GRANT GREEN II V I LICK – ANALYSIS, ANALYSIS, CONCEPTS, AND BLUES SOLO written by Matt Warnock
G
rant Green was one of the finest soloists to ever play jazz guitar. His playing was bluesy, full of bebop
vocabulary,, and swung hard no matter what situation he was in. While his playing style may seem out of vocabulary reach for many of us, that doesnt have to be the case. !n this lesson, you learn a classic Grant Green lick, lick, break it down to its fundamental concepts, and then apply all of that material to a jazz blues solo. Grab your guitar, dust off your favorite amp, and dig into Grant Greens s!l!s c!nce"tsover c!nce"tsover a ii " ! progression.
#$ats In T$is Grant Green Lick%
#efore you dig into the lick itself, here are the concepts used in this line that &!' can learn, learn, practice, and e$pand upon in your soloing.
A()*+ Oer C() %he first concept in this lick has Grant using an &m'b( arpeggio over a )m' chord. When doing so, he creates a C(C(- sound sound in his line.
A()*+
A
C
E*
G
Pla&e. !er C(
-
/
*0
+
As a rule, you can use a m7b5 arpeggio from the 6 of a m7 chord to create a m6 sound in your lines. Heres how that looks and sounds*
E*(a1) Oer C() +ou can also play an bmaj' arpeggio over a )m' chord, creating the intervals b-(b'/*
E*(a1)
E*
G
B*
D
Pla&e. !er C(
*0
+
*)
2
As a rule, you can play a maj7 arpeggio from the b3 of any m7 chord to produce a rootless m9 sound. Heres how that concept looks and sounds so you can start to take it onto the guitar.
T$e Altere. Scale %he altered scale is found in the solos of every great jazz guitarist, including Grant Green, and its seen in this lick with the 0/b/ notes. When used over 'th chords, the altered scale highlights the *2,32,*+, an. 3+ interals in your lines. #ecause of this, the scale creates a lot of tension that you have to address in your solos.
4 Altere. Scale
4
G*
G3
A
C*
D*
E*
/
*2
32
0
*+
*/0
*)
Here are two fingerings for the altered scale to get you started with this i("!rtant s!'n. on the guitar.
C( Tria. !er 4) +ou also see a )m triad over 1' in the line, which outlines the +5*)52 intervals of the 1' chord*
C( Tria.
C
E*
G
Pla&e. !er 4)
+
*)
2
As a rule, you can play a minor triad from the 5th of any 7th chord. 2o, if you have a G' chord, you can play a D( tria., etc. Heres how that looks and sounds to get it under your fingers*
A""r!ac$ N!tes
Approach notes are chromatic notes that lead by half step into diatonic notes. Most often they are used below diatonic notes, but you can also use them above. !n this lick, you see this as the B5C notes in the final bar. Heres how an a""r!ac$ n!te below looks like on paper*
L!6er Nei7$*!r N!tes %he last concept is the lower neighbor tone, which you can see as LN in t$e ta*.
Lower neighbor notes are when you hae a diatonic note !" for e#ample$, then you play a note just below that note !%$ then bac& to the diatonic note !"$. 2o, )#), with the # being the l!6er nei7$*!r t!ne. Heres how that looks on "a"er *
Grant Green Lick
3ow that you know what concepts are used to *'il. t$e lick, its time to learn this lick on guitar. 4nce you can play the lick as is, take it to other keys as you e$pand it in your practice routine.
Grant Green Bl'es S!l! #it$ Lick
%o take this lick further, heres a 1a88 *l'es s!l! that uses typical Grant Green lines, as well as the e$act lick in the final four bars. 5earn the solo as is, then begin to inte7rate these ideas into your soloing vocabulary from there. %heres an audio track to play along with in the "ractice r!!(, and a backing track to work with as you e$pand this solo in your studies.
GRANT GREEN SOLOING – DO9INANT C:ORD CONCEPTS written by Matt Warnock
G
rant Green 6as a le7en.ar& 1a88 7'itarist 6$! "lace. $is sta(" !n t$e *e*!", "!st *!", an. 1a88
;'nk 7enres .'rin7 $is career< Beca'se !; t$is (aster&, Grant is an eas& c$!ice 6$en l!!kin7 ;!r ins"irati!n in t$e "ractice r!!(, an. t! take &!'r !6n "la&in7 t! t$e ne=t leel< !n this lesson, youll focus on one side of Grants playing, his .!(inant )t$ c!nce"ts. While a full study of Grants dominant 'th soloing concepts would be daunting, youll zoom in on three main ideas in this article. #y working on "'alt lines in major and minor keys, as well as the dominant bebop scale, youll get a glimpse into the playing style of one of jazzs greatest guitarists. )heck these lines out, 6!rk t$e c!nce"ts behind these lines further in your playing, and when ready, learn the sample solo at the end of the article.
