Why Patterns Are Always Better Than Licks - Parker's Strategy

[@JensLarsen]

What do you think: Is vocabulary practice underrated? 😎 Here's a powerful concept for Patterns that beats licks: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH_Rd5qanLShmZI

[@diegobocco1035]

Treasure chest has been opened. Thank you Jens, for your generosity.

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it is useful 🙂

[@DanielSeriffMusic]

Jens! I love this concept. Been following it quite awhile. I remember a clinic with Isaiah Sharkey many years ago..."Don't play licks, play concepts." Thanks for your awesome lessons.

[@JensLarsen]

Thanks! That is indeed exactly it 🙂

[@kandolpapa7542]

I've been studying with your RoadMap for three months now. This post feels like a lecture tailored specifically for me at my current level. I love it!

[@JensLarsen]

Great! Go for it 😎

[@tomcripps7229]

Thanks!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you Tom!

[@Oi-mj6dv]

Ooooomg yessss its impossibly coincidental that you upload THIS lesson just as my copy of jazz patterns for treble instruments arrived. You have no idea how sold i am in the patterns concept vs the study of licks and this has just settled it for good if there was every any doubts or discussion still in my head. If patterns were good for parker surely they cant be bad for me Hahaha🎷🎷🎸🎸🤙🤙

[@JensLarsen]

Great! Go for it!

[@billa6348]

OMG! The key to the kingdom! Thank you, Jens, for pulling back the proverbial curtain on this persistently elusive skill in your signature accessible and marvelously detailed instructional style. I know it takes time to develop these skills, but the roadmap you provide is reassuringly sound and focused. Thank you, again!!!

[@johncostigan6160]

Learning new things in smaller pieces makes them easier for me to remember. Thank-you Jens.

[@managerguanacostarica1440]

This is one of the best tools to play tonal music, building small blocks around chord tones. And ways to go from one chord note to the other.

[@NeonRadarMusic]

Since I played rock and pop as a kid, I spent a long time hating jazz after some mildly traumatizing experiences in music school in my early 20s but after coming to your videos, I'm discovering things about it that I never realized and I'm becoming a jazz addict now in my 30s. Thanks Jens!

[@JensLarsen]

Great that you are getting into Jazz and putting it to use 🙂

[@Sparksnorthern]

Jens, as a bassist learning guitar, this is phenomenal education for both instruments. My copy of your jazz guitar book arrives today from Amazon and I can't wait to dive in. I'm really enjoying your content.

[@JensLarsen]

Great! Thank you :) I hope you find the book useful!

[@janehutchison1063]

Thanks for setting me free! I have been enjoying posts by lots of people including yourself, playing the phrases they contain to get them into my fingers. Then today I'm like wait--you mean I can break them into pieces that I can use? What a concept lol. My brain just exploded. Thanks again Jens

[@JensLarsen]

Exactly! Go for it! 🙂

[@TheCSteve]

Jens you are the man .. I recorded the most awesome solo that I ever did .. Since I practice Jazz things my solo in acoustic pop/rock music is much better .. I dont no what to say, but it feels good and I am finaly happy with my play style .. Its not perfect but its the best result in a short time I ever had, and people like my music now .. THANKS

[@JensLarsen]

Great that you are putting it to use 🙂

[@JazzStrat781]

This is a wonderful video Jens 👍🎸 thanks so much!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@matt_greene]

love how pratical your advice is. even though you didn't end becoming a computer programmer, i can see how much that way of thinking has informed your practice strategies!

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! I suspect it has more to do with paying attention in the pedagogical part of my Jazz guitar degree than studying Math and Computer science 🙂

[@allancerf9038]

One of your bettervideos Jens Larsen. Given the huge efforts you expend and the volume of videos you create, it's a heartfelt compliment. One day, I hope you'll have a video on the age-old deficit of hearing great lines in one's head but not finding on the fretboard what's in the old noodle. I do use the trick of humming complex lines and have had good success. But this works with single notes - much harder, or for me impossible, to hum complex jazz chords, comping, etc. Best, Allan

[@JensLarsen]

Thanks Allan! You need to hear the chords from the melody that they spell out when you do that. If you really know your voicings it is not as difficult as you think.

