Book overview
ABOUT THE BEBOP GUITAR IMPROV SERIES
Bebop is a language. Like any language, it has its own melodic grammar, rhythmic syntax, and internal logic - and it has to be learned systematically, not assembled from fragments.
If you've worked through jazz guitar methods and still can't improvise fluently over changes, the problem likely isn't your playing. It's that most methods are either too superficial, disorganized, or try to compress an entire discipline into a single book. That's not a curriculum - it's an outline.
This series was built to solve that problem completely.
If you're new to jazz improvisation and have a basic knowledge of the guitar, this is where you start - and where you go all the way.
The Bebop Guitar Improv Series is a complete, six-book system developed exclusively for linear, single-note jazz improvisation on guitar. It was built over a ten-year period, tested with hundreds of students across multiple music schools, and refined until every step in the learning sequence was proven to work before a single book went to print.
What the system covers: Each of the six books plays a specific, non-redundant role in a structured progression from foundational principles to complete fretboard mastery. All lessons and exercises are written in standard notation, tablature, and intervallic script.
Vol. 1 Lesson Book - The entry point for every student. Nine progressive modules cover jazz improv theory and practice from the ground up: guide tones, voice leading, diatonic and chromatic approaches, enclosures, upper extensions, and 27 bebop etudes in order of difficulty over II-V-Is, secondary and substitute dominants, altered dominants, Bird Blues, and more.
Vol. 1 Workbook - Six sets of Bebop Calisthenics systematically drill every approach note concept from the Lesson Book across all chord families in seven fingering positions, converting theory into muscle memory. Includes a Rhythm Lab covering swing and syncopation.
Scale & Arpeggio Book - The technical backbone of the entire curriculum. Introduces the Heptatonic System (an expanded approach to the CAGED system) - seven fingering patterns covering every scale and arpeggio family across the complete fretboard. Referenced throughout both volumes.
Vol. 2 Lesson Book - Picks up exactly where Volume 1 ends. Nine advanced modules and 21 etudes over Rhythm Changes, Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are, Stella By Starlight, and more. Introduces four-note enclosures, intervallic approaches, modal superimposition, symmetrical diminished harmony, and two-voice counterpoint - with a technical focus on multi-positional playing across the full fretboard.
Vol. 2 Workbook - Nine sets of Bebop Calisthenics (#7-15) provide a complete, full-fretboard technical workout for every concept introduced in the Vol. 2 Lesson Book.
Arpeggio Frameworks for Melodic Targeting - The capstone of the curriculum. A specialized system for bridging the gap between knowing the theory and spontaneously creating jazz lines in real time, applied over Blues forms and a wide range of jazz standards. Grounded in the author's extensive study of research from the field of Psychology and its application to how musicians most effectively learn to improvise in real time, it provides a step-by-step procedure for mastering real-time melodic targeting. Used in conjunction with both volumes.
The series was developed by Richie Zellon - guitarist, composer, and international clinician who has taught at music schools and universities worldwide, including Florida International University and the University of South Florida - whose work has been recognized in several major jazz reference publications.
Audio files and Band-in-a-Box practice files are available for download for all applicable books.
Bebop is a language. Like any language, it has its own melodic grammar, rhythmic syntax, and internal logic - and it has to be learned systematically, not assembled from fragments.
If you've worked through jazz guitar methods and still can't improvise fluently over changes, the problem likely isn't your playing. It's that most methods are either too superficial, disorganized, or try to compress an entire discipline into a single book. That's not a curriculum - it's an outline.
This series was built to solve that problem completely.
If you're new to jazz improvisation and have a basic knowledge of the guitar, this is where you start - and where you go all the way.
The Bebop Guitar Improv Series is a complete, six-book system developed exclusively for linear, single-note jazz improvisation on guitar. It was built over a ten-year period, tested with hundreds of students across multiple music schools, and refined until every step in the learning sequence was proven to work before a single book went to print.
What the system covers: Each of the six books plays a specific, non-redundant role in a structured progression from foundational principles to complete fretboard mastery. All lessons and exercises are written in standard notation, tablature, and intervallic script.
Vol. 1 Lesson Book - The entry point for every student. Nine progressive modules cover jazz improv theory and practice from the ground up: guide tones, voice leading, diatonic and chromatic approaches, enclosures, upper extensions, and 27 bebop etudes in order of difficulty over II-V-Is, secondary and substitute dominants, altered dominants, Bird Blues, and more.
Vol. 1 Workbook - Six sets of Bebop Calisthenics systematically drill every approach note concept from the Lesson Book across all chord families in seven fingering positions, converting theory into muscle memory. Includes a Rhythm Lab covering swing and syncopation.
Scale & Arpeggio Book - The technical backbone of the entire curriculum. Introduces the Heptatonic System (an expanded approach to the CAGED system) - seven fingering patterns covering every scale and arpeggio family across the complete fretboard. Referenced throughout both volumes.
Vol. 2 Lesson Book - Picks up exactly where Volume 1 ends. Nine advanced modules and 21 etudes over Rhythm Changes, Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are, Stella By Starlight, and more. Introduces four-note enclosures, intervallic approaches, modal superimposition, symmetrical diminished harmony, and two-voice counterpoint - with a technical focus on multi-positional playing across the full fretboard.
Vol. 2 Workbook - Nine sets of Bebop Calisthenics (#7-15) provide a complete, full-fretboard technical workout for every concept introduced in the Vol. 2 Lesson Book.
Arpeggio Frameworks for Melodic Targeting - The capstone of the curriculum. A specialized system for bridging the gap between knowing the theory and spontaneously creating jazz lines in real time, applied over Blues forms and a wide range of jazz standards. Grounded in the author's extensive study of research from the field of Psychology and its application to how musicians most effectively learn to improvise in real time, it provides a step-by-step procedure for mastering real-time melodic targeting. Used in conjunction with both volumes.
The series was developed by Richie Zellon - guitarist, composer, and international clinician who has taught at music schools and universities worldwide, including Florida International University and the University of South Florida - whose work has been recognized in several major jazz reference publications.
Audio files and Band-in-a-Box practice files are available for download for all applicable books.
