*How important is Bebop for learning Jazz?* If you want to explore a practical way to deal with Jazz chords, then follow this approach inspired by Joe Pass: th-cam.com/video/P-P-gM7VJx4/w-d-xo.html
i'm so bitter,Years of jazz lessons,NOT a single teacher told me those simple and so effective principles to play the music i wanted to play so bad in my 20s glad i finally found the key.Thanks
Well, I think Pat Metheny is nailing it with his remarks about how we still need to learn to teach melody. But I do think we are getting a lot better at it.
@@JensLarsen When I was an Undergraduate, we learnt enough Harmony (Diatonic, Chromatic and Serial) to kill an Ox. We hardly ever learned any practical rhythm. By the end of third year, not so many could compose an interesting melody. Granted that it was an 'Academic' course - that's how everyone got away with it. Pat Metheny is spot on.
The players who were born to play music don't need someone telling them what to do. It comes naturally. There are people who don't even know that a tonic is and are amazing jazz improvisers.
This is the best bebop lesson on TH-cam. Can we delete all the other bebop tutorials and just keep this one? It will save people decades of trying to reach this. I also love the fact that it's only about 10 minutes long.
Another great lesson, Jens. I love how you speak like Barry is still with us - because, in many many ways, he still is. I attended some of his Zoom workshops just before he passed - he IS bebop.
Django Reinhardt might not be the first name that comes to mind when talking about Bebop but listening to his way of making beautifully tasty melodic lines over just one chord is really a masterclass in Jazz and Bebop. His mastery of constructing MELODY and relying on it to the core gave him an enormous amount of freedom in what to do harmonically as well, it's almost like magic. He is not mentioned as influential as Charlie Christian in Bebop context but there's just as much of Django in Wes' playing (Octaves, Minor 6 Diminished) as there is of Charlie Christian.
youre absolutely correct. theres definitely 2 schools of jazz guitar playing today. jens addressed it indirectly - those who think scales will make music and then those who reverse engineer melodies to understand the approach and reuse the infinite amount of approaches out there. a lot of the successful jazz guitarists like you mentioned, Wes and Joe Pass followed Django and that primarily aural tradition of jazz. Playing some Django-Reinhardt Coleman Hawkins era stuff and transcribing them, youll see a lot of the "modern approaches" like substitutions. were they the pioneers? mmm we dont know. we dont care. its beautiful and accessible to be digested by us all. if you listen to modern day "gypsy jazz" players like angelo debarre and adrien moignard(which im sure you already do), a lof of their lines are "bebop". to be honest, its gotten to the point where players who follow suit to those guys such as myself cant even purposely distinguish whether the lines we play are deemed "bebop" or "gypsy jazz" anymore. the only difference is on how the rhythm section of the ensemble accompanies the soloists. cheers man! your comment got me thinkin TIME TO SHED =D
@@bonusfat110 Si vous écoutez les derniers disques de Django (ceux d'après guerre où il joue de la guitare électrique et est accompagné par des gens comme Martial Solal ou Maurice Vander), vous entendrez qu'il avait écouté ses collègues du bop et repris pas mal de plans 100 % bop. Il y a une grande différence entre le Django de l'époque du Quintet du Hot Club de France et le Django des derniers disques (comme il y a une grosse différence entre le Django qui a enregistrés les titres "ouverts" et "flamenco" sous les titres "Improvisation N° 1, 2; etc" et le Django des enregistrements alimentaires avec des chanteurs parfois pénibles). En France, il y a pour Django dans les héritiers, les imitateurs souvent très doués (Tchavolo, Romane Angelo Debarre,...), ceux qui ont incorporés d'autres choses (Boulou Ferré la musique de Tristano, Rafael Fays avec le jazz fusion et le Flamenco, Christiane Escoudé ou Bireli Lagrene avec un peu tout,,...) et ceux qui ont été très influencé par le be bop et/ou Jimmy Raney et chez qui il ne reste pas grand chose du jazz manouche (le remarquable René Thomas, le peu connue Mailhes,...)
@@ZAWARUD00 Oui. il joue dans un style très différent. Il a écouté du be-bop et ça se sent. Il joue parfois de la guitare électrique (avec un son assez "crunch" mais ça a son charme). Et, au lieu d'avoir la fameuse pompe manouche à la guitare derrière, il y a des pianistes comme Solal ou Vander. C'est assez facile à écouter sur FB, on troue à peu prêt tout ce qu'il a enregistré les "dernières années".
What draws me to both Django and Charlie Parker is the fact that both played wonderful melodies, at least little epiphanies of just one or two bars that are transporting. Thanks Jens for showing us some ways to practise so we might attempt the same.
