This easy and straight forward function might help:
def check_freq(x):
freq = {}
for c in set(x):
freq[c] = x.count(c)
return freq
check_freq("abbabcbdbabdbdbabababcbcbab")
{'a': 7, 'b': 14, 'c': 3, 'd': 3}
If a comprehension is desired:
def check_freq(x):
return {c: x.count(c) for c in set(x)}