Jazz Trumpet Licks

I got this diminished pattern from a Bobby Shew Jazz book. I can’t remember the name of it though. I do remember that the Jazz book was about different Jazz technical studies, etc…  Anyway, here’s the Jazz lick.

Here is a sound sample of the Jazz lick on trumpet:

How to memorize the diminished lick in 12 keys:

Since this is a diminished pattern, you’ll only need to memorize it in 3 keys depending on which note you start on.  The first part of this Jazz lick is really easy to remember because it simply goes up the diminished scale. Then the Jazz lick ends with a half step below each minor 3rd going down the diminished triad. The lick ends on a minor 3rd above C in the provided example.

You’ve probably heard a Jazz musician play this diminished pattern before, am I right? Anyway, this diminished pattern has a simple pattern to it, but I found this particular diminished Jazz pattern to be a little difficult in terms of finger flexibility. You’ll have to try the Jazz lick out for yourself to see if you are experiencing the same thing or not.

Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:

How to memorize this diminished lick in 12 keys:

Since this pattern is diminished, you’ll technically only have to memorize the lick in 3 keys depending on which note you start on. As you can see in the above example, this diminished lick repeats the same pattern over and over again going up one scale degree at a time on the diminished scale.

The best way I’ve found to memorize this diminished pattern in 12 keys is to think I’m doing a variation of the diminished scale which is: (1 2 b3 4 2 b3 1 2 b3 4). Basically every other minor 3rd of the diminished triad is played in this diminished pattern. Of course, I don’t think in scale degrees to memorize this pattern. Instead I think of the diminished scale in general knowing that I’m repeating the same thing over and over again.

Find the best way for yourself to get this lick down in all the keys, feel free to comment what works best for you.

Here is the all famous Cry Me a River Jazz lick. It is heard all over the Jazz world by every famous Jazz musician in some variation or another. If you don’t have this Jazz lick in your bag of tricks yet, I highly encourage you to get it down in 12 keys as soon as you can. It really is a fun lick to use in your improvised solos.

Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:

How to learn the Cry Me a River lick in 12 keys:

I put this lick in the diminished category even though it is not completely a diminished lick. Every note in the lick is part of the diminished scale except for Ab (this is if we were thinking in Db, E, G, or Bb diminished). I could be wrong though, I’m not a big Jazz theory specialist.

In my experience, memorizing the Cry Me a River lick in 12 keys came easiest through feel or muscle memory rather than actual theory. There are many forms and variations you can do with the Cry Me a River lick. One simple example I use a lot is on the V7 to I chord I’ll start on the minor 3rd of the V7 chord, do the Cry Me a River lick and land on the 5th of the I chord (the above example shows this).

Here is a diminished pattern that you probably have heard a lot of Jazz musicians play in different variations. This diminished lick is very easy to learn and implement into your improvisation skills.

Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:

How to memorize this diminished pattern in 12 keys:

Since this is another diminished pattern, you’ll only need to worry about memorizing the lick in 3 keys depending on which note you start on. You can see that this is simply a diminished scale going down with a half step up between each note of the diminished scale.

If you look closely, every first and fourth note of each group of 4 notes is just part of the diminished scale. This diminished lick is easy to learn on trumpet because the fingerings lay really well in all the keys.