[@salimbaghli8040]

Thank you Jens, and thank you for keeping it simple using the 2-5-1 in C major as a reference. Very helpful and useful !!!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@LPEstevan]

Thanks Jens for this awesome lesson! As a Jazz player that doesn't like memorizing licks, this is very helpful and sounds amazing.

[@JensLarsen]

My pleasure!

[@chrisegonmusic]

Missed it first time so I skipped backwards to make sure you’d included Yngwie on that score. You never disappoint 🇸🇪

[@JensLarsen]

🙏😁

[@chrisegonmusic]

@@JensLarsen never change

[@FlopMeister71]

More Gold from Jens. Many Thanks. I was struggling with boring melodic lines in a track i am currently writing. i believe this video will help me a lot.

[@firminEmmanuel-lb7dh]

great job jens larsen, i love your work.

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you so much 😀

[@vladokaiser9903]

Tnx! You give explanations that are really understandable and usable.

[@JensLarsen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tomhynes2908]

Finally. Great video. Long lines are many short lines put together.

[@JensLarsen]

Indeed! 🙂

[@RoelsonObra]

Excited!!

[@reginaldparker3248]

Thank you for sharing! Vocabulary, enclosures, arpeggios, chromatic, eight notes, Pay Martino.....

[@JensLarsen]

You're very welcome!

[@Nn-uh2kb]

Well... Parker certainly rehearsed his OWN licks over and over and over again. Nothing wrong with that, but unlike pure improvisers (Tristano, Konitz, Marsh) who strive to always be creating new things on the spot, Parker cultivated a repository of (absolutely fantastic) licks that he copy pasted into his solos with minor variations.

[@ricklaino6385]

Another informative offering.... Thanks Jens......!!!

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you like it Rick!

[@jamescopeland5358]

Very good lesson Jens

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you, James

[@benkatof5852]

Love the idea, and try to do this myself.

[@JensLarsen]

Exactly!

[@nickburmanmusic]

That's it. From now on I'm ending all my solos with a Swedish Chef lick, just because I shouldn't! Great lesson Jens :)

[@JensLarsen]

I should make a lesson on the best Muppet Licks 😁

[@tickmagnet]

My solos always end with an unintended bork bork bork

[@nickburmanmusic]

@@tickmagnet Haha!

[@nickburmanmusic]

@@JensLarsen That would be fantastic! Wes meets the Muppets!

[@russellhenrybieber6620]

Id say he's the Bach of jazz, great lesson!

[@JensLarsen]

🙂👍

[@jaysmoreymusic]

I've noticed this same patterns thing in Guthrie Govan's improvisation--especially his faster lines. I find that it makes for more interesting lines and keeps the listener glued because of that hint of familiarity and predictability while still being unpredictable.

[@johnjacquard863]

grattitude!

[@thijs199]

I wish I could get stretch chord like you too. It must be awesome to be able to play start me up by the stones without detuning your guitar

[@mer1red]

To put it short: learn the figurations. That's also how they improvised in the Baroque era.

[@Samykling2010]

A lot of jazzmen in my music background think the best way to improve jazz vocabulary, is to play on tracks and pick-up solos, learn new scale (New Spices) , ans try to apply them on solos

[@marcus2515]

Good video

[@JensLarsen]

Glad you enjoyed

[@orangeiceice12]

I dont even like Jazz, tbh. I mean. I love Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday. I could lisgen to some Miles or Charlie once in a while. But I just want to be able to rip some clean and interesting jazz melodies in the midst of a song, like Billie Strings on Summertime. Im just interested in expanding my vocabulary, and you are a fantastic intuitive thinker for this purpose.

[@CliffieVanR]

Great stuff, Jens. In the 'cheeky' G7 example around 3m13s, targeting the 3rd of the following C, are you thinking in terms of G or C for the preceding enclosure notes?

