BeBop Study: Lesson 1 Chord Tones And Diatonic Passing Tones Minor 7 Chords In the coming months I will be uploading a lot of lessons into this chapter. These lessons are a systematic approach to understanding and applying material to BeBop and Jazz Standards. Everything you learn in here is a huge part of the BeBop vocabulary. It is really important that you study these lessons in the order that I upload them. The main focus on this first batch of lessons is all about the Chord Tones of all the different types of Chords and different ways of approaching them. Nothing spells out the harmony better than a Chord Tone and when the Chords and Key Changes are flying by quickly within a progression we really don’t have time to really get involved in playing Chord Scale after Chord Scale. It is a vital part of our development in this BeBop language to be able to spell out and weave in and out of these different Chord Tones. In lesson 1 we will be looking at connecting the Chord Tones together by a diatonic passing tone. Let’s look at all the Chord Tones from the C Minor 7 chord; C, Eb, G and Bb.

The most common Chord Scale for a Minor 7 Chord is the Dorian Chord Scale. This Scale has no avoid note, which means every note sounds good against the chord; however, when you are thinking of the chords functionally within a progression there maybe more options like the Aeolian (Natural Minor) and Phrygian scales but for these exercises we are going to be using the most common option, which is the Dorian Scale. For this first lesson we are going to be targeting the Chord Tones with diatonic passing tones.

 

Here is the C-7 Chord with the diatonic passing tones in-between.

• For the C-7 the note in-between the chord tones C and Eb is a D. • The note in-between the chord tone’s Eb and G is F. • The note in-between the chord tone’s G and Bb is an A.

There is no diatonic passing tone between the chord tones Bb and C (b7th degree and Root). For this exercise we are only focusing on the passing tones between the Root and b3rd, the b3rd and 5th and the 5th and b7th. The rhythm I want you to play this passing tone exercise is as follows.

There will be 2 parts to practicing this lesson. Part 1 Single String Firstly we are going to study this Passing Tone exercise across each single string on our instrument. I am demonstrating this over a C Minor 7 Chord but I want you to do this for all 12 Keys. There is no point being more comfortable in one key more than another so it’s really important to treat each key with the same amount of importance. All I want you to do is start from the lowest available Chord Tone-Passing Tone-Chord Tone sequence and work your up the string in order until you reach the highest available Chord Tone-Passing Tone-Chord Tone sequence then descend back down the string. If we were thinking of the E String being our lowest string, the lowest chord tone available would be the note G.

 

The 1st pattern would be G-A-Bb, next C-D-Eb etc.… It is important to be able to do this on each string ascending from the lowest up to the highest without any mistakes and without stopping. Please note that this is NOT a technical exercise it is more of an Ear Training exercise. It will also get you playing this Approach Pattern in every position on the instrument. If you do make any mistakes just start the exercise again from the lowest string. Also, I recommend doing this whilst playing a sustained related Major 7 chord or a drone from the Root of the chord. It’s very important to be able to hear the approach in context. Once you are comfortable with this exercise in all keys move on to Step 2. Part 2 Playing Freely Around The Fingerboard Next I just want to you play these connecting patterns around the whole rang of the fingerboard. Make sure you continue practicing along with the sustained chord so you can really hear the relationship between these strong Chord Tones and weaker Passing Tones. Within phrases it’s all about where you are going with your lines and what your target notes are. There is a sense of rest and resolution when we land on these Chord Tones so this is a great exercise for you to get that sound into your playing. Once you have finished this exercise in ALL KEYS move on to the next lesson and continue the exercises.