How to Write Post-Bop Songs

You want music that sounds smart without sounding boring. Post-bop is where the language of bebop met modal freedom and left with a suitcase full of curious chords and dangerous rhythms. You want heads that feel inevitable and solos that spin new worlds. This guide gives you the concrete tools producers, bandleaders, arrangers, and songwriters need to write post-bop songs that land in rooms and on playlists.

Everything here is written for millennial and Gen Z artists who want to sound credibly modern while keeping the music human. You will find practical workflows, exercises, chord recipes, melodic devices, arrangement tricks, and real life scenarios you can steal. We explain every acronym and nerdy term in plain English and show how to use them like a boss.

What Is Post-Bop

Post-bop is a style of jazz that grew from bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz in the 1960s. It keeps the harmonic sophistication of bebop while embracing modal harmony, freer forms, and rhythmic flexibility. Think Miles Davis in the mid 1960s, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and later artists who mixed modern classical, rock, and world music ideas into jazz. In practical terms, post-bop songs use extended chords, modal passages, reharmonization, and grooves that can shift inside a single tune.

If you imagine bebop as an argument about facts and modal jazz as an argument about mood, post-bop is a late night conversation that keeps switching topics while everyone drinks slowly and says brilliant things.

Core Ingredients of a Post-Bop Song

• Strong head that is memorable and ambiguous enough to invite improvisation.
• Advanced harmony including chord extensions like ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths and techniques like tritone substitution and modal interchange. We will explain these terms below.
• Voice leading that treats inner voices as melodic players.
• Flexible form where sections can be modal, harmonically dense, or both.
• Rhythmic subtlety using swing, straight eighths, metric displacement, and cross rhythms.
• Arrangement clarity for small combo or larger ensemble that balances openness and structure.

Terminology You Must Know

We will use terms like ii V I, tritone substitution, and Lydian. Here is your cheat sheet.

• ii V I means a common chord progression where the second scale degree chord goes to the dominant chord and resolves to the tonic chord. In the key of C major this is Dm7 to G7 to Cmaj7. We write it as ii V I where ii is the minor chord, V is the dominant chord, and I is the tonic chord.
• Tritone substitution is a reharmonization technique that replaces a dominant chord with another dominant chord whose root is a tritone away. For example G7 can be replaced by Db7. The two chords share the same third and seventh notes which creates smooth voice leading and surprising color.
• Modal interchange means borrowing chords from a parallel scale or mode. In C major you might borrow an F minor chord from C minor. It creates unexpected color without breaking the tonal logic.
• Chord extensions are notes beyond the basic triad and seventh. Ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths add color. So Cmaj9 is a C major chord plus the ninth, which is D.
• Guide tones are the essential notes in a chord that define its harmony. For seventh chords those are the third and seventh. Writing lines that connect guide tones makes progressions sing smoothly.
• Comping means accompaniment patterns a pianist or guitarist plays behind a soloist. It is short for accompaniment. Good comping breathes and leaves space.
• Head is the composed melody that opens and closes a jazz piece. Solos usually happen over the changes of the head.

Start with a Head That Is Not a Head Fake

Post-bop heads are often deceptively simple. They are memorable but ambiguous enough to let reharmonization and solos say interesting things. You do not need a saxophone melody that could sell insurance. You need something with personality and an angle.

Practical head writing workflow

1. Pick a mood sentence. One line that states the song’s emotional idea in plain speech. Example: I am awake at 3 a m making peace with bad decisions.
2. Turn that sentence into a short melodic motif. Keep the motif under eight bars for flexibility.
3. Decide the harmonic skeleton. Start with a simple form like A A B A or A B A with each section eight bars.
4. Choose whether each section will be chordal or modal. Modal sections can remain static for solos and chordal sections can require precise changes.
5. Refine using semitone motion, guide tone lines, and rhythmic nuance. Keep it singable even if no one will sing it.

Real life scenario: You are writing for a quartet and have a drummer who loves metric displacement. Make the head rhythmically interesting but not too dense. Use a strong quarter note on the downbeat, then place the motif off the beat to give the drummer room to push.

Harmony Tools for Post-Bop

These are the harmonic weapons you will use every day. Learn them, then break them like an artist.

Tritone substitution in practice

Tritone substitution works because of shared guide tones. Example ii V I in C major: Dm7 G7 Cmaj7. Swap G7 for Db7 and voice lead the third and seventh: G7 has B and F. Db7 has F and Cb. If you voice lead cleverly the move sounds inevitable and fresh.

Try this exercise

1. Write ii V I in C: | Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7 | Cmaj7 |
2. Replace G7 with Db7: | Dm7 | Db7 | Cmaj7 | Cmaj7 |
3. Play guide tones: on Dm7 play F, on Db7 play F, on Cmaj7 play E. Hear the F sustain as a common tone and then resolve to E.

