Jazz Guitarist, Publisher and Music Educator
The 1 Lick Every Jazz Guitarist Needs to Know Video Lesson
(Scroll down to view the video for this lesson)
With the mountain of licks out there to choose from, many guitarists struggle to figure out which ones they need to have in their repertoire and which ones they can pass over, especially when time in the practice room is short. Though there are many great licks, take any Charlie Parker or Joe Pass solo and you have a lifetime’s worth of classic phrases, there are some that every jazz guitarist needs in their vocabulary to sound like they have studied the tradition.
The one lick that I recommend to all my students, as it is used by just about every famous jazz guitarist in one form or another is this little bluesy lick that you can find in the attached pdf.
Click to download the PDF for The 1 Lick Every Jazz Guitarist Must Know
As you can see, the lick is very short, but man it sounds great doesn’t it?
The lick is built from the major triad, in this case F A C, and then it is mixed in with three notes from the tonic blues scale, Ab Bb and B, or the b3, 4 and b5. Because there is a major triad present in this lick, it works well over Maj7 chords, but also 7th chords, since there is no 7th in the lick it isn’t stuck in one or the other, but floats between both.
I have included different fingerings for this lick across the neck, with the root on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6thstrings, to allow you to move around the guitar and be able to play this lick no matter what area of the neck you are in. As well, I have included three famous variations of this lick by Johnny Smith, Pat Martino and Charlie Parker.
The Charlie Parker version comes from his solo on Billie’s Bounce and is one of the most famous openings to a jazz solo in recorded history, so if you only learn one variation of this lick, then the Parker one is the best place to start. I hope you enjoy checking out this lick. It is easy to learn, sits well on the guitar, and is one of the most famous in jazz history, definitely a line that is worth getting under your fingers and in your ears so you can break it out in your next jam or on your next gig.
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12 Responses to "The 1 Lick Every Jazz Guitarist Needs to Know Video Lesson"
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Very cool Matt!
Thanks Ken! I’m going to post a new video lesson every Monday, and a text/notation lesson every Thursday along with my weekly newsletter. So three lessons each week. If you have any suggestions or requests for video lessons let me know.
Thanks Matt – thanks so much for bringing your lessons to life with videos like this. Please keep ‘em coming.
Thanks Alan, already working on one for next Monday talking about voice leading iim7-V7 progressions.
Excellent lesson, Matt–nicely presented, easily followed!
Thanks Bill, very fun lesson to do, looking forward to doing more video lessons in the future!
Great lesson! Do-me-mi-fa-fi-sol-me-mi-do :)
Tx Matt
Thanks Sailor! Glad you dug it.
You rock dude ! I have been waiting for those video lesson for long now, i love your site by the way ! Thx Matt !
Thanks man, more to come! Also, if you are on Facebook you can like my fan page, I am posting video lessons over there for my followers as well, about on per week. The first one went up yesterday. Check it out.
https://www.facebook.com/mattwarnockguitar
Enjoying the lessons!
I noticed the Charlie Parker lick in the PDF skips the flat5 and is a bit different from the one in the video, which starts on the 5th. Is that a misprint or another variation?
Cheers
Hey Mike,
just another variation. I did this lesson first as just a written one, then I recorded the video later, so I when I got to the video I just varied it a bit on the spot, so you get an extra lick thrown in there for that variation.