After watching the way jazz players create beautiful incomprehensible walls of notes, I see that this ~11 minute lesson is a fast track for me to create beautiful incomprehensible walls of notes 😎
I applaud your videos! You definitely know how to explain jazz improvisation. And you always leave the diligent student on a great path to learning how to incorporate these ideas. I also appreciate that you never over-promise and under-deliver.
This is the best discussion of this issue I’ve encountered. My earliest attempts at jazz improvisation used the “chord/scale” approach, which helped me avoid hitting clams but the results were lackluster - safe but boring. As my ears have improved, I’ve discovered that the bebop masters frequently also reference the shape of the original melody in both obvious and oblique ways when soloing: it’s relatively rare to hear Bird just run the changes for more than a few bars.
after having struggled with Giant Steps, always unable even to write (nor to play) a musically sounding solo, I watched Barry Harris' lesson about this tune and instantly I were able to write lines instead of lick clusters. Thank you for picking this up ❤
Thanks Jens! Always love when you drop videos on Barry Harris. My teacher and I have been working through a lot of the Barry Harris concepts that you've been presenting, and it's completely changed my approach to improvisation. It's really helped in removing a lot of the mystery and fear I had when going through the Charlie Parker Omnibook. I'm now seeing patterns and have the terminology that I didn't have before. Great job, and it's always a pleasure watching your weekly videos!
I play trumpet, mostly ballads as the years wrap around my neck. I enjoy your videos and watch them often. Never been a bebop guy but still fun to learn a thing or two about it!
Man there is so much info in that 10 min video .I am doing the beginner "Jazz guitar roadmap " with Jen and still that video bring more clarity to those bebop concepts. fantastic.
This is interesting for me to watch as I learned to play this style more by copying rhythmic phrases and an chromatic embelishments from records than by practicing scales or arpeggios or transcribing. I can testify that it's a very effective way to capture the bebop sound with fairly simple harmonic ingredients.
Loved this. How you manage to combine entertainment and great teaching is a gift. That, and the fact that you are so generous with your work - you're a model for how to achieve fulfilment on so many levels.
I have seen a few others explain this topic in similar ways but you really added some concepts especially at the end I never saw in any of the others. You really put a lot of effort here. Thank you!!
You give so much information in so little time. Great job for video format so I can pause and rewind without having to watch five videos and endless nonsense in between. Thank you.
Thanks so much for this video: first time I hear someone talking about the importance of melody in improvisation! Many years of teaching courses about harmony or scales and arpeggios are not so helpful when you've got to build your own phrasing style... I'll have to listen to your video many times to fully be able to use your recommendations in my playing!
I first learned how to _label_ enclosures from Chad LB, who has some incredible stuff on melodic ideas. I hadn't really known what a pivot arpeggio was, even though I have been doing them without realizing it. Now that I see the concept and have a name for it, though, I'll be using it more and will have more awareness of my playing. Thanks for this!!
No one has ever gotten me to understand jazz licks and progressions until I ran across your videos. Even after getting a music degree I still felt like jazz was so foreign to me. You have inspired me to want to play more jazz guitar!
I’ve taught for 40+ years and there is no “I think” about it. Jens has Perfected the ‘net teaching. He’s mastered the guitar, the medium and sharing. Amazing ability to make you feel good about your playing, while dazzling you with his. YT Gold!😊
That's amazing content through all that years, and the quality is only getting better! You can really learn from it, or you can just enjoy some jazzy content. Works both ways for me.
Omg amazing! I thought I was the only one who didn’t think bebop scales were effective or sound good! And it still blows my mind when I see people who don’t have much experience ask about them all the time and place so much emphasis on them. I’m so glad you made this video, as a jazz pianist and teacher myself I couldn’t agree more with all of your points. And thank you for making a video about it before I did 😂
Hey Jens, I applied this to piano and changed my sound in hours. That bebop scale stuff was so confusing. Thanks so much. God bless you so you can teach more.
The diatonic above/chromatic below is something that no one ever taught me, either in private lessons, or when I was a jazz performance major. Simple but effective idea, and it can be applied outside of a jazz context. something I wanted to mention, and I don't know how it will be received, either it will be ignored, or others will hammer me for it. I was watching your videos from the first year you started. It was refreshing, because there weren't any of the distracting gimmicks and trying to be humorous. It was just no BS, straight information on the subject at hand. It was much easier to take in, and seemed more professional, even if the production quality wasn't as slick and glossy. Take it for what you will, but I think I prefer your earlier videos without the gimmicks. You're a great teacher, and have top notch content, I just find all the editing tricks distracting.
Let Jens have a bit of fun! 🦉😵💫🦆😘🧞♂️… I remember the earlier videos too, and the seriousness got a bit heavy sometimes, so the comic pop-ups serve to wake up the viewer - like a sudden loud noise will. Attention span is decreasing! These tips are brilliant.
It's a great time to always think outside the box when how to use musical knowledge/theory in creative and musical ways. The tools are meant to be used, not to be used by the tools. Cheers!
