jazzpianoschool.com/podcast49 for practice materials for this episode. Learning how to play bebop is like building legos...now who doesn't like lego's...its fun!!
i personally want to say a big thank you for sharing your knowledge , i have been playing music for over 40 years and never heard anyone explain it so clear ,you open my eyes to lots of areas the i needed to know.
Brendan -- I have been a professional musician for 50+ years. I taught piano for 25 years and traveled in most European countries and the entire US. I have 2 degrees in music including Grove School of Music, Studio City, CA. I am not bragging -- I just want anyone who is interested in your teaching ability to know my creds. This bebop course is incredible! For years I wondered if there was a simpler method to learning bebop rather than the "old school" approach of hacking one's way through (like I did). Well I just watched your EP 49 and I was stunned! If there had been internet and your fantastic well organized method available to me 50 years ago, I could have been years ahead. Anyway, KUDOS.
Stumbled across this from a link on another jazz tutorial video. Hands down the best thing I have ever seen. Feels like the fog is clearing. Thank you!
Thank you for giving so generously of your time and your expertise. Now and only now I understand what impresses me in these jazz pianists. Thanks again.
Jazz Piano School this was a very good lesson i learned alot from this i try to keep in my head the major scale in the key of f also the sharp 11 etc lol thx!
I watched this with my student because I was having a hard time explaning how to play bebop lines. This excerise will definately help him. Thanks Brendon!!!
Brendon - I am so very grateful to you. I hav been searching all my life to find the ‘key’, the essence of Bebop. A miracle in my pianistic life. I can’t wait to practice, invent figures -listen to the giants with fresh ears!! What a blessing you are - such generosity is unheard of in these grasping capitalistic days.
Hey Brendan, that was one Superb lesson! I'm one of those Talented, passionate Guys you talked about, who's been banging his head off walls in frustration at his inability to make significant progress in Jazz: In truth, I have learnt and understand more about be-bop in your single podcast, than I have from watching a plethora of other jazz tutorials. I was on the verge of giving up on my dream but you have given me new hope. You are a marvellous musician and a quite extraordinary teacher. I can't thank you enough. It's dawn here in Ireland but I'm going to your site to Join up. May God bless you for all the work that you do in sharing your gifts with us. Bren
Great lesson. There are quite a few videos on you tube trying to teach “enclosures” as a three note above/below pattern. This video breaks it down much better. Suddenly you get it. Practicing Half step below and scale tone above or whichever way round you want to do it, makes much more sense then trying to learn the whole enclosure as an entity in itself. Thanks so much, the penny dropped !
This two part series is really good, and all the ideas about building bebop melody lines presented here are also valid for non-piano melody instruments; if you ever developed this into a product separate from specifically piano it would be very interesting to me. (I play piano very badly and that is unlikely to change any time soon; my actual instrument is guitar)
I've been trying to wrap my head & hands around jazz but couldn't really grasp it up until a few weeks ago. I am good at music theory and tried to understand everything from a harmonic / chord perspective instead of adding guide / leading tones. Your lesson REALLY helped me and improved my playing. THANKS!! :)
and another thing, like someone pointed out here below. A master of a study or art, is not really a master until he is able to filter out the most important aspects of a subject and in that way guide his students on a path of discovery. Richard Feynman pointed this out a long time ago, and stated that his practice of continually refining his explanations of a subject were extremely beneficial to his own study as well as any student of his. According to Feynman, this was his 'gold' standard on being a so called expert on a subject - that is to be able to explain and condense the subject very efficiently.
You have got me out of a quagmire I have been in for years. You are an amazing Sensei!. hearing 'Spreading the virus of love' in 2021 slurps different ♥️♥️
Great stuff! As a self taught bass player of many years, I’ve got a pretty fancy house but my foundations are shaky! This approach really helps and is very well delivered. Thank you very much.
You know what? You are superb Brandon ! Your Goal is to help as many people play jazz & I just want you to know that you succeeded. Thank you Brandon, you helped me a lot ! God Bless :)
Thank you, quite like the emphasis on approach notes, the "be-bop" part -- makes me think of all those Bird and Bud Powell heads I've been practicing, the lines do indeed begin and end on the principle you point out!
Thanks a lot, dude. This is just what I was needing and you explained it to me. I'm quite new at the keyboard and I was a bit confused about the Bebop chords, and scales. I'm a Salsero percissionist and flute player. I like to expand my knowledge of all geras though. Anyhow, sometimes I couldn't differentiate some Bebop with other jazz concepts. You've been very helpful ma man. Muchas gracias!
How to (stop) playing bop, was on the minds of everyone in the 70s. Because playing bop amongst really good free players made you a square. My how things have changed. That's why I can list the good harmelodic (Ornette capable) pianists on one hand. No one loves changes more than me but☯️when inside one seeks freedom, when free one seeks order. Someone had to say it.
