ii v i jazz lick #3

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F‹7 B¨7 E¨Œ„Š7

Copyright © Scott's Bass Lessons

F‹7 B¨7 E¨Œ„Š7

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Ex.1

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F Minor II-V-I progression

Scott Devine

II-V-I Jazz Lick #3 (L#31)

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F minor 7

arpeggios (chord tones)

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B Flat dominant 7

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E Flat major 7

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Fingering

1 4 3 1

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1 0 4 2

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1 0 4 3

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04:33

Ii-v-i jazz lick

"you should practice this in sections""you should practice this in sections"

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This II V I lick uses a lot of altered/tension notes within the line. What’s

interesting is that it delays resolving to the Eb major 7th chord until the 4th bar.

This means essentially we are still implying the Bb7 chord in bar 3 even though

the chord we are playing over is an Eb major 7th. This creates a lot of tension

but is fine as we resolve it in bar 4.

Remember... Tension is fine but you got to resolve!

V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V

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1 4

3

1

1

0 3

1

1

0 3 7

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œnœœœœ œn

œb œnœb œn

œœ œb

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œbœœn œb

œb œn

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6

8

5

7 8

5 6 8 9

6 7 8 9 10 9 8

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9 8 7 6

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6 8

5 6

Copyright © 2013 Scott’s Bass Lessons

II V I Jazz Lick no.3 (L#31)

Your Action Plan

1. The lick used within this tutorial has a really modernsounding flavour to it. You might not be used tohearing this type of harmony being used on the bass,but fear not, it's simply because you haven't beenexposed to it yet!To get into the flavour of this modern soundingharmony there are some serious bass cats you shouldcheck out. At the top of my list for sheer face meltingtechnique and absolutely awesome command ofharmony is the French bass player, Hadrien Feraud. Youshould also check out Matt Garrison, Evan Marien, FelixPastorius and Mike Bendy.

I recommend hitting YouTube and checking out some of their performances. Each of these players has blazingly fast technique, but this isn't the focus of this exercise. I want you to listen specifically to the harmony that they are using to create their solo lines. It’s often very modern and angular, with lots of tension and release.

Copyright © 2013 Scott’s Bass Lessons

2. You must learn this lick (and every other lick you learn)in multiple keys. If I were a mean guy I'd say all 12… but,I'm not mean, and in all honesty I always try and getfluid with a lick in around 6 keys; as once I've done thattransferring it to the remainder of the keys is prettysimple.

You can use this method throughout what you learn. Obviously in a perfect world we would have 36 hours in a day and be able to practice every chord progression and lick in all 12 keys. But, it's better to be realistic. So rather than setting our selves up for failure and setting unachievable targets, it's a much more fun and at the same time a more positive experience to set smaller goals that we are much more likely to achieve.

3. An important part of using pre-learned melodies (licks)is to be able to use them on the fly, and at the sametime use them as starting points to other ideas.

To achieve this you must learn to use them when soloing over jazz standards. Every time a II V I occurs simply 'plug in' the lick. Remember though, this is just a practice technique. You wouldn't do it in a real live situation. In a live situation you wouldn't play the same lick multiple times over as that is not what improvisation is about. But, being able to use this technique in a practice situation is a big part of becoming a proficient improviser. Why? You're just going to have to trust me ;)

Scott Devine