Top recording artist, educator, composer and monster jazz guitarist Sheryl Bailey dug wide and deep into the bebop soundscape to select the lines and approaches that comprise this essential vocabulary of bebop phrases. You'll learn lines inspired by bebop giants such as Charlie Parker, Joe Viola, Joe Pass, John Coltrane, Pat Martino, Sonny Stitt, Cannonball Adderley, Mike Stern, Dizzy Gillespie, Peter Bernstein and so many more. "Learning licks from your favorite bebop players is key to understanding the deeper harmonic nuances of the music.

Organize your vocabulary of licks by harmonic situations and then plug them into your solos. In time, you'll uncover the harmonic and rhythmic shapes behind the licks and they'll become a part of your own musical language. That's when you'll really start improvising." As you work through these 50 essential lines, you'll learn to apply the legendary "I've Got A Banana" lick, minor 7th line cliche, chromatic below/diatonic above approach, bebop scales, use of repetition, chord substitutions, chromaticism, displaced rhythms, the 'micro-cosmic' bebop line, arpeggios, tensions, tritone sub V7, symmetrical diminished, whole tone scale, augmented triads, 3-note melodic embellishments and many more bebop applications.

All of the licks are presented over a rhythm track and then broken down note-by-note, technique-by-technique with a thorough explanation of the underlying harmony. Everything is tabbed and notated, plus you get all of the rhythm tracks to practice with by yourself.