David Bakerwas the first one to come up with the term 'Bebop Scale' in his book 'How to Play Bebop',describing a techniqueCharlie Parkerand C used to make those long, never ending bebop lines. Today it's almost unthinkable for a jazz musician to not at least speak a bit of the bebop language and the bebop scale is a good place to get you started.The Bebop Scale is aMyxolydian Scalewith adescending chromatic note between the root and the b7G Mixolydian (reversed)

G Bebop

GFEDCBA

GGbFEDCBA

This G Mixolydian scale is the V of theC majorscale. The G Bebop Scale can be played on most chords that are diatonic to the key of C major, but not on the C major chord itself because the F is an avoid note for the C major chord.The Bebop Scale is adominant scaleand has the same function in a key as the Mixolydian scale. It can be played on thedominantand thesub dominant. Our example, the G Bebop Scale, is the dominant of C Major and can be played over G7 and Dm7, giving us a great tool to play overII V I progressions.You can also play the bebop scale onhalf-diminished chords. The G bebop scale can be played over a Bm7b5 chord.

The Bebop Scale works bestdescending.

The advantages of the Bebop Scale : Adds somechromatics. When you start the bebop scale on the beat and on the 1,3,5 or b7, there are nothing butchord tones on the beatsand tensions on the off beats. This is an effective way to makelong phrases. Don't start the bebop scale on offbeat's or tensions. Always start on downbeats and on chord tones.Here is the G Bebop Scale on the fret board :

:represents the root or 1 of the guitar scale.The letter inside the box is the note name.:represents a guitar scale note.

These two positions are thebasic positionsand are the best to get you started.Needles to say you can play the bebop scale in any position you want.