Jazz Trumpet Licks

A guitar player I used to work with showed me this easy ii V7 I lick.  The lick is based off the major 7th of the I chord, this is how I remember the lick. Here is a sound sample of the lick played on trumpet: How to memorize this ii V7 I lick in […] Read the rest of this entry…

This is a cool sounding Freddie Hubbard signature lick. You hear Freddie Hubbard play this alternate fingering lick on a lot of different tunes in a lot of different variations. Here is a sound sample played on trumpet: With this lick, you don’t really have to learn it in 12 keys. The lick itself only […] Read the rest of this entry…

This is an easy pentatonic pattern to learn. This pentatonic pattern is easy to learn and use in your solos because it can also be used as an exercise as well. Here is a sound sample on trumpet: How to memorize this pentatonic lick in 12 keys: This pentatonic pattern is simply going down the […] Read the rest of this entry…

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 […] Read the rest of this entry…

This is a pretty easy diminished lick to learn. I didn’t get this diminished pattern from Dizzy Gillespie, but I sure hear Dizzy play it a lot in his recordings. It is kind of a good lick to use during a pause or hold for a cadenza at the end of a tune. Here is […] Read the rest of this entry…

A tenor sax player friend of mine back in Japan showed me this bebop scale exercise. This is not a lick, it is simply an exercise or calisthenic that will help develop your overall bebop playing. It’s very important to learn this exercise in 12 keys to really develop your technique. Here is a sample […] Read the rest of this entry…

Here is a whole tone lick I heard Dexter Gordon play. I can’t remember what album it was off of though. Here is a sample played on trumpet: How to learn the lick in 12 keys: Know that this lick is a whole tone pattern and you are just going down the whole tone scale. […] Read the rest of this entry…

Here is a ii V7 I lick that uses the bebop scale for pretty much the entire lick. Here is a sample of the lick played on trumpet: How to memorize this lick in 12 keys: If you just think about the C bebop scale throughout this entire lick, you’ll learn it very quickly in […] Read the rest of this entry…