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.

This ii V7 I Jazz lick I heard Clifford Brown play is pretty easy to learn and implement into your Jazz solos. If you look towards the end of the Clifford Brown Jazz lick you’ll see an enclosure. If you don’t know what a Jazz enclosure is, it’s where you go up a half step then below a half step towards a chord tone. You’ll see that Clifford Brown did an enclosure on the 5th of the I chord.

Here is a sound sample on trumpet:

How to memorize this Jazz lick in 12 keys:

Notice that the lick starts on the I of the ii chord, does a pentatonic down to the 4th, then I continue to think in C minor going to the 2nd down to the harmonic raised 7th. Then the cool part of the lick hops from C to G to C to A, then down the scale with an enclosure at the end landing on the 5th of the I chord.

This is how I memorized the lick, it doesn’t mean this method is going to work for you. This lick sounds nice over a break before you begin your solo, an example would be the break in the tune Four.

Here is a pretty easy ii V7 I Jazz lick to learn. A trombone player I used to work with showed this lick to me.  This lick is basically a minor pattern that repeats itself going down a half step to land on a chord tone of the I chord.

Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:

How to memorize this ii V7 I lick in 12 keys:

Start off by learning the minor pattern by itself first by going down in half steps all the way through the 12 keys, then apply it to a ii V7 I chord progression. This is the minor pattern: 5 b7 5 3 2 1. In the above example, you start on the 5th of the ii chord, play the minor pattern, then play it again down a half step, then finally land on the tonic of the I chord.

This minor pattern is useful by itself as well. Mess around with the pattern to find out how it’ll fit into your Jazz improvisation.

One of the things Miles Davis is known for is coming up with the bouncy pattern. Miles Davis used different variations of this pattern in a lot of the trumpet solos he played. The bouncy pattern is a very easy lick to memorize because it is based off of chromatics. No matter what note you start on its the same pattern over and over again based off the chromatic scale.

Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:

How to memorize the Miles Davis bouncy pattern in 12 keys:

Since this is a chromatic lick, you’ll only need to learn it in one key depending on which note you start on. Just remember that the lick is going down in half steps with a half step between each half step. I also encourage you to mess around with the pattern and come up with some ideas of your own with this lick.

This bebop lick goes up in ascending 3rds through the bebop scale. It is kind of like one of those basic exercises you’ve learned out the of the Arbans book. The only difference is that there is a half step between each ascending 3rd. I apologize in the video I said the Jazz lick goes up in major 3rds, but as you can see the lick really goes up in major and minor 3rds.

I got this lick from The Be Boppers Method Book Volume I for B flat Instruments with CD by Wendell Harrison. This is a great book full of good bebop exercises and patterns to work on.

Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:

How to learn this bebop pattern in 12 keys:

The lick just goes up in major and minor 3rds up the bebop scale. Try the bebop lick without the half steps in between the 3rds first. Then just add the half steps. If you are already familiar with all your bebop scales, this should be a pretty easy bebop lick to incorporate into your bag of licks.

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