kenny burrell blues licks1

8/13/2019 Kenny Burrell Blues Licks1

1/4

Kenny Burrell Blues Licks

Kenny Burrell has long been identified as one the best guitarists in the jazz-blues genre. Heuses blues vocabulary liberally even though he came up during the 'post bop' era. He is agreat guitarist to learn from and transcribe because his vocabulary is really classic and easyto put into your own playing, plus he doesn't typically play etremely fast tempos.

!ost of these are ta"en from the landmar" album, Midnight Bluewhich should be in everyjazz and blues guitarist's library.

Lick 1

#he first lic" here is played in the $%hitlins %on %arne& solo. #his is one you here KB playingoften, one of his go to lic"s. n this case he is putting it on the chord before moving to the ()actually b( here* in bars +-. #ry eperimenting with placing this lic" in other places.Harmonically, he's outlining the tonic chord's root and fifth by sliding into them.

Lick 2

#he net lic" we'll loo" at is a variation of lic" , and put in the same place. #his time he usesa similar rhythm but uses the entire minor pentatonic scale,

Lick 3

#his lic" is just a classic minor pentatonic blues lic". He plays this during the ndbar of thetonic chord, but it could easily be moved all around.

Lick 4

#he net lic" comes from KB's recording of $/ee Baby 0in't /ood to 1ou.& #his one and lic"2 are closely related. #hey both use the 'blue note' b2 and have a static tonic on top. 3se ashape similar to the minor pentatonic bo shape. Here he slides into the third, using the bluenote again.


2/4

Lick 5

KB plays this variation in the song, $K #wist.& t is very similar to 4ic" 5, just using a slightlydifferent rhythm.

Lick 6

#he net selection is an etended piece of the $K #wist& solo. #his is the first phrase of the

solo, going from the to the ( chord. #here are a few lic"s here to unpac" and add to yourvocabulary, so don't be afraid to piece it out. #he first part of the lic" is a throwbac" to playersli"e #iny /rimes and even a little Charlie Christian. #his would even sound at home in acountry solo. He then follows an arpeggio up to the b6 of the %6 chord and plays the /pentatonic scale down, finishing the lic" all within the pentatonic scale.

Lick 7

Here we find some shorter lic"s. 7umber 6 is from the song $8aturday 7ight Blues,& when KBgoes from the ( to the ( towards the end of the form. #he lic" is all chord tones, but the wayhe uses it is interesting.

Lick 8

#his lic" is from the same song and same place in the tune. He again uses the pentatonicscale, s"ipping from the 9 up to the Bb, then following it down )leaving out the :*. Be sure tolisten to this one, the notation doesn't do it justice.


3/4

Lick 9

#he net four lic"s are all from the ;immy 8mith classic $Bac" at the %hic"en 8hac".& 4ic" is a great one to put into your vocabulary. Be sure to bend the 0b in the second bar just a bitto give it something.

Lick 10

n 4ic"


4/4

Lick 13

#he last lic" we're loo"ing at here is the melody of the tune $8aturday 7ight Blues.& #his onecan give you a ton of material to use in solos, but can also be a tune itself. #he turnaroundmelody )bars -lease leave a comment below about your favorite Kenny Burrell moments and lic"s. 0lso ifyou have any ?uestions about vocabulary and developing your own jazz vocabulary pleasebe sure to get in touch. will be releasing an article soon on the topic of building your jazzvocabulary, but more than willing to tal" over email or twitter about it.

kenny burrell blues licks1

Documents