Bebop Mixolydian
Here is a PDF for the Bebop Mixolydian scale descending one octave. The Mixolydian scale is the fifth mode of the Major scale, and often used with a dominant chord because it has the flat seventh. You can learn all the modes of the major scale with my Major Scale Workout. I usually have students learn that first.
What does it mean to make a scale a bebop scale? The beboppers in the 1940s discovered that if you add an 8th note to the scale, then all the scale tones will fall on a down beat.
There is a language with bebop, and you add different notes depending on which scale goes with each chord. For the dominant seventh chord, like a G7, you would add the raised and lowered seventh so the scale would read G A B C D E F F# G. That way if you start at the bottom or at the top, all the chordal tones fall on downbeats.
The bebop mixolydian scale will go with any dominant chord. I like to have students practice it descending because that way you get to hear the bebop language as part of the drill. You can play this scale over any blues, the bridge of any rhythm changes, or any dominant chord. If you start at the top, the chordal tones will fall on the downbeats. I encourage students to drill this so that when they get to an unfamiliar tune, if it is rhythm changes, they can go into auto mode and play this exercise over the bridge.
