C Bebop minor

123456789101112131415FGA♭AB♭CDE♭FGCDE♭FGA♭AB♭CDGA♭AB♭CDE♭FGA♭AB♭DE♭FGA♭AB♭CDE♭FAB♭CDE♭FGA♭AB♭CFGA♭AB♭CDE♭FG

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C Bebop minor Scale

– – – – – – – –
CDE♭FGA♭AB♭CTSTTSSST
Step pattern W – H – W – W – H – H – H – W

C Bebop minor contains 8 notes: C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, A, B♭. It has 3 flats: E♭, A♭, B♭. The step pattern is W–H–W–W–H–H–H–W.

The bebop minor scale adds a natural 6th passing tone to the Aeolian mode. It enables smooth, metrically aligned lines over minor 7th chords.

Theory

The formula is 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, 6, b7. The natural 6th sits chromatically between b6 and b7, maintaining the 8-note principle that keeps chord tones on strong beats. Some theorists place the passing tone differently, but the goal is identical: facilitate inside-sounding lines over minor 7th chords. It is particularly useful for minor ii-V-i progressions.

On the guitar

Because this scale shares the same notes as the dominant bebop scale of the relative V chord (e.g., D minor bebop = G dominant bebop), you can alternate between them to outline ii-V progressions with a single set of patterns.

Piano
CDFGAE♭A♭B♭C
Staff
𝄞CD♭E♭FG♭A♭A♭B♭C (8)
Related scales
C Bebop dominantC Harmonic minor
Related modes
Bebop dominantBebop majorBebop dorianBebop melodic minor
Arpeggios
Cm Arpeggio
Common in
JazzBebop
Examples
  • Mr. P.C. - John Coltrane
  • Blue Bossa - Kenny Dorham
  • A Night in Tunisia - Dizzy Gillespie