Excellent video Jens. I think it's interesting that as a trumpet player I'm pretty much forced into pivot arpeggios whether I like it or not because of the limited range. I discovered this for myself pretty early on: when I ran out of range I'd just use a pivot to get me back down again. Then I started hearing it everywhere in bebop and the penny dropped. Funny how we can arrive at the same destination by very different paths.
Jesus, my mind is completely blown rn.... Especially once he started explaining Barry Harris' Chromatic scale my jaw dropped to the floor. Real eye opener.
I'm not much of a jazz player but have been prescribed to a similar perspective on the use of enclosures. It's similar to how Stravinsky works in Rite Of Spring and John William's Star Wars Tattooine theme. I like using these concepts in my electronic compositions.
Bebop scales are like any other scales. They can be used well or abused. I think the trick is to not use straight scalar ideas too much and, when you do use them, to often incorporate them into a larger idea that isn't strictly scalar throughout. Listen to what Sonny Stitt does with bebop scales.
My pops studied, then played with Barry Harris while growing up in Detroit and afterwards and he always told me that he never liked the term "scales", especially the "modal" scales concept. Bebop was developed during the era of the "I Got Rhythm" period and style of music and all of those changes were in the harmonic pocket with the main emphasis always on the melody. I think the mistake a lot of horn players always seem to make was to not listen to or study John Coltrane's straight ahead era, and they'd go directly to his freer jazz eras, his improvisational foundation was always based in Bebop (there was nothing hipper), and by time he started going into that more open direction, his Bebop education was more than well defined, well played and clearly well absorbed; it was exceedingly well lived in experienced.
Fantastic lesson for the point I was stuck at, knowing the scales for years, took the effort lately to play in more 'boxes' and eventually on the whole neck but still sounding like a scale and not like be-bop, Thanks a lot
One of the best lessons I've come across in a while. Will be watching it a few times over. Been working on enclosures for a while but this clears it up quite a bit more. You just got another subscriber. Thanks!
Wow. Fantastic lesson! This is exactly what I need to work on. Regarding your strong opinion of the bebop scale. I agree it sounds super dry if that's all you do, like anything. But if you look at the way people like Jerry Bergonzi approach it in his videos, I think there are ways to create beautiful lines as well. A lot of great players like Grant Green use phrasing that can be looked at as bebop scale approach (Cool Blues). After watching your amazing video, I would say incorporating the "Barry Harris bebop Approach" as well as some bebop scale concepts like the Bergonzi approach, could really help people get a great modern bebop sound.
I just looked up 'BeBop Scales.' There were five types mentioned. Just my opinion, but they're hardly necessary. They're a bit overkill really. A person might get a good grade for submitting an essay on 'benefits' of these Scales for a Philosophy Tute, but that's about it. It's difficult for me to see arguing for BeBop Scales otherwise. In Real Time, they would just get swallowed up with everything else that's going on. An old teacher of mine told me that Arpeggios are what give lines colour - moreso than Modes / Scales. A quote of yours (from the JGRM) that I wrote down - was: Arpeggios are the BACKDROP to hang enclosures, chromaticisms et cetera on. I love that one ! With a solo that employs arpeggios, enclosures, Barry Harris Chromaticisms, modes, pivots, lower (chord tone ?) interval skips - and such with chromatic leading tones, would there be any room left to 'pay homage' to BeBop Scales ? .
True, I don't think it is the best way to describe the music, and maybe better viewed as a first attempt at an analysis? Having the skills to add chromatic notes in general is a much stronger tool that you can do a lot more with.
*I love Bop* (Berklee Grad here) I was there just after Pat left. Mike was still there. Really good lesson! We weren’t taught Bop. The teachers knew Bop. You had to approach them for that info. I really don’t understand why. Maybe they thought that we needed the basic Jazz base and then we would understand Bop easier. Bop breaks a lot of the basic rules that we were taught. _(Yes/and No)_
The reason why be-bop is not my favourite form is predicated on my preference for space atmosphere economy and succinct distillations of emotion in playing. However I'm really enjoying the cool sounds here and the way you're explaining them.
After taking multiple university courses on jazz theory and improv this is the least convoluted method I’ve come across. So simple to explain but encompasses all the important elements of jazz solos. No one wants a wall of chord scale runs haha
With this video you put in a nutshell what makes the difference! For one decade I went the scale/mode way trying to get closer to the bebop language - wasted energy. You just learn a bad habit: Not to care what chord you are actually in, because the scale always "kind of" sounds right. What finally did the job for me is enclosures and pivoting arpeggios (Bach did this, too). A useful side-effect of practicing those pivoting arpeggios is that you build up the skills to spontaneously change direction. It is not just the fingers, it is the way to think. You no longer navigate yourself into dead ends because pivoting opens multiple options where to go next. Your playing becomes flawless and flexible and it is easy to always outline the current chord.
