ii V7 I Jazz lick that starts off as bebop and finishes as diminished
I got this ii V7 I Jazz lick from David Baker’s How to Play Bebop – Volume 1 book. Lots of great bebop licks in that book, highly recommended, you won’t be disappointed in all the nice Jazz licks you’ll learn from it. Anyway, this ii V7 I lick starts off with the bebop scale and finishes with a diminished pattern landing on the tonic of the I chord.
Here is a sound sample played on trumpet:
How to memorize this ii V7 I lick in 12 keys:
Just know that it starts on the tonic of the bebop scale you will be playing, or you can just think tonic of the key you are in on the ii V7 I Jazz lick. The lick goes up to the 3rd of the bebop scale you are currently on, then goes down the bebop scale until you land on the 5th. Next, you’ll switch to a diminished stacked 3rd approach. In the above example it starts on C#.
What is a minor 3rd above C#? That’s right, E. What is a minor 3rd below C#? That’s right, Bb or A#, however you want to memorize it. Do you see the pattern here? The lick simply finishes off going down stacked minor thirds until you land on the tonic (1st position) of the I chord.
In my experience, some keys are easier than others. But this is a nice Jazz lick to have in your back pocket whenever you see the need for it.
**Disclaimer – An Amazon affiliate link is used in this post.
hey thanks for all your contributing it really helps out alot..Is there any sites similar to this that focuses on jazz arranging..thank you
Thanks, unfortunately, I don’t know of any arranging sites. I will post it in the forum right away if I do find any though.
Hello Greg i have a question regarding the book how to play bebop that you are mention on this part,actually i got the name of the book from this web, maybe you can help me. In the page 7 it say the phrase -foward motion- you know if this is a type of jazz rhythm?is in the part when is explaing what C. Parker was trying to do with the modes.
sorry for the mispeling
thanks, Julio
Forward motion is the idea of keeping your Jazz improvisational lines going (or moving forward without stopping). What you want to think of is landing on chord tones on strong beats. You can pretty much play anything you want in between. Of course, you don’t have to hit chord tones on all the strong beats, but the more you land on the better.
I hope this helps.
Wow that’s really different from most licks, but works great. I’ve been trained mostly classical piano and i’m starting to switch over to more jazz, improv, little gospel here and there.
Is there such a thing as bebop for jazz pianists?
Thanks, you sound great!
~Ashley
Yes, bebop work for all instruments. Definitely take the time to learn it.
This is great stuff man! I’ve been showing my students your site lately. It’s becoming a really sound resource for the aspiring jazz improviser!
On this lick, though, isn’t it in B, not F#?
Since it’s an F# bebop lick, it can be played over a B ii V7 I. I guess I screwed up the key because in F# the C# bebop lick would work. Thanks for pointing this out.