Let’s do a little Soul Jazz collaborative filtering... If you dig Benson’s playing on the recordings with Jack McDuff, then you probably also dig Grant Green’s work on His Majesty King Funk, which of course means you’ve got Kenny Burrell’s Chitlins Con Carne on one of your playlists along with Wes Montgomery’s Bumpin’ On Sunset. OK, run all that through the filter, take into consideration that you play guitar, and out pops a forgone conclusion -- you will majorly dig this collection of 50 Soul Jazz Licks You MUST Know from Tom Dempsey.
All Music describes the music as "earthy, bluesy and melodic” with “repetitive, dance-like rhythms.” Soul Jazz, Jazz Blues, Funk Jazz or Funky Hard Bop -- call it what you will, but you know we’re talking about, but for the purpose of this learning adventure, we’ll stick to ‘Soul Jazz’ and gratefully acknowledge it’s soul, jazz, funk and blues influences.
Soul Jazz grooves are wide open and great fun to play over because the rhythmic and harmonic framework is relatively simple thereby providing a highly improvisational landscape to work with. However, in the words of Albert Collins, “Simple music is hard to play,” and that’s why this handpicked collection of licks will serve you very well by stoking your vocabulary with ample ideas, motifs and other tricks of the Soul Jazz trade.
Good news! You already have the toolset at your fingertips if you’re relatively familiar with double-stops, pentatonic scales, bends, octaves, repetition, the mixolydian mode and chromatics. So, not a lot of new rocket science to digest. It’s more about the phrasing, rhythmic feel and improvisational approaches that you’ll be focusing on.
More good news! Tom dug deep into the Soul Jazz monster guitarist roster for inspiration; Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Pat Martino, Melvin Sparks, John Scofield, Peter Bernstein, Eric Kasnow, Mark Whitfield, and Norman Brown are all paid homage to.
All of the licks are first presented over a rhythm track for context , which is then followed by a detailed breakdown of the line along with the techniques being employed to perform it. Everything is tabbed and notated, plus you'll also get all of the rhythm tracks to practice the lines with on your own.
Add these 50 Soul Jazz licks to your playlist today!
Hi. My name is Tom Dempsey. Welcome to "50 Soul Jazz Licks You Must Know". These videos are a journey through the lineage of the soulful side of jazz guitar performance. Bringing in the blues, the funk and most importantly…the soul of this music. You need to get these sounds inside your playing so I hope you enjoy and embody the sounds represented here into your own musical voice.
2Bring In Da Blues
This first lick "Bring In Da Blues" is out of the Kenny Burrell sound. It's a good one to start with because it really helps capture that classic Soul Jazz sound. We'll be borrowing from the minor pentatonic, major pentatonic, blues scale and mixolydian mode all in one nice idea. It's in Bb but it should be practiced in all keys as it really can be a staple in your improvisation vocabulary.
3KB All The Way
KB All The Way is another Kenny Burrell lick that comes right out of a combination of the minor pentatonic scale and the blues scale. It also has that classic blues train whistle sound from the double stop idea. It's in F and comes out of the F Minor Pentatonic/Blues Scale fingering in 1st position which is the on that most guitar players gravitate towards. A definite meat and potatoes kind of lick to add to your vocabulary
4Minor KB
Our next lick, "Minor KB" is yet another Kenny Burrell lick over a minor 7th chord. Again here we use the minor pentatonic scale with a little taste of the blues scale thrown in for some more funk. There are some double-stops here as well that add for that bluesy sound. It too comes out of that guitar friendly fingering we saw in the last lesson but now we are in G minor.
5A Touch of Grease
In "A Touch of Grease" we bring the lard into your sound. No diet jazz here! It's pretty simple but very effective. We begin with a double stop with a little bend thrown in for flavor. We then use a few notes out of the minor pentatonic scale and end with the same double stop. This lick is very accessible and yet very important to have as part of your vocabulary.
6Bluesy Double Stop
This is the first of a series of licks that I'm going to bring in throughout this video series which is very much out of the sounds that jazz guitar players and specifically soul jazz guitar players play from. We'll use a series of two note double stops while really bringing in that blues scale flavor. Once you hear the lick you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
7Kenny Be Good
This lick, "Kenny Be Good" might remind you of something that sounds a bit like "Johnny B Goode". The repetitive movement from the b5 to the 5th to the tonic captures that kind of sound. The concept though is very effective in a Soul Jazz context and can add a lot to your vocabulary of ideas.
A bundle of surprising Soul style licks inspired by the style of many master guitarists. A fantastic teacher and virtuoso guitarist with an incredible attack on the strings. Mastering playing perfectly in time takes time. Great!
P
pali56
Verified buyer
06/15/22
soul of guitar
...another fantastic collection...
J
jrdocbenson
Verified buyer
10/27/20
50 soul jazz licks
I always enjoyed this program and all of the lick programs
S
Sindibad
10/19/20
"50 Soul Jazz Licks You Must Know
It is a very pleasant lesson to learn in the mixture of 2 styles of music.
L
Loophole
Verified buyer
04/01/20
Tom Dempsey 50 Soul Jazz Guitar Licks
A really nice presentation of licks characteristic of key soul-jazz style guitarists.
A useful introduction to some specific licks, but then move on to a more detailed study of a particular artist.,