I think this is one of the most useful, no no nsense approach to learning the jazz language i have come accross. I am looking forward for more content that expands on these ideas.
You’re such an amazing teacher! I love how you can break things down into digestible bits. I’m a bass player (boo, hiss 😂)and I think you’re my favorite jazz educator !
What people don't understand is you can play bebop of a variety of tunes including, rock, funk, R&B, Blues etc... It's a lot more interesting sound than pentatonic in rock tunes and blues scales.
Bebop scale and Barry Harris scales are the same thing. David Baker first came up with the scales and called them Bebop scales. Later on Barry Harris talked about the same scales but called them Major6Diminished or Minor6Diminished and so on, but notes were the same. Sadly both David Baker and Barry Harris are no longer with us.
Melody training. Great stuff Jens. I’m thinking that if JSBach had played “lazy eighths”, he would’ve created BEBop! Hmm. If only there were recordings of his jams.
Thanks! Bach's melodies don't often swing in the right way, they are a bit square rhythmically (I know that might be a hot take, but for understanding melody that is important to realize 🙂)
This is the second video on improv that I've heard the term "enclosures" used. It's a very cool way to describe it. And like you mentioned there are other terms used for it. In Classical Theory I remember the device being called "changing tones" Many years ago I got to Jam with Rich Matteson and he called it "rotation." Another cool term. And of course there are the terms used by Slonimsky and Yuseff Lateef in their books, which are cool but overly complicated.
I love you Jens Larsen! In a musical way of course. I could just listen all day to your videos. Yes, I also pick up my guitar and play. Won't get fooled again! (By boring bebop scales for one)
I appreciate this very interesting and well explained wealth of knowledge on how to be musical instead of just playing scales (such a challenge). Not many tell you this!! So unique! Thank you for all your wonderful videos.
*How important is Bebop for learning Jazz?*
If you want to explore a practical way to deal with Jazz chords, then follow this approach inspired by Joe Pass:
th-cam.com/video/P-P-gM7VJx4/w-d-xo.html
i'm so bitter,Years of jazz lessons,NOT a single teacher told me those simple and so effective principles to play the music i wanted to play so bad in my 20s glad i finally found the key.Thanks
Lazy teachers that just want the money give the rest a bad name. Sorry to hear you got some of them.
Well, I think Pat Metheny is nailing it with his remarks about how we still need to learn to teach melody. But I do think we are getting a lot better at it.
@@JensLarsen When I was an Undergraduate, we learnt enough Harmony (Diatonic, Chromatic and Serial) to kill an Ox. We hardly ever learned any practical rhythm. By the end of third year, not so many could compose an interesting melody. Granted that it was an 'Academic' course - that's how everyone got away with it. Pat Metheny is spot on.
Amen!
The players who were born to play music don't need someone telling them what to do. It comes naturally. There are people who don't even know that a tonic is and are amazing jazz improvisers.
I don't think I've ever spent 11 minutes getting so much useful information on anything in my life before! Thank you so much for this.
Glad it was helpful!
This is the best bebop lesson on TH-cam. Can we delete all the other bebop tutorials and just keep this one? It will save people decades of trying to reach this. I also love the fact that it's only about 10 minutes long.
Glad you like it
Glad you like it
Another great lesson, Jens. I love how you speak like Barry is still with us - because, in many many ways, he still is. I attended some of his Zoom workshops just before he passed - he IS bebop.
Yep........
The patron Saint of Jazz education
It’s shocking how simple and beautiful the pivot arpeggio is.
Yes, that is actually true. It is also not only a Jazz thing 🙂
Django Reinhardt might not be the first name that comes to mind when talking about Bebop but listening to his way of making beautifully tasty melodic lines over just one chord is really a masterclass in Jazz and Bebop. His mastery of constructing MELODY and relying on it to the core gave him an enormous amount of freedom in what to do harmonically as well, it's almost like magic.
He is not mentioned as influential as Charlie Christian in Bebop context but there's just as much of Django in Wes' playing (Octaves, Minor 6 Diminished) as there is of Charlie Christian.
youre absolutely correct. theres definitely 2 schools of jazz guitar playing today. jens addressed it indirectly - those who think scales will make music and then those who reverse engineer melodies to understand the approach and reuse the infinite amount of approaches out there. a lot of the successful jazz guitarists like you mentioned, Wes and Joe Pass followed Django and that primarily aural tradition of jazz.