Grant Green S!l!in7 – 9a1!r V)alt Lines
%o begin your study of Grant Green dominant chord concepts, youll look at how Grant added altere. n!tes to major key "' chords. 3ormally you think of adding altered notes 6b/, 0/, 78 to minor key "' chords, but you can use them in major keys as well. Here are two e$amples of Grant using "'alt chords to create tension and resolution in his major key ii " ! soloing lines and phrases. %he first line uses the *2 an. 32 over the "' chord in a ii " ! progression in b major. 3otice how the altered notes are then resolved to the root note of the underlying chord. &s the root is a very strong chord tone, the strongest in fact, this line has a strong resolution. %his allows for the altered notes to create tensi!n an. res!l'ti!n, rather than just tension, which can cause your lines to sound out of place without that resolution.
!n this second (a1!r ii V I line, again the b/ and 0/ are used over the "' chord to create tension. %hese notes are resolved to the note #b. %his time that note is acting as the (th of bmaj', as compared to the root of #b' in the previous line. 9egardless of the "lace(ent of that #b note, its again acting to resolve those tension notes, bringing the line back inside the changes at the same time. &longside the altered notes, theres a raised 'th interval over the 1m' chord, creating a (el!.ic (in!r s!'n. over this chord change. :laying melodic minor over ii() c$!r.s is something that Grant, and many other great jazz guitarists, did to create tension over that change in the progression.
Grant Green S!l!in7 – D!(inant Be*!" Lines
¬her way that Grant liked to spice up his dominant 'th lines is to use the .!(inant *e*!" scale over that chord. %he dominant bebop scale is a 9i=!l&.ian scale 6it$ an a..e. ) t$ n!te, which is the tension note over the underlying chord. #y using this scale, Grant creates tension over major key "' chords, which he then resolves to not leave that tension hanging during the solo.
9i=!l&.ian Scale
/
>
0
?
+
-
*)
Be*!" Scale
/
>
0
?
+
-
*)
)
!n this first bebop scale phrase, the #b .!(inant *e*!" scale is used in bar one, in anticipation of the #b' in bar two of the phrase. 3otice that the major ) interal @A is placed on the ;th beat of the bar. &s long as you resolve the "assin7 n!te in a bebop scale you can place it anywhere in the bar you please. #ut, if you dont resolve that note, either down to the b' or up to the root, itll sound out of place no matter where you use it in your line.
%he ne$t bebop line again uses the #b dominant bebop scale in bar one of a ii " !, where Grant is t$inkin7 V)5V)5I. +oull notice the & 6the bebop note8 accented on beat two of the phrase, before being resolved into beat three on the &b.
Grant Green S!l!in7 – 9in!r V)alt Lines
&s well as using altered notes over major "' chords, Grant also brought these tension notes into his minor key solos. !n this section, youll look at two ways to bring altere. n!tes into your "' lines 6dim' arpeggios and adding b/ and 0/ over the underlying chord8. 4ne of Grants favorite ways to color "' chords in a minor key is with a 05*2 ar"e77i!, which you can see in the line below. #y playing #dim' over G'alt, Grant highlights the -, (, b', and b/ intervals of the underlying chord.
B.i()
B
D
4
A*
B.i() "la&e. !er G)
0
+
*)
*2
'hen soloing oer dominant chords, you can always play a dim7 arpeggio from the 3rd of that dominant chord to create a b9 arpeggio. 3otice that here Grant res!les t$at *2 into the root and down to the b- of )m' 6b8.
%he ne$t minor "'alt lick uses the *2, 32, an. 3? to create tension over that bar in the phrase, before resolving that tension over )m'. 2tarting a "'alt line with a b/0/b/ triplet is a common way to add those tension notes to your lines. 1rom there, the )0 60;8 is used as a l!6er nei7$*!r t!ne, resolving up to the < 6(8 of the underlying chord.
Grant Green S!l!in7 – S!lar S!l!
3ow that youve worked these lines on their own, and studied the underlying concepts for each line, you can *rin7 t$ese lines t!7et$er over a tune. !n this 2olar solo, youll use most of the "rei!'s lines to create a onechorus solo etude that you can learn and work into your own playing over this jazz standard. 3otice the .!'*le5ti(e lick in the last phrase, which is a lick youve already learned, though this time played twice as fast to fit into the space given to those chords. When working on fast licks, such as =>th note phrases, you can often just take a normal lick and play it twice as fast rather than learn a whole note phrase. %his approach is being used here to s?ueeze that lick into two bars, rather than four bars.
