Bass Bebop for Beginners: Part 2

Here is the second Parker line as promised – you can put it together with the C-7 F7 line from Part 1 and you get a cool turnaround lick: D-7 to G7 leading to C-7 to F7!

So that gives you a nice two bar iii vi ii v line in B?.

(And be sure to check out Part 1 if you missed it, or need a refresher).

Or you can consider these as individual iiv licks too-and as always practice them in 12 keys, and then you will feel comfortable using them over a ii v chord progression, or indeed together as a iii vi ii v for instance.

Here is the D-7 G7 lick as covered in the video below:

Bass Bebop for Beginners: Part 2 Phrase

This forms a iii vi line in the key of B?. But, of course, without changing anything it could also be seen as a ii v lick resolving to C major too depending on what you play in the bar following.

As mentioned in last lesson (Part 1) both these licks are from a Charlie Parker solo on a tune called “Kim.” This, like many of Parker’s compositions, is based on a chord progression from an existing standard. In this case, George Gershwin’s classic “I Got Rhythm.”

This tune and it’s MANY variations, is often just referred to as “Rhythm Changes” as shorthand for the harmonic sequence it encompasses. If you notice these two licks as well as being capable as being played as ii v i lines in their own right can also be put together to form the classic turnaround sequence of iii vi ii v (so D-7 G7 C-7 F7 becomes iii vi ii v in the key of B? – the typical key for a “rhythm changes” tune!)

Go over both these lines, put them together, and go grab a copy of the Parker Omnibook. It is chock full of bebop vocabulary and it’s a GREAT reading study book also!

Until the next time…

Rufus Philpot is a performer and educator living in Los Angeles who has performed and or recorded with everyone from Scott Henderson, Allan Holdsworth, Virgil Donati and Tony MacAlpine to Randy Brecker, Tom Scott, Gary Novak and Marvin "Smitty" Smith. For more, check out his website.

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