I'm starting a new playlist on my YouTube channel with videos I'm creating called, "Transcribe This Lick." The licks are a combination of standard jazz vocabulary licks and brief 1-2 bar licks from solos by classic jazz sax players. I've got a dozen of them assembled, but if this goes over well, I keep making more. I plan to add one a week.
Here's the first. Check out the lick and subscribe to my YouTube channel if you dig it. Of course, I always appreciate it if you keep my jazz improv lessons in mind....
Lick #41 is a V-I in the style of Gene Ammons. It can be used in many jazz standards, as part of a ii-V-I, or even in a blues turnaround since the I chord portion is not major specific.
I seem to get a lot of requests for blues licks. This one isn't a blues scale lick, but rather, a I-IV-I lick that can be played at the top of a blues chorus when the blues has what we might refer to as a quick IV change. It's an easy one to develop through the chorus as well. Let me know if you have thoughts.
This one is a major blues scale lick. Picked it up from Gene Ammons. It's a little variation on a break he did on I Remember You. The version was in G concert- I usually play the tune in F concert. But I thought the lick was super smooth and sexy.
I picked Lick #48 up from a Chet Baker solo on Look For the Silver Lining. Great for ending a solo or chorus playing over the tonality rather than chord specific. It's got kind of a bluesy sound.
Lick #49 is a iii-vi-ii-V lick that can be used in tons of jazz standards. It works particularly well in Rhythm Changes based tunes like Oleo, Cottontail, Lester Leaps In, etc.
Lick #50 is a tonic minor lick in the style of Sonny Rollins. I really enjoyed this one. It's a variation on a lick Rollins played in a solo on Moritat (also known as Mack the Knife).
I know this is off topic, but does anyone know any good(and free) transcribing/editing software? I bought a songbook, but the music is for soprano. I want to play it in alto, so do you know of any software that lets me scan in the music and transcribe either automatically or manually?
Lick #51 is a ii-V-I in the style of trumpeter Lee Morgan. This lick is more key centered than chord specific, especially over the V chord, making it a very melodic passage. It will make a great addition to your jazz improv vocabulary and can easily be transposed to different keys for use on many jazz standards.
Lick #52 is a major lick ala Dexter Gordon. This one is sort of a milestone for me. I had initially planned on doing a total of 52 licks- you know, one for each week for a year. It's taken a little more than a year to get to this point, and I'm enjoying doing the licks, so I'll probably keep putting more of them together as long as I keep getting good response on my Youtube channel. Thanks to all of you that check them out, comment, and especially to those of you that subscribe to my channel and purchase my online lessons!
I haven't posted any new "Transcribe This Lick" videos lately, but I've had a lot of requests to get the series rolling again, so here's a lick from a Hank Mobley blues I've been listening to this week.
Wowee Randy you sure have the gift of bringing that horn to life...
I have only had my horn for less then 2 months so I am still struggling reading the music but you are a true inspiration and thanks for showing me your easy material which to me is very hard....
Stay Well and thank you...
I'm loving these little lessons Randy. I often go at one for a half hour or so after my warm up. I transcribe it, then transpose it to a few different keys. Then, I sort of "have my way" with it over some changes, trying in incorporate it rhythmically and melodically over a series of changes. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Mark! That means a lot coming from the mouthpiece man himself!
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