Playing some Django-Reinhardt Coleman Hawkins era stuff and transcribing them, youll see a lot of the "modern approaches" like substitutions. were they the pioneers? mmm we dont know. we dont care. its beautiful and accessible to be digested by us all. if you listen to modern day "gypsy jazz" players like angelo debarre and adrien moignard(which im sure you already do), a lof of their lines are "bebop". to be honest, its gotten to the point where players who follow suit to those guys such as myself cant even purposely distinguish whether the lines we play are deemed "bebop" or "gypsy jazz" anymore. the only difference is on how the rhythm section of the ensemble accompanies the soloists.
cheers man! your comment got me thinkin TIME TO SHED =D
@@bonusfat110 Si vous écoutez les derniers disques de Django (ceux d'après guerre où il joue de la guitare électrique et est accompagné par des gens comme Martial Solal ou Maurice Vander), vous entendrez qu'il avait écouté ses collègues du bop et repris pas mal de plans 100 % bop. Il y a une grande différence entre le Django de l'époque du Quintet du Hot Club de France et le Django des derniers disques (comme il y a une grosse différence entre le Django qui a enregistrés les titres "ouverts" et "flamenco" sous les titres "Improvisation N° 1, 2; etc" et le Django des enregistrements alimentaires avec des chanteurs parfois pénibles). En France, il y a pour Django dans les héritiers, les imitateurs souvent très doués (Tchavolo, Romane Angelo Debarre,...), ceux qui ont incorporés d'autres choses (Boulou Ferré la musique de Tristano, Rafael Fays avec le jazz fusion et le Flamenco, Christiane Escoudé ou Bireli Lagrene avec un peu tout,,...) et ceux qui ont été très influencé par le be bop et/ou Jimmy Raney et chez qui il ne reste pas grand chose du jazz manouche (le remarquable René Thomas, le peu connue Mailhes,...)
@@canardlaque8106 Je ne connais pas ces albums tardifs, ils valent le coup ?
@@ZAWARUD00 Oui. il joue dans un style très différent. Il a écouté du be-bop et ça se sent. Il joue parfois de la guitare électrique (avec un son assez "crunch" mais ça a son charme). Et, au lieu d'avoir la fameuse pompe manouche à la guitare derrière, il y a des pianistes comme Solal ou Vander. C'est assez facile à écouter sur FB, on troue à peu prêt tout ce qu'il a enregistré les "dernières années".
What draws me to both Django and Charlie Parker is the fact that both played wonderful melodies, at least little epiphanies of just one or two bars that are transporting. Thanks Jens for showing us some ways to practise so we might attempt the same.
This has got to be the greatest explanation about bebop phrasing on this planet... ultimate!!!
Thank you! Glad it was helpful
Jens, this lesson gave me more insight in 10 minutes than many years in lessons. You are an absolute gem in this community.
Great that it was useful 🙂
@@JensLarsenI have to concur. I must have wasted years. A complete revelation. Thanks so much
After watching the way jazz players create beautiful incomprehensible walls of notes, I see that this ~11 minute lesson is a fast track for me to create beautiful incomprehensible walls of notes 😎
Exactly! We all have goals 🙂
I think you are the best bebop educator out there. Teaching stuff is always a selfless act of love for who comes after. Thanks !
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that you found the video useful and that you want to support the channel 🙂
It is amazing how much you are able to pack into a video, and it is all so smooth! You are like the Charlie Parker of jazz youtubers......
Haha! Thank you 🙏😎
You`re such a great teacher, Jens! 😀 Clear and precise, straight to the point! Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge! 🎸👍
Thank you! 🙂
Your channel is single handedly helping me become a better jazz soloist; thank you for your hard work!
Great to hear! 🙂
I applaud your videos! You definitely know how to explain jazz improvisation. And you always leave the diligent student on a great path to learning how to incorporate these ideas. I also appreciate that you never over-promise and under-deliver.
This is the best discussion of this issue I’ve encountered. My earliest attempts at jazz improvisation used the “chord/scale” approach, which helped me avoid hitting clams but the results were lackluster - safe but boring.
As my ears have improved, I’ve discovered that the bebop masters frequently also reference the shape of the original melody in both obvious and oblique ways when soloing: it’s relatively rare to hear Bird just run the changes for more than a few bars.
after having struggled with Giant Steps, always unable even to write (nor to play) a musically sounding solo, I watched Barry Harris' lesson about this tune and instantly I were able to write lines instead of lick clusters. Thank you for picking this up ❤
Thanks Jens! Always love when you drop videos on Barry Harris. My teacher and I have been working through a lot of the Barry Harris concepts that you've been presenting, and it's completely changed my approach to improvisation. It's really helped in removing a lot of the mystery and fear I had when going through the Charlie Parker Omnibook. I'm now seeing patterns and have the terminology that I didn't have before. Great job, and it's always a pleasure watching your weekly videos!
That is awesome to hear Jonathan!
So much incredible information and ideas crammed into a single short video... 🤯
Glad you liked it! 🙂
I play trumpet, mostly ballads as the years wrap around my neck. I enjoy your videos and watch them often. Never been a bebop guy but still fun to learn a thing or two about it!
