Chromaticism

Chromaticism is a great way to add bebop flavour to your solos. Here I’ll explain how to add passing notes to the Major scale and illustrate chromatic enclosures. Both techniques will help you start to capture that bebop or hardbop sound.

Chromaticism is a way to highlight ‘target’ notes. Chromatic notes are not scale notes, so in isolation they sound out of place. But if they are used to target a scale note, they are a great way to introduce tension and resolution. This is precisely why they appeal to our ears in solos: a chromatic note is a ‘surprise’ that leads somewhere. We can hear that it needs to resolve and it satisfies our ears when it does.

I have a method for adding in chromatic notes that may be new to you, but it sounds good and it works. It was taught to me by jazz pianist Barry