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Bird Changes Explained

Bebop

Charlie Parker, AKA ‘Bird’, is one of the best know Jazz musicians of all time. He was a saxophonist
and is generally considered the quintessential Bebop musician.

Parker wrote a song called Blues for Alice which has become a Jazz Standard, and the chord
progression from Blues for Alice has become known as Bird Changes.

There are 3 things you need to know about Bebop songs:

They are fast – both in tempo and in chord changes (Harmonic Rhythm
(http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chords/harmonic-rhythm/))
They have angular, jagged and harmonically complex melodies
They are stu ed full of II-V (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-
chord-progressions/ii-v-functionality/)‘s

Bebop musicians would often take simple and well established chord progressions and then just ll
them with II-Vs. And so Bird Changes is just a 12 Bar Blues with a heap of non-resolving, descending
II-Vs inserted.

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12 Bar Blues

Below is the basic 12 Bar Blues. As you can see, it is quite boring – there are long periods of time
where nothing happens.

 
 1 2 3 4 
F7 F7 F7 F7

5 6 7 8

B♭7 B♭7 F7 F7

9 10 11 12

C7 C7 F7 F7

Bird Changes

Bird Changes is a much more interesting variation on the 12 Bar Blues, again, stu ed with
descending II-V’s.

1 2 3 4

FMaj7 Em7♭5 - A7♭9 Dm7 - G7 Cm7 - F7

5 6 7 8

B♭7 B♭m7 - E♭7 Am7 - D7 A♭m7 - D♭7

9 10 11 12

Gm7 C7 FMaj7 - Dm7 Gm7 - C7

 
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Notice:

It starts on a FMaj7 rather than the F7

The chords in bars 1, 5, 10 & 11 (coloured red) line up with the basic 12 bar blues chord
changes
The chord progression back-cycles through non-resolving II-Vs from the FMaj7 to the
B♭7, and again to the C7 which leads back to the FMaj7
The chord progression nishes with a I-VI-II-V Turnaround in F Major

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Voicing & Jazz Piano History

Because bebop songs generally have a fast tempo and angular melodies, you generally want to keep
the chord voicings quite simple and sparse – otherwise it may get in the way of and clash with the
melody. Try using:

Bud Powell Voicings (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-

voicings/powell-voicings/)
Walking Bass-lines (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-
voicings/walking-bass-lines/)
Stride Piano

These voicings are much truer to the Bebop style. Rootless (http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-
piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/rootless-voicings/) and Quartal
(http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-chord-voicings/quartal-voicings/) chord
voicings were only developed after the Bebop era.

Have a Listen to

Blues for Alice ~ Charlie Parker

Bluesette ~ Toots Thielemans
Con rmation ~ Charlie Parker
 

Free Guitar Chords

Includes over 3000 of the most commonly used guitar chords. guitaristsreference.com

Jazz Piano Tutorial - Bird Changes Explained

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