Man there is so much info in that 10 min video .I am doing the beginner "Jazz guitar roadmap " with Jen and still that video bring more clarity to those bebop concepts. fantastic.
Thank you Michel!
This is interesting for me to watch as I learned to play this style more by copying rhythmic phrases and an chromatic embelishments from records than by practicing scales or arpeggios or transcribing. I can testify that it's a very effective way to capture the bebop sound with fairly simple harmonic ingredients.
Indeed!
Loved this. How you manage to combine entertainment and great teaching is a gift. That, and the fact that you are so generous with your work - you're a model for how to achieve fulfilment on so many levels.
Thank you very much! Glad you like the video!
I have seen a few others explain this topic in similar ways but you really added some concepts especially at the end I never saw in any of the others. You really put a lot of effort here. Thank you!!
You give so much information in so little time. Great job for video format so I can pause and rewind without having to watch five videos and endless nonsense in between. Thank you.
Awesome, thank you!
The great concepts are always the foundation ! No concepts, nothing to apply in practice.
Thanks Jens!
Glad it was useful
Yes!! Movment, flow, natural rythm
Thanks so much for this video: first time I hear someone talking about the importance of melody in improvisation! Many years of teaching courses about harmony or scales and arpeggios are not so helpful when you've got to build your own phrasing style... I'll have to listen to your video many times to fully be able to use your recommendations in my playing!
I first learned how to _label_ enclosures from Chad LB, who has some incredible stuff on melodic ideas. I hadn't really known what a pivot arpeggio was, even though I have been doing them without realizing it. Now that I see the concept and have a name for it, though, I'll be using it more and will have more awareness of my playing. Thanks for this!!
No one has ever gotten me to understand jazz licks and progressions until I ran across your videos. Even after getting a music degree I still felt like jazz was so foreign to me. You have inspired me to want to play more jazz guitar!
You are a brilliant teacher and musician. Thank you !!!!!
Thank you 🙂
I think you're the best teacher on the internet.
Thank you! 🙂
I’ve taught for 40+ years and there is no “I think” about it. Jens has Perfected the ‘net teaching. He’s mastered the guitar, the medium and sharing. Amazing ability to make you feel good about your playing, while dazzling you with his. YT Gold!😊
Perfect video. Now I have chance to understand a little bit more! Muchas gracias 😊
You're welcome 😊
Brilliant lesson! Thank you so much.
Glad you liked it!
That's amazing content through all that years, and the quality is only getting better! You can really learn from it, or you can just enjoy some jazzy content. Works both ways for me.
Great lesson Jens! This clarifies Barry's chromatic scale and how easy it is to use. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
wow... best lesson ever ! I can work for years with these ideas !!
Go for it 🙂
Omg amazing! I thought I was the only one who didn’t think bebop scales were effective or sound good! And it still blows my mind when I see people who don’t have much experience ask about them all the time and place so much emphasis on them. I’m so glad you made this video, as a jazz pianist and teacher myself I couldn’t agree more with all of your points. And thank you for making a video about it before I did 😂
Hey Jens, I applied this to piano and changed my sound in hours. That bebop scale stuff was so confusing. Thanks so much. God bless you so you can teach more.
That is great to hear!
The diatonic above/chromatic below is something that no one ever taught me, either in private lessons, or when I was a jazz performance major. Simple but effective idea, and it can be applied outside of a jazz context. something I wanted to mention, and I don't know how it will be received, either it will be ignored, or others will hammer me for it. I was watching your videos from the first year you started. It was refreshing, because there weren't any of the distracting gimmicks and trying to be humorous. It was just no BS, straight information on the subject at hand. It was much easier to take in, and seemed more professional, even if the production quality wasn't as slick and glossy. Take it for what you will, but I think I prefer your earlier videos without the gimmicks. You're a great teacher, and have top notch content, I just find all the editing tricks distracting.
Let Jens have a bit of fun! 🦉😵💫🦆😘🧞♂️… I remember the earlier videos too, and the seriousness got a bit heavy sometimes, so the comic pop-ups serve to wake up the viewer - like a sudden loud noise will. Attention span is decreasing! These tips are brilliant.
Wow, amazing video Jens! Some seriously mind blowing stuff in here. This material will keep me practicing for a long time to come!
Glad it was helpful!
Wow Jens the quality of your content improved so much !! I’m impressed, amazing work !
Glad you think so!
this lesson's so eye opening it almost feels illegal
Glad you like it 🙂
Jens, this video is bebop gold! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
It's a great time to always think outside the box when how to use musical knowledge/theory in creative and musical ways. The tools are meant to be used, not to be used by the tools. Cheers!
Totally agree!
That was the best lesson on jazz melody i have ever heard. Thank you thank you.
That's really great to hear! Glad it was useful!