[@JensLarsen]

I am thinking G7 resolving to C, It's not that you are forced to think about it per chord 🙂

[@CliffieVanR]

@@JensLarsen Got it!

[@halfabreadstick8633]

Hi jens, so after I make licks on my own should I play them over a tune? Or should I try to use the pattern to improvise licks on the spot? Ive been having trouble remembering lines and defaulting to stuff Ive already played a million times

[@JensLarsen]

Ideally a mix of both, composing a lot of licks and getting better at doing that while improvising

[@patternsinpianomusic]

👏

[@chunga668]

I'd love to hear the lick that coinnects Wes, Holdworth, and the Swedish Chef

[@JensLarsen]

Me too 😂

[@orangeiceice12]

I notice Martino goes down the scale and then back up at the end, rather than the arpeggio.

[@austinmchale7232]

Are consecutive intervals (eg. ce,df) and intersecting intervals (eg.cdef) enclosures ( 2nds enclosed in 4ths) by other names? Is (eg. cdfe)a 'proper' enclosure? Or are they all 'intraversions' of the same four notes, as in classical music? Only I've only ever heard Jens using the term 'enclosure', for this kind of feature. Slán!

[@JensLarsen]

That will depend on how they are used in the music. It is not something that makes a lot of sense out of that context

[@devinmcmanus]

🤯

[@GreenJeepAdventures]

Still, which Yngwie lick do you suggest for bar 10 ?

[@JensLarsen]

A furious one! 😁

[@4578a]

I would love to hear a solo that is a composite of all those artists.

[@dirkbertels3872]

AI to the rescue

[@4578a]

@@dirkbertels3872 No, it's up to us to do it. You can't rely on machines or they'll think we need them and that's how they take over.

[@dirkbertels3872]

@@4578a Whatever you think about it, it's a likely future. But it's ok, we have Arnie to save us.

[@4578a]

@@dirkbertels3872 Yeah i know evil people are going to do things that are beyond my control. I don't need to hear from someone who is advocating it though.

[@JeffreySaxophoneTallNewton]

Maybe on day I'll start my own YT "how to play Jazz" channel. For the moment though, I'm still Ben Hogan. And I've never played a "lick" in my life, even on my 3rd axe (guitar; sax > piano/keys > guitar). 51 years on sax, 54 on keyboards.

[@JensLarsen]

Nice! Curious what that will be

[@JeffreySaxophoneTallNewton]

@@JensLarsen Thanks! Will be "for all instruments" at least, not just sax.

[@scr5051]

Greetings Froom colombia south América, great channel, silvain luc please

[@JensLarsen]

Thank you! 🙂

[@solomonos]

I was here

[@JensLarsen]

🙏😎

[@novembrinewaltz90]

I don’t agree about the first lick… It’s not long or complicated, and copying and pasting it would be a great exercise. It contains mainly 8th notes, it lasts exactly 2 bars and it connects all the chord changes very smoothly, making it the perfect lick to use over a long II V I. It doesn’t even sound exclusively like Charlie Parker, it’s just very common bebop language. So no, I only see benefits from using it while improvising.

[@JensLarsen]

Go for it!

[@kevinjiang5102]

You gonna go sing up for ap music theory now

[@JensLarsen]

?

[@orangeiceice12]

Jens, are you dipping? I knew I liked you.

[@domenicoconsilvio8180]

scoreggia

[@4578a]

Sounds like the line that you previously said was boring

[@hexpex5903]

Why does charlie parker look a bit like homlander

[@CatrinaDaimonLee]

'never practice...' that is it. the secret.