Modal interchange examples

Borrow from parallel minor to darken a phrase. In C major consider using Ebmaj7 or Fm7 for contrast. For a brighter color use Lydian borrowing where you use an F major chord with a raised fourth built from the Lydian mode. It sounds like air conditioning turned on in an empty room.

Upper structure triads and extensions

Upper structure triads are a modern way to think about complex chords. Instead of thinking Cmaj13 you can play an E major triad over C as a texture. That gives a major third and colorful tensions that sound modern. These are great for piano and guitar comping.

Melody Moves That Feel Post-Bop

Melodies in post-bop balance tonality and chromaticism. They use space and unexpected intervals. Here are techniques that create that sound:

• Guide tone lines connect the third and seventh of each chord smoothly. Improvise melodies that follow those guide tones and add color tones as passing notes.
• Enclosures use chromatic approach notes around a target tone. A classic bebop device. Example: approach E on a Cmaj7 by playing F Eb E.
• Motivic development take a small rhythmic cell and transpose or invert it through the form.
• Gap and echo use rests and short echoes. Let the rhythm breathe. Silence in jazz is a high growth crop.
• Non chord tones used as statement emphasize a tension note like a b9 or #11 as a melodic statement and resolve slowly.

Example melodic approach

Chord progression: | Dm7 | Db7 | Cmaj7 |

Melody: start on F over Dm7 then use enclosure to hit Eb over Db7 then resolve to E over Cmaj7. That small chromatic motion gives the phrase a modern electric buzz.

Rhythm and Groove: The Pulse Is a Conversation

Post-bop is rhythmically flexible. It borrows from swing, rock, Afro Cuban, and odd meters. You do not need to pick one forever. Here are common options and how to use them.

Swing versus straight

Swing means the feel where pairs of eighth notes are uneven. Straight eighths are even. Post-bop often mixes both inside a tune. Use straight feel for modal drones and swing for chord changes. Tell your band before rehearsal because the drummer will murder you slowly if you do not.

Metric displacement

Metric displacement means moving a motif so it begins on a different beat. If your motif starts on count one normally try starting on the and of two. It creates a feeling of being late but intentional.

Polyrhythm and cross rhythm

Layer a 3 over 4 pattern across bars for tension. Use it sparingly and anchor the band with a clear downbeat occasionally.

Comping and Arranging for Small Combo

Comping is your secret handshake that keeps the soloist feeling safe. Good comping supports, bad comping fights for attention.

• Space more than you think. Play two chords then breathe. The soloist will thank you and the room will sound bigger.
• Use voice leading. Move inner voices by half steps. It feels rich and connected.
• Trade fours where the soloist and the band exchange short statements every four bars. This breaks monotony and creates narrative.
• Arrange riff heads. A unison horn riff against a shifting harmony is classic post-bop and very satisfying.

Real life scenario: You wrote a head with a piano comping pattern of shell voicings and a sax line. The trumpet enters on the head with a harmony. On the second chorus drop the piano out for one bar to let the horns breathe. That moment makes listeners lean forward and screenshot your bandcamp page.

Reharmonization Recipes That Make People Smile

Reharmonization is swapping the chords under a melody to change mood. Here are recipes that work.

Recipe 1: Substitute the V

Find the dominant chord in a progression and apply tritone substitution. Example: change G7 to Db7. This creates a chromatic root movement and fresh inner voice motion.

Recipe 2: Modal lift

Hold a single chord as a modal pedal point for 8 or 16 bars during a solo. Let the soloist play different scales against that static harmony. This gives open space and modern texture.

Recipe 3: Diatonic planing

Move a chord shape up diatonically while keeping the same voicing. It creates a shifting color that feels logical. Pianists use it a lot. Try | Cmaj7 | Dm7 | Em7 | Fmaj7 | with the same voicing up the scale.

Writing for Voice Versus Instrument

If your post-bop song has lyrics you must write differently. Singers need space and consonants that land. JavaScript will not care, but your singer will.

• Leave space for breath. Phrases longer than eight syllables need a place to inhale.
• Choose vowel friendly lines. Open vowels like ah and oh are easier to sustain than tight vowels. This is the opposite of trying to be poetic for poetry’s sake.
• Words matter. Post-bop lyrics can be abstract but should still carry narrative hooks. Use small images and time crumbs.
• Consider scatting parts. Give the singer instrumental sections to scat so they can lock with the band.

Putting It Together: A Step by Step Songwriting Process

1. Start with mood. Pick one line that captures the emotional center.
2. Sketch a head. Compose an eight bar motif that states that mood.
3. Decide the form. AABA, ABAC, or through composed are all fine. Post-bop is flexible.
4. Write a harmonic skeleton. Map places for ii V I, modal vamps, and reharmonization.
5. Refine the melody. Use guide tones, enclosures, and space. Test it against the changes both played and sung.
6. Arrange the head. Decide who plays the melody, who harmonizes it, and where the riffs live.
7. Notate a lead sheet. Capture melody, chords, form, and a short comping suggestion. You are not producing a full score unless you need one.
8. Rehearse with your band. Record a demo. Listen for weak spots. Change the harmony if it is not working.

