Bebop Dojo: Essentials

Once upon a time in Kyoto, zen master Dgen Zenji sat in his Dojo and wrote, "To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things of the universe."

While Dgen was referring to meditation and enlightenment, he could have just as well been talking about jazz improvisation. Players spend thousands of hours studying, practicing and internalizing the vocabulary and harmony of jazz -- only to "cast off body and mind" when improvising on the bandstand. If you likewise desire to be enlightened by all things in the jazz universe, then leave your shoes at the door, bow politely and enter Sheryl Bailey's Bebop Dojo.

Hundreds of jazz masters will tell you, "If you want to learn how to improvise, whatever your preferred musical style happens to be, learn Bebop." Blues, rock, funk, swing, world and of course jazz improvisation all root back to bebop in one way or another.

Bebop is the native language of improvisation and this Essentials edition Sheryl Bailey's Bebop Dojo is the "place of the way" and an accelerated, intuitive learning experience designed to impart essential Bebop skills, techniques, insight and improvisational methods.

"In this Essentials edition of my Bebop Dojo, we'll explore the techniques, tools and concepts that comprise the foundation of Bebop; we'll work on comping, crafting melodic lines through shell voicings, 4-to-the-bar rhythm patterns, arpeggios, voice-leading, developing a strong swing feel, syncopation, building riffs from common tones and improvisation."

Sheryl will show you how to develop a strong eighth-note feel, and demonstrate how to create melodic ideas using common tones within the arpeggios to form Charlie-Christian-like solo templates. You'll learn how to employ syncopation to make your lines come alive with that exciting rhythmic push of Bebop.

Sheryl also passes on a vocabulary of versatile Bebop licks for both major and minor 2-5's, which you'll apply immediately over the improvisational playalongs, trading 4's and 8's with Sheryl. All of the playalong tracks are provided in several different tempos, and everything is notated, tabbed and charted out for you as well.

All in all, everything you need to build your Bebop foundation is placed at your fingertips in full living color. Immerse yourself in the Bebop Dojo and emerge an enlightened improvisor.

"Sometimes true learning surprises you when it emerges." - Chungliang Al Huang