Bebop Scale
A jazz scale that adds one chromatic passing note to a standard seven-note scale, ensuring chord tones fall on strong beats.
Category
scales
Pronunciation
/ˈbiːbɒp skeɪl/
Origin
English (jazz term)
Length
204 words · 2 min read
About Bebop Scale
The bebop scale is an ingenious practical invention of jazz musicians in the 1940s. By adding a single chromatic note to a major, dominant, or minor scale, the scale gains eight notes instead of seven, which means that when played in continuous quavers, the chord tones (root, third, fifth, seventh) consistently land on the strong beats of each bar.
More scales terms
Pentatonic Scale
View all scalesterms →A five-note scale found in musical traditions worldwide
Octatonic ScaleAn eight-note scale built from alternating whole tones and semitones, widely used in late Romantic and modern music.
Major ScaleA seven-note scale with the pattern tone–tone–semitone–tone–tone–tone–semitone
Harmonic Minor ScaleA minor scale with a raised seventh degree, creating a distinctive augmented second between the sixth and seventh notes.
Chromatic ScaleA scale comprising all twelve semitones within an octave
Synonyms
See Also
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