Jazz Trumpet Licks

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…

This is a nice sounding whole tone lick I heard Claudio Roditi play. It simply goes down the whole tone scale with the same pattern repeating over and over again. Here is a sound sample played on trumpet: How to memorize this lick in 12 keys: Since this is a whole tone pattern, you’ll only […] Read the rest of this entry…

This whole tone pattern alternates between 4ths and whole steps going down. Because this Jazz whole tone pattern alternates between 4ths and whole steps, you won’t be able to stay in one whole tone key. Hear a sound sample played on trumpet: How to memorize this lick in 12 keys: Once again since this is […] Read the rest of this entry…

Here is a ii V7 I lick you can play where you will think in harmonic minor for the beginning of the lick and use a minor arpeggio at the end of the lick.  I got this lick listening to Tom Harrell. I believe I got this lick from one of Tom Harrell’s April Mist […] Read the rest of this entry…

A sax player in New Orleans showed me this easy diminished lick. I asked him what diminished licks he knew and he was kind enough to share a few with me. I have more, but they will come in later posts. A sound sample played on trumpet: Learn the pattern in 12 keys: Since this […] Read the rest of this entry…

This is a well known Jazz lick you hear a lot of Jazz artists play in different variations. A trombone player I used to work with in Seattle was kind enough to show me this easy lick. Here is a sound sample played on trumpet: How to memorize this ii V7 I lick in 12 […] Read the rest of this entry…