[@JensLarsen]

Has that been tested? 😁

[@Kevin-cb1sg]

I think it's a bit misleading to say that he never practiced licks. It's well known that he copied a load of lester young solos, in every key and at twice speed. Also, if you listen to his playing you hear the same lines over and over again. Take the opening line of his billie's bounce solo. Practically identical to the opening line of his now's the time solo. I'm not saying he didn't practice patterns too but it definitely sounds to me like he practiced licks. Add to that the fact that his solos are basically one perfect phrase after another, (amazing solos really) i do think those phrases were worked out. Also, I take issue with what you said about sounding like a clone of other players if you practice their licks. With a few rare exceptions, practically every master of this music has copied. Of course, it's a problem if you don't eventually move beyond that but if you don't copy then how else are you going to learn the language? Then again if all you learn is kicks then that's all you'll have so maybe a better approach is to do both? Learn solos and licks but then learn their building blocks too? You reference Barry Harris a lot. Well, Barry went through a period of copying Bud Powell solos! Jimmy Raney has a good video about this. About the importance of copying to learn jazz. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIvcZWVniK-GjJosi=nP5X9Gx3AAOcYGs2

[@JensLarsen]

If he did not turn those Lester Young phrases into patterns he could use in his own playing he would not have sounded like Parker, he would have sounded like Lester Young. Barry Harris made pretty much everything he came across into patterns, that is a huge part of what he taught. Is it possible you don't understand what "going beyond copying" really means?

[@Kevin-cb1sg]

@@JensLarsen is it possible you didn't read my comment? 😀 what I'm saying is that you need both. There's this idea in the jazz world that copying is bad and something to be avoided. You wouldn't approach any other language that way. That's all I'm saying.

[@JensLarsen]

@@Kevin-cb1sg Is it possible you didn't watch the video? 😂

[@Kevin-cb1sg]

@@JensLarsen 🤣

[@mauriziogulina3202]

Just one of the million ways how to see one thing. There are videos to be made and that’s a real job. We all have theories and approaches. I personally think that patterns sound boring that’s why most all jazz players sound boring especially guitarists. Most of them play patterns. I’m not talking about beginners. Charlie Parker played music not patterns then you can make all the theories you want about that.

[@peterdodson4685]

It all sounds very sterile and boring

[@bokai77]

Jens, I am telling you this even though you are not going to care, but here goes anyway. As a follower of your channel who watched many of your videos I am telling you in all sincerity that those graphics you have integrated in your later videos are distracting, and counter productive. I work in compositing for TV and Film, so maybe that bothers me more than it does others. I find them disjointed, cheesy and they don't really help by getting the message across, quite the opposite they distract the viewer. Your earlier videos were a lot more interesting, just an honest guy with his guitar having interesting things to say. I know that you're striving for more "content" but it's a shame because TikTokers don't really dig jazz; but what do I know. Thank you for your videos, in any case.

[@JensLarsen]

Luckily I have 1000+ videos on the channel so you have plenty of old videos to check out 🙂 As far as I can tell from comments and from what YT data tells me about how people watch the videos then you are in a minority here. I am sure you are not the only one but it is impossible to please everyone.

[@nickburmanmusic]

I'm with team Jens. More humour and lightness is key to making lessons memorable. As a graphic designer (while we're sparring with professions I thought I'd throw that in!) I know that many people (myself included) learn visually, and having graphic cues like icons aid memory. Besides, none of this pretense matters. I'm just a huge spongebob fan and anyone who throws in the odd pineapple at the bottom of the sea reference is clearly a professional jazz musician in my books.

[@gssong7111]

wrong saloon, partner!

[@Mr._Bassman97]

Half a million subscribers. You’re doing fine!

[@songfulmusicofsongs]

I completely agree. I have to rewatch some parts of the video because I was distracted by the graphics and sound effects. Hope it improves in the future.

[@GoFigure621]

All i get is KZbin junk

[@JensLarsen]

Maybe try not going on KZbin?

[@GoFigure621]

It’s always A battle. I don’t have a problem when on patron but this got messed up.

[@JensLarsen]

@@GoFigure621 What is the problem?

[@GoFigure621]

@@JensLarsen it’s my end Jen.

[@skylarsmith2340]

I already enjoy your videos and all the knowledge you have, but now that you’ve got SpongeBob on here you’ve won my heart and mind 🥲

[@JensLarsen]

Haha! Thank you 😁