“Learn how to play songs!” is probably the best advice any music instructor can give their students. This applies to pretty much any style of music, but it’s essential when it comes to learning how to play jazz because players need to understand the underlying harmony of the progressions being played so that they can improvise over those changes. Jazz guitarists in particular also need to learn the chords, progressions, rhythmic patterns and accompaniment approaches.
So yea, learn songs! Thanks to Sheryl Bailey, we can learn the chords, progressions and comping approaches to dozens of songs simply by playing along to her Rhythm edition of the Bebop Guitar Fakebook. Sheryl pulled the chord progressions from 25 bebop jazz standards and shows us how to play those progressions in a live music situation. Here’s 5 free examples to get your bebop mojo working…
Just Leave: Overview
This is based on the quintessential standard “Autumn Leaves”. These changes are the foundation of hundreds of other standards and it’s a tune that you can be sure everyone on the scene knows, so it’s a good one to commit to memory and be ready to pull out of your bag of tricks.
Just Leave: Performance
Download the tab, notation, and jam track for this bebop rhythm lesson on TrueFire.
Reflections: Overview
“Reflections” is based on the John Coltrane modal exploration, “Impressions”. There’s also a very similar song by Miles Davis named “So What”. My favorite guitar version is by Pat Martino, on his swan song release, Consciousness.
Reflections: Performance
Download the tab, notation, and jam track for this bebop rhythm lesson on TrueFire.
Springin’: Overview
Clifford Brown was one of the leading voices in bebop trumpet playing, and his tune “Joy Spring” is a favorite among players because of its challenging twists and turns of keys and II-V-I progression.
Springin’: Performance
Download the tab, notation, and jam track for this bebop rhythm lesson on TrueFire.
Island Song: Overview
Every jam and gig needs a little island groove, so I chose Sonny Rollins’ classic, “St. Thomas”. The progression is basically a typical I-VI7-II-V, but with the calypso groove it takes on a whole different character!
Island Song: Performance
Download the tab, notation, and jam track for this bebop rhythm lesson on TrueFire.
Summer Blues: Overview
This 16-bar blues comes from the George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess – “Summertime” has been recorded by jazz and rock/pop artists alike, giving testament to what a great composition is all about! Check out the Miles Davis version, too.
Summer Blues: Performance
Download the tab, notation, and jam track for this bebop rhythm lesson on TrueFire.
The 25 progressions that Sheryl features in her Rhythm edition of the Bebop Guitar Fakebook are used in hundreds of bebop and jazz tunes. Learning all of them opens the door to the entire jazz and bebop songbook! Once you’ve got a handle on these 5, head on over to the full course where another 20 await your arrival!