What an absolutely amazing teacher you are. A tremendous thank you for these videos.
You're very welcome! Great to hear that you find the videos useful!
@@JensLarsen 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Wow! Lots of eureka moments in this one! Such simple concepts the way you explain them.
Glad it was helpful!
This could be the most useful 10 minute video on jazz bebop in existence!
Thank you!
Excellent video Jens. I think it's interesting that as a trumpet player I'm pretty much forced into pivot arpeggios whether I like it or not because of the limited range. I discovered this for myself pretty early on: when I ran out of range I'd just use a pivot to get me back down again. Then I started hearing it everywhere in bebop and the penny dropped. Funny how we can arrive at the same destination by very different paths.
Great as always. I geniunly thank you for all the ideas that you have given me
Glad you like them!
Hello friend. Thank you for carrying the bebop torch for Barry. He was a huge inspiration for me.
Thanks Josh! Hope you are well! 🙂
@@JensLarsen doing well! Just making silly jazz videos all day. The dream lol
I just can't imagine how much time you spend on making these contents. Great, really really great
This is straight up the best video on bebop melody lines I've ever seen. Thank you sir!
Thank you!
Jesus, my mind is completely blown rn.... Especially once he started explaining Barry Harris' Chromatic scale my jaw dropped to the floor. Real eye opener.
I'm not much of a jazz player but have been prescribed to a similar perspective on the use of enclosures. It's similar to how Stravinsky works in Rite Of Spring and John William's Star Wars Tattooine theme. I like using these concepts in my electronic compositions.
Bebop scales are like any other scales. They can be used well or abused. I think the trick is to not use straight scalar ideas too much and, when you do use them, to often incorporate them into a larger idea that isn't strictly scalar throughout. Listen to what Sonny Stitt does with bebop scales.
My pops studied, then played with Barry Harris while growing up in Detroit and afterwards and he always told me that he never liked the term "scales", especially the "modal" scales concept. Bebop was developed during the era of the "I Got Rhythm" period and style of music and all of those changes were in the harmonic pocket with the main emphasis always on the melody. I think the mistake a lot of horn players always seem to make was to not listen to or study John Coltrane's straight ahead era, and they'd go directly to his freer jazz eras, his improvisational foundation was always based in Bebop (there was nothing hipper), and by time he started going into that more open direction, his Bebop education was more than well defined, well played and clearly well absorbed; it was exceedingly well lived in experienced.
This is awesome! Thank you so much!
Glad you like it 🙂
Thank you for sharing it , very useful
Glad it was helpful!
Amazing amazing lesson here.
Glad you think so!
Great lesson Jens. Very helpful, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is golden, thank you !!!
Glad it was helpful 🙂
Fantastic lesson for the point I was stuck at, knowing the scales for years, took the effort lately to play in more 'boxes' and eventually on the whole neck but still sounding like a scale and not like be-bop, Thanks a lot
One of the best lessons I've come across in a while. Will be watching it a few times over. Been working on enclosures for a while but this clears it up quite a bit more. You just got another subscriber. Thanks!
Got it. Thanks Jens!
👍
Wow. Fantastic lesson! This is exactly what I need to work on. Regarding your strong opinion of the bebop scale. I agree it sounds super dry if that's all you do, like anything. But if you look at the way people like Jerry Bergonzi approach it in his videos, I think there are ways to create beautiful lines as well. A lot of great players like Grant Green use phrasing that can be looked at as bebop scale approach (Cool Blues). After watching your amazing video, I would say incorporating the "Barry Harris bebop Approach" as well as some bebop scale concepts like the Bergonzi approach, could really help people get a great modern bebop sound.
Glad you like it! 🙏
I love this. Because this is all new to me. Fascinating and everyone makes it look so easy
I'm really coming around to your way of thinking Jens.
I just looked up 'BeBop Scales.' There were five types mentioned. Just my opinion, but they're hardly necessary. They're a bit overkill really. A person might get a good grade for submitting an essay on 'benefits' of these Scales for a Philosophy Tute, but that's about it. It's difficult for me to see arguing for BeBop Scales otherwise. In Real Time, they would just get swallowed up with everything else that's going on.
An old teacher of mine told me that Arpeggios are what give lines colour - moreso than Modes / Scales. A quote of yours (from the JGRM) that I wrote down - was: Arpeggios are the BACKDROP to hang enclosures, chromaticisms et cetera on. I love that one !
With a solo that employs arpeggios, enclosures, Barry Harris Chromaticisms, modes, pivots, lower (chord tone ?) interval skips - and such with chromatic leading tones, would there be any room left to 'pay homage' to BeBop Scales ? .
True, I don't think it is the best way to describe the music, and maybe better viewed as a first attempt at an analysis? Having the skills to add chromatic notes in general is a much stronger tool that you can do a lot more with.