Exercises to Write Better Post-Bop Songs

Exercise 1: Guide Tone Roadtrip

Pick a progression of four chords. Write a melodic line that moves only through the guide tones. Then expand it by adding neighbor tones and chromatic enclosures. Practice daily for two weeks.

Exercise 2: Tritone Swap Drill

Take a standard progression like Rhythm Changes or Autumn Leaves. Replace every V chord with its tritone substitution. Play through with a drummer and note where the melody needs adjustments. This trains your ear to hear new colors.

Exercise 3: Modal Stretch

Create a sixteen bar vamp on one chord. Have one player improvise with the Lydian mode, another with Dorian, and swap. Listen for conflicting tensions and learn to balance them. This increases your ability to write modal sections that sound intentional.

Exercise 4: Head Reduction

Write a 16 bar head. Now rewrite it using only half the notes in the melody. Make the reduced version still unmistakable. This teaches you how to write memorable motifs that survive heavy reharmonization.

Examples and Mini Analysis

Example 1: Head in C minor with modal bridge

• Form: A A B A with A eight bars and B eight bars
• Harmony A: | Cm9 | Fm7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | Abmaj7 | Dm7b5 G7 | Cm9 | Cm9 | G7alt |
• Harmony B: static | Cm11 pedal for eight bars, drums shift to straight eighths
• Why it works: The B section gives soloists space over a single color. The A sections use functional motion and an altered dominant to add tension back into the return.

Example 2: Short riff head with tritone surprise

• Riff: four bar unison horn riff that repeats
• Progression under riff: | Cmaj7 | A7b13 | Dm7 | Db7 | then resolve to Cmaj7
• Why it works: A7b13 acts as a secondary dominant to Dm7 then the Db7 is a tritone sub for G7 creating chromatic root movement into home.

Recording and Producing a Post-Bop Song

Your studio choices matter. Post-bop benefits from organic textures. Consider capturing live takes with minimal bleed and some room sound. Keep comping light. Use subtle reverb and analog style compression for warmth. Overproducing will kill the conversation between players.

Practical tips

• Record the head live with the band to capture interplay.
• Use a click when you want tight rhythmic overlays but let players push when groove and breathing matter more.
• Edit sparingly. Keep honest performances even with small fixes for timing and pitch.
• Mix with dynamics intact. Jazz works because of micro dynamics. Preserve them rather than squashing every transient.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

• Overwriting the head. If your head explains the solo instead of posing a question, simplify. Remove notes until the head asks something that the solo can answer.
• Too many changes. If soloists get lost, reduce harmonic motion or give a vamps section. Post-bop often uses simpler modal passages to let ideas develop.
• Comping overload. If the rhythm section fights the soloist, thin out comping and leave space. You are not trying to fill silence with noise.
• Confusing form. Mark the form clearly on the lead sheet. Bands collapse when they do not know where they are in the arrangement.

Where to Learn More and Tools to Use

• Transcribe solos from masters like Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Transcription teaches vocabulary and phrasing.
• Use notation software like MuseScore or Sibelius to write lead sheets and share charts.
• Try a DAW for demos. Record a quick piano and bass to test harmonic ideas.
• Study theory resources that focus on chord scale relationships. You want practical scale choices for each chord quality.

Quick Checklist Before You Share the Song

1. Is the head memorable in two plays?
2. Does the band know the form without asking questions during rehearsal?
3. Are the comping cues written or agreed upon?
4. Does the solo section offer enough freedom and enough color to stay interesting?
5. Is there at least one moment where the arrangement takes a risk?

FAQ

What is the difference between post-bop and bebop

Bebop focuses on fast chord changes, intricate lines, and virtuosic improvisation. Post-bop keeps harmonic complexity but adds modal stretches, freer forms, and textures borrowed from other music. Post-bop is less about speed and more about color and space.

Do I need advanced theory to write post-bop

No. You need useful theory. Understand chord function, guide tones, and a few substitution tricks. Practice ear training and transcribe solos. Use real band rehearsals to test ideas rather than theory tests in a vacuum.

How long should a head be

Heads are usually 8, 16, or 32 bars. Keep them short enough that the melody remains unforgettable. Post-bop favors compact heads so solos can explore without the tune overstaying its welcome.

Can post-bop use lyrics

Absolutely. Post-bop songs with lyrics exist and can be powerful. Write with space, give the singer breath, and let the arrangement support both text and improvisation.

How do I make reharmonization sound natural

Focus on voice leading and common tones. Smooth movement of inner voices creates a sense of inevitability. If you replace a chord, keep at least one tonal anchor like a common tone or stepwise motion to the next guide tone.

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