Blues forms

Bebop Blues in F

A bebop blues variant: ii-V into the IV chord, a #IV diminished passing back to I, a closing ii-V.

Key
F
Level
advanced
Tempo
Fast (200+ BPM)

The form

  1. bar 1F7
  2. bar 2Bb7
  3. bar 3F7
  4. bar 4Cm7→ F7
  5. bar 5Bb7
  6. bar 6Bdim7
  7. bar 7F7
  8. bar 8Am7→ D7
  9. bar 9Gm7
  10. bar 10C7
  11. bar 11F7
  12. bar 12Gm7-C7

2 bars move to a second chord partway through. The transcription writes hands for the first chord only, so the second is printed and not drawn rather than invented.

One bar carries two chords. The transcription writes both chords' notes together without saying which note belongs to which, so that bar is printed and not drawn — a keyboard guessed from an ambiguous line would show a chord nobody plays.

The hands

Left hand then right, as the source writes them. A pianist's voicing routinely carries a colour the chord symbol does not spell — a flat ninth over a dominant, a ninth on top of a seventh chord — so the notes printed under each keyboard are what is actually played, rather than what the symbol alone would predict.

F7

bar 1 · bar 3 · bar 7 · bar 11

LH F2 C3RH A3 Eb4 G4

Bb7

bar 2 · bar 5

LH Bb2 F3RH D4 Ab4 C5

Cm7

bar 4

LH C3 G3RH Eb4 Bb4 D5

Bdim7

bar 6

LH B2 F3RH D4 Ab4 B4

Am7

bar 8

LH A2 E3RH C4 G4 B4

Gm7

bar 9

LH G2 D3RH Bb3 F4 A4

C7

bar 10

LH C3 G3RH E4 Bb4 D5

Associated players

  • Charlie Parker
  • Dizzy Gillespie