@@JensLarsen Sure is.
*I love Bop*
(Berklee Grad here)
I was there just after Pat left.
Mike was still there.
Really good lesson!
We weren’t taught Bop.
The teachers knew Bop. You had to approach them for that info.
I really don’t understand why.
Maybe they thought that we needed the basic Jazz base and then we would understand Bop easier. Bop breaks a lot of the basic rules that we were taught.
_(Yes/and No)_
That's interesting.
Excellent video Jens - the way you started with a simple triad and enclosure is like a life-line for those of us new to Jazz
It's amazing how we can hear the swing on his fingers alone, without a drum or bass to help. Just first class.
yes, Barry is amazing!
@@JensLarsen I was talking about you, you have the swing deep in your mind, we can hear it.
@@jhoylangoncalves3127 hahaha! Thank you! Sorry, I thought you meant Barry 🙂
Joe Pass was the master...💚🎸
The reason why be-bop is not my favourite form is predicated on my preference for space atmosphere economy and succinct distillations of emotion in playing. However I'm really enjoying the cool sounds here and the way you're explaining them.
Priceless video!
🙏
After taking multiple university courses on jazz theory and improv this is the least convoluted method I’ve come across. So simple to explain but encompasses all the important elements of jazz solos. No one wants a wall of chord scale runs haha
Thank you!
With this video you put in a nutshell what makes the difference! For one decade I went the scale/mode way trying to get closer to the bebop language - wasted energy. You just learn a bad habit: Not to care what chord you are actually in, because the scale always "kind of" sounds right. What finally did the job for me is enclosures and pivoting arpeggios (Bach did this, too). A useful side-effect of practicing those pivoting arpeggios is that you build up the skills to spontaneously change direction. It is not just the fingers, it is the way to think. You no longer navigate yourself into dead ends because pivoting opens multiple options where to go next. Your playing becomes flawless and flexible and it is easy to always outline the current chord.
I think this is one of the most useful, no no nsense approach to learning the jazz language i have come accross. I am looking forward for more content that expands on these ideas.
Thank you! 🙂
Wow! Thank you for such a clear breakdown. Can’t wait to try these! ❤
You are so welcome!
What a understatement.
3:47 This is perfect for where I am at this moment
Great! Go for it!
You’re such an amazing teacher! I love how you can break things down into digestible bits. I’m a bass player (boo, hiss 😂)and I think you’re my favorite jazz educator !
Haha! It is really great that this is also useful for other instruments! 👍🙂
What people don't understand is you can play bebop of a variety of tunes including, rock, funk, R&B, Blues etc... It's a lot more interesting sound than pentatonic in rock tunes and blues scales.
Thanks Jens! That was an awesome overview with great insight into things to work on & listen too!
Glad it was helpful! That is great to hear!
Thank you for this great lesson on bebop.
You're very welcome!
Wow, I'd already managed to internalize Barry's Chromatic Scale into my playing (usually descending), but now you've given it a "boost"! Thanks!
i love this video concept, really teach us well. thanks Jens
Glad you enjoyed it!
Bebop scale and Barry Harris scales are the same thing. David Baker first came up with the scales and called them Bebop scales. Later on Barry Harris talked about the same scales but called them Major6Diminished or Minor6Diminished and so on, but notes were the same. Sadly both David Baker and Barry Harris are no longer with us.
Melody training. Great stuff Jens. I’m thinking that if JSBach had played “lazy eighths”, he would’ve created BEBop! Hmm. If only there were recordings of his jams.
Thanks! Bach's melodies don't often swing in the right way, they are a bit square rhythmically (I know that might be a hot take, but for understanding melody that is important to realize 🙂)
thanks Jens ,, this is a game changer !
Amazing video, Jens! I am gonna learn a lot putting that into practice.
You got this!
Thanks for another great video Jens, lots of fun to work on in this one too!
Amazing.... so rhythm is what glues all this chaos together. Metheny said something about it too
This video is GOLD ❤
Thank you!
A compliment like that from Paul Simon is worth more than gold.
This is the second video on improv that I've heard the term "enclosures" used. It's a very cool way to describe it. And like you mentioned there are other terms used for it. In Classical Theory I remember the device being called "changing tones" Many years ago I got to Jam with Rich Matteson and he called it "rotation." Another cool term. And of course there are the terms used by Slonimsky and Yuseff Lateef in their books, which are cool but overly complicated.
great video the enclosure trick ,,, blow my mind ,,, thanks ......
Glad you liked it!
I love you Jens Larsen! In a musical way of course. I could just listen all day to your videos. Yes, I also pick up my guitar and play. Won't get fooled again! (By boring bebop scales for one)
I appreciate this very interesting and well explained wealth of knowledge on how to be musical instead of just playing scales (such a challenge). Not many tell you this!! So unique! Thank you for all your wonderful videos.