as a jazz guitarist, so being able to confidently solo over these...
ii-Vs are some of the most commonly used and important chords in the jazz repertoire. It’s a progression you’ll see often as a jazz guitarist, so being able to confidently solo over these chords is an essential skill.
When first learning to blow over these chords, we often start with the Dorian and Mixolydian modes over each chord, respectively.
But, while playing these modes is correct, they often sound too diatonic, not enough tension to really be “jazzy.” This is where bebop scales come into play. In this article, we’ll explore the minor bebop scale, the dominant bebop scale and a hybrid I like to call the combined bebop scale.
As a bonus, there’s a video included to show you how these scales sound in an improvisational context. So grab your guitar, crank your amp and get ready to add a little jazziness to your solos.
Minor Bebop Scale
The first scale we’ll look at is the minor bebop scale. This scale is built by taking the Dorian mode and adding in a #7 interval. You can use this scale to solo over a m7 chord as it uses the related mode, and the #7 provides that extra “jazziness” the diatonic modes don’t provide on their own. Once you have the minor bebop scale under your fingers in the position below, with the root on the fifth string, put on a Dm7 backing track and practice improvising with this scale. Then, move it to other keys around the neck to really ingrain this fingering in your hands and your ears.
As you move on to the next scale in this lesson, you’ll use the minor bebop scale as the foundation for further adaptation. So, having a strong grasp on this fingering and scale is an important step in ensuring that