Yes, great line! One of my favorite bassists, Drew Gress, makes a similar comment! About seeking order when playing free, but seeking freedom when playing structured tunes like standards. Thanks for the thought provoking comment!
Can you also approach notes the opposite way, from a scale step below and a half step above the chord tone? I know there are technically no rules to what you can play but would that sound more "outside" the changes than the two methods you use here?
I don't know the factors that help RU-vid decide which videos to promote but what I know for a fact is that all videos on this channel are highly underrated. I think what might help is try Improving on your Thumbnail like make them more interesting example include the creator's face etc just do the tactics your channel might have a blast
Thank you Anak! And absolutely. Study of licks and transcriptions will give you more ideas into how you can connect bebop approaches in different ways. It's like learning how to improve your vocabulary in a language. You need to learn the components first though, i.e. nouns, verbs, adj etc in order to start improving your sentence structure. Hope this helps!
When Oscar Peterson got wind of Dudley Moore transcribing his solos and playing them he said, do not do that, you need to play the lines and melodies that YOU hear. There is no single point in copying me.
Hi Matt, thanks for watching! As to your question: it doesn't hurt to understand the application of bebop scales but I wouldn't say they are essential to know Bebop Scales are based off the major scale with an inserted chromatic note - that inserted note (between the 5th and 6th note for major, between the 6th and 7th for dominant) gives inherent melodic voice-leading. Hope this is helpful!
JazzPianoSchool.com - Learning Freedom (Online Jazz Piano Course) Thanks. This is very helpful. I really like your approach to teaching jazz piano. Thank you so much for being willing to share your knowledge.
Hi man thanks for sharing!! very helpful and well explained; I just have a question: when you are improvising in a 2-5-1, G-C-F for example, you improvise all the time in F bebop scale or you use different scales depending of the chord that is being played? Like when i play Gm i use that scale, when i go to C chord i use de C scale, and so on... THANK YOU so much! this is blocking me to finally understand the video.
Hi @Inigo, I recommend sticking with one scale; but knowing which notes in that scale will sound best with each chord. You can change scales (G Dorian, C mixolydian, F major); but G Dorian and C mixolydian are just the F major scale starting on G or C. So just stick with the F major scale (or F bebop scale if you choose); and focus on the chord tones - for Gmin7 it would be GBbDF for C7 it would be CEGBb and for F major it would be FACE. And try to bring out those chord tones! Hope this helps!
What is the Name of that " Bumper Music " at the Very beginning of this Video ? It is very famous!Lots of us are dying to know the name/band who made this recording Famous ! Somebody Please Help !
Thank you Brendan very helpful it gives light greeting from Aalborg Denmark about talents I think of The word of Jesus:" It's not about How big talents but use the talents
Let me ask you something. Should I care if the note belongs to the scale when only descends to it? I think you have hit the half tone which doesn't belong to the scale when ascends.
@Dun: thanks for the question! If you're referencing half step chromatic approaches, you're correct - the note that's leading into the next tone does not need to belong to the chord scale. Hope this helps!
Solid gold lessons. But slow down; also use examples of approach tones (in combo) in simple Jazz standards with 2-5-1 progressions. This is the essence of where we want to go as budding performers.
Hm... not sure exactly what you're referring to. Can you provide a timestamp of where exactly in the video you're talking about so that I can better assist you?
No worries, thanks for the timestamp! So the rule here is half step below, and scale tone above. Ab is the half step below A, and the scale tone above A in our F major scale is Bb (not B). Hope that makes sense!
JazzPianoSchool.com - Learning Freedom (Online Jazz Piano Courses) yeahhh got it the Bb ia the forth degree of the F major scale....so if I were for example on C and on the progresssion there is an A minor the aprouch would be Ab and now yes B....right?
This is a great question. Fingering is tough because sometimes the “best” fingering varies based on personal preference or whether you have to pivot up (and thumb cross) or down to play the next phrase. So when you see fingerings, you can use it as a guide or reference but ultimately you should choose a fingering that’s most comfortable for you or best fits your application. As a general rule of thumb for coming up with your own fingering: I try to find the most efficient, economical fingering that would allow for better speed/dexterity and would allow you to connect phrases. Hope this helps!
@@jazzpianoschool thanks! It really is a dope exercise its just difficult when the finger positioning seems random. I haven't been able to do this very quickly or fluidly without stumbling over my thumb, hitting a wrong note or forgetting where to go out of awkwardness. I guess it just takes weeks of practice
May i suggest u shorten tutes and prepare more to emphasize the importance of theories and demonstrate what its done and what it sounds like on instrument?
