Popular Bebop Approaches for Minor 7th Chords

Learning bebop can feel completely overwhelming. There are so many approaches over so many chords and then connecting them is a whole other ball game.
To help you out, I’m going to show you the most POPULAR bebop approaches I use on a daily basis and at all my gigs. Today I’ll cover minor 7th chords and specifically what I play over each chord tone. Enjoy!

Bebop Secrets: How to Use Enclosures (Ep: 207)

Bebop Secrets: How to Use Enclosures

Have you been looking for a way to take your Bebop jazz playing to the next level? In this edition of Bebop Secrets, we will discuss how to use Enclosures in your jazz improvisation. Great pianists from Bud Powell to Oscar Peterson utilize Enclosures in their playing, and you can too with the help of these exercises!

Improvising Polyphonic Lines (Ep: 202)

Learn how to improvise polyphonic lines

We pianists often imitate the voice or horn when improvising, but in this lesson we explore the capabilities unique to the piano. Playing lines with 1, 2, and all the way up to 6 notes at a time! Once you start exploring this area of improvisation, a whole new world of concepts will open up to you.

Bebop Secrets: How to Use Approach Notes (Ep: 201)

Bebop Secrets: How to Use Approach Notes

Are you wondering how to capture the real sound of Bebop in your jazz playing? Tune into this week’s podcast as we reveal how to use approach notes to sound like the best bebop pianists. This simple exercise will add a new dimension to your improvising!

What is a Bebop Scale? And Why Is It Important?

Are Bebop Scales the secret to unlocking the mystery of bebop improvisation for you? No. In order to truly sound authentic with bebop improvisation, you must develop a solid bebop vocabulary and incorporate staples of bebop phraseology such as: enclosures, chromaticism, triplets in between a string of eighth notes, and particular sounds like the altered […]

8 Ways Bebop Revolutionized Jazz Forever

In many ways, Bebop can seem like a footnote in the timeline of jazz history.  After all, it lasted only a mere five years or so in the late 40’s, half a century removed from its historic roots in New Orleans. And it would be less than a decade before Miles Davis released his landmark record […]

Jazz Piano School Ep. 120 – 7 Way To Practice Bebop To See Quick Improvement

I’ve never known any jazz piano giant to not have the ability to play through changes in a bebop style. At the heart of all improvisation lies bop. If you think you’re going to skip this step and achieve improv freedom…well, unfortunately you’re lying to yourself. Needless to say this is a must! So here are 7 great tips to help you practice and excel quickly with proven and systematic steps. Enjoy!

Jazz Piano School Ep. 50 – How to Start Playing Bebop Part 2

In this episode I expand on our bebop playing by showing you how to apply our approaches to specific improvisation exercises that will help you improve. After you the improv exercises we will apply our approaches to a tune, in this case, Autumn Leaves. Enjoy!

Jazz Piano School Ep: 49 – How to Start Playing Bebop

Learning bebop can be quite easy when you relate it to building legos! Simply connect the lego’s and bam, you got bebop. Am I making sense? Of course not, but kinda. Learn the simple approaches to improve or start piecing together your bebop improv.

Jazz Piano School