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30 Jazz Arpeggio Licks You MUST Know

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30 Jazz Arpeggio Licks You MUST Know
Tom Dempsey

Tom Dempsey

Educator

jazz, jazz blues

Genres

About this course

Arpeggios are the foundation of any great jazz improviser’s vocabulary. They’re easy enough to learn but the real challenge is making them sound musical.

Students of jazz guitar usually start by developing a vocabulary of arpeggio-based licks from other players. As the vocabulary grows, so does the student’s ability to craft their own original arpeggio-based lines and musical ideas.

This collection of 30 Jazz Arpeggio Licks from Tom Dempsey covers a wide range of arpeggio-based licks across a variety of commonly encountered jazz harmonies and progressions.

For each of the 30 licks, Tom will demonstrate an arpeggio-based musical idea over a rhythm track. Tom shows you the arpeggio, explains how it connects to the harmony, and then breaks down the lick for you, note-by-note, phrase-by-phrase.

”The first 20 lessons will be focused on 20 single-chord arpeggios that every jazz player should know. In each lesson, I'll give you one fingering example of that arpeggio as well as a musical idea that comes from that fingering. For these first 20 lessons, I’ll demonstrate over static chords played with a jazz backing track.

The last 10 lessons will be focused on stringing arpeggio licks together, over standard jazz progressions. All 30 of the lessons will help you develop skills for creating arpeggio-based musical ideas that bring out the sound of the chords — without sounding like you’re just running arpeggios.”

You’ll work on riff-based licks in the style of Charlie Christian, dominant 7th chord licks, sequential diminished ideas, licks to add tension to your melodic lines, musical ideas for 2-5-1 progressions, ways to substitute arpeggios and create more complex musical lines, 2-5 minor licks to broaden your repertoire of improvisational ideas, arpeggio-based lines for minor progressions, and many more creative and melodic approaches for crafting musical ideas based on arpeggios.

All of the licks are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop and/or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, Tom generously includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own.

Grab your guitar and let's crack the code on arpeggio-based licks with Tom Dempsey!

What you'll learn

  • Master major 7 sharp 5 chord arpeggio
  • Explore upper structure harmony concepts
  • Practice complex melodic movement
  • Understand Lydian augmented sound
  • Learn leading tone techniques
Release date: 05/03/2017 • 2h 01m runtime
intermediatelate intermediateadvancedguitarelectric guitarsoloinglicks
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Sample lessons
Charlie's Riff
Charlie's Riff
Lick 1
Modal Mood
Modal Mood
Lick 8
Groovy KB Arp
Groovy KB Arp
Lick 9
Alternative Ways
Alternative Ways
Lick 25

What's included

33 lessons • 31 charts • 30 Jam Tracks

30 Jazz Arpeggio Licks
Hi, I'm Tom Dempsey and welcome to 30 Jazz Arpeggio Licks You Must Know. This course is designed to teach you some of the most important arpeggios to know how to play while showing you how to turn this knowledge into strong musical ideas.

I'll begin by identifying twenty arpeggios that you should know, and in each lesson I'll give you one example of that arpeggio as well as a musical idea that comes from that fingering. The first twenty will be over static chords played with some sort of jazz backing track. The last ten segments of this program is showing you how we can apply them exclusively to various common jazz progressions in an effort to boost your overall improvisation repertoire.

Upon completion of this course, you can use the reference guide to learn the arpeggios all over the neck of the guitar while trying to translate them into different areas of the neck and transpose them into different keys all over the instrument. This is going to be an exciting journey that will open your eyes and ears to new possibilities in jazz improvisation. So grab your guitar, and let's get started!
Reference Manual
Before we get started, I want to tell you about the Reference Guide I've included in this course. In it, you'll find all of the single position fingerings for all of the arpeggios for all of the chords we'll be covering. You should go back and check that out and use it alongside the course as a companion.

In the lessons, I'll be referring to the various columns that exist - each column refers to a certain one octave or two octave fingering for each of the arpeggios and there's a little introduction to explain how it's organized. I really think this Reference Guide will be a lot of help to you, not only while you're in the course, but also when you step away and start to apply this to other places on the neck. So, make sure you check it out!
Charlie's Riff
The first jazz arpeggio lick is one that can work in a variety of settings. You may have recognized the sound of this line in such legendary guitarists like Charlie Christian. This is a musical idea that comes out of the sound of the major 6th chord arpeggio that can be used in a variety of settings, including over major chords, dominant chords like we see in a blues, as well as various progressions. This one is a good foundation to build your arpeggio lick repertoire.
Major Extension
In this arpeggio lick, we move into an extended idea that is eight measures long. The entire lick could actually be divided into several smaller licks, but together, this shows how we can piece together various phrases to form a longer idea.

This arpeggio lick is in the key of Eb major and can be played over a static Eb6 sonority as well as a common progression found in the key of Eb. Check out how this is put together through motivic development and make sure you check it out in other keys as well.
Dim The Lights
Let's slow things down and get a bit seductive. This next lick is played over a slow bossa feel. It highlights the sound of the minor 6th chord arpeggio to create a thoughtful and musical idea. While this idea is played at a relatively slow tempo, its applications across genres and tempos should be self-evident.
Minor Groove
The "Minor Groove" lick is based on the sound of a minor 6th chord. This is an eight bar idea that once again can be subdivided into smaller ideas to add to your repertoire. Here it is played over a static Dmin6 chord in a modal fashion à la "So What" and/or "Impressions". Being able to play musically over static chords can be surprisingly challenging. This lick offers you some insight into how this can be accomplished successfully.
Major World
Here's a major 7th chord arpeggio idea that highlights the important characteristics of this sound. Notice in this lick how we use sequencing to help bring melodic structure to the idea. It's a four measure idea that really conveys the sonic picture clearly. This is a very important sound to become comfortable with, as it will help you become more definitive in your cadential resolutions.

+ 26 more lessons

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Reviews

3 results

Mthee

11/10/20

Ready to Use Arpeggios

This is a licks course that just happens to be teaching you arpeggios. Arpeggio study/practice killed me. So I didn't do it. I wanted to learn them, but I needed musical, applicable examples to keep me interested. This course provides great examples of fantastic sounding arpeggios I can use immediately. And the licks aren't just for Jazz.( I typically work on Jazz stuff to spruce up my blues and country playing.)

Revman2015

09/30/20

Oh yeah Baby

Tom demsey is a genius 30 arpeggios course is a must do course. Im a guitarist who likes chop up arpeggio lines played and once I sampled Toms stuff I start encorporating his licks anywhere and everywhere I could. You’ll learn a lot from 30 arpeggio Licks . Time to get back to it. Which arpeggio next?

Jeffochka

10/19/18

In Deep With Dempsey!

Tom Dempsey is my new favorite teacher. I am usually impatient and want to dive right into the playing part of the lesson. But Tom Dempsey's teaching style is so accessible and enjoyable. He's brilliant and gifted but so incredibly humble! I love that he covers so many different eras and genres of jazz guitar playing. He gives you background on the musical era as well as the approaches of the greatest jazz guitarists themselves, such as Wes Montgomery and Pat Matino. His impersonations of the greats are high quality. And to be able to learn these techniques and incorporate them into my own playing is so amazing and wonderful. Tom covers so many arpeggio licks, which is key to any successful jazz guitarists arsenal of licks. But you also get a sprinkle of theory coupled with historical insights. I can't wait to dive into Tom's other courses. There is absolutely something in this course for every jazz guitarist that wants to build on his/her own specialty or wants to expand his/her style across other jazz genres. Get the course and you won't be disappointed!

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