Lick #18: Pass Major 9th (Guitar Lesson LK-018) How to play

♪

Hi, how you doing?
Justin here.

This lick we're checking out today,
I call the Pass Major 9.

It's kind of a Joe Pass style
Major 9th lick.

It works over C, C Major 7,
C Major 9, C Major 13,

C 6 even, I guess.

It's a very cool, very useful little one,

and it's got a really interesting way
that it shifts position.

It can be broken down into little
segments that are quite easy to use.

So, let's get to a close-up
and check out how to play it.

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Okay, here's the lick a bit slower.

♪

Very nice little lick, this one.

So, we're starting off here with
a C Major 9 arpeggio.

3rd fret, 2nd finger on the 5th string,

1st finger, 2nd fret, 4th string,

Little finger, 5th fret, 4th string,

3rd finger, 4th fret, 3rd string,

and 2nd finger on the note D,
which is the 9th,

which is 3rd fret, 2nd string.

That's the first thing.

That's a really nice little sound to
have over C Major 7th chord.

♪

Some of you might notice...

it contains a G Major arpeggio,
so it starts as a C Major arpeggio,

and then it's got a G Major arpeggio,
G Major triad.

Anyway, that's the...

start,

Then 3rd finger...

goes back to that note, the B,
the 4th fret of the 3rd string,

slides up 1 fret to C,

lays over flat to get the
5th fret of the B string,

and then we've got our
1st finger on the note G,

which is the 3rd fret
of the thinner string.

♪

Very nice little lick, that imposition.

♪

But now if you want that kinda
Joe Pass special...

I love that bit.

So it's slid from the 3rd fret

up to the Major 7th, which is the
7th fret, still with the 1st finger.

Little finger down in the 10th fret.

2nd finger on the 8th fret,
the root note C.

Now we get this kind of outside note,

which is the 3rd finger going in
the 9th fret of the 2nd string.

First finger back on the Major 7th,
7th fret of the thinner string.

Little finger, 2nd string, 10th fret.

2nd finger finishes off there
with the 5th of the chord,

which is the 8th fret of the 2nd string.

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Lovely little...

♪

I love it just finishing there too.

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Appreciate that nice Major 6th sound.

♪

Very cool.
One more time, nice and slow.

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Now just to to the rhythm.

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1.

So we've got that little pause there...

♪

after the slide.

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1.

Make sure you practice these,
joining them up to other licks.

♪

Particularly...

that's a real common little Jazz phrase.

♪

So there we have our Joe Pass
Major 9th stylie jazz lick.

Remember the big deal here is to
break it apart into little bits,

make sure you find the essence,
or the seed of the lick,

and then try and make it up
into your own licks.

Also, very important is that
you put it into a context.

Now, when you're doing
this kind of major lick,

it's a really good idea to put a little
vamp on that one.

I was just using C Major 7th...
to a C Major 6th.

♪

Which incidentally is a great little
chord changing exercise,

but that's off the point.

So it's a good idea to make a little vamp
and then to practice your C Major licks.

But also a really good idea would be
to put it into a tune.

So, if you're learning a song, I mean,
in any Jazz standard,

you know, try and insert it when you
get to that C Major 7th chord.

Rip that lick in, and then it will
flow into whatever the next chord is.

So it's important that you practice
using the licks.

I know, everyone likes to think that
there's no such thing as licks,

particularly in Jazz.

But probably the clearest example
for me of lick playing,

which was unexpected, was
John Coltrane's record of Giant Steps,

which was just a mind-blowing record
to me and probably you.

If you haven't heard it before,
go and check it out, the song Giant Steps.

If you can, get the album that
has the alternate takes.

Because what you'll find is,
and I transcribed that saxophone solo,

took ages, it was probably the most
difficult thing I've ever transcribed.

And then when I heard this
CD version a few years later,

and there's an alternate solo, but it's
the same licks in a different order.

I was like, "Even John Coltrane
uses licks".

And since then, I've discovered that

pretty much all of the Jazz players
use licks.

They've all got licks that they use.

There might be moments of inspiration
where it's not a lick playing,

it's real natural and it really comes out.

But you only get to that point, I think,
by learning lots of licks.

And I'm not a very good
Jazz guitar player at all.

I still struggle to play over
difficult changes.

Songs like Giant Steps are a
real struggle for me, you know?

Probably the one guy who's not a
lick player really is Miles Davis.

He did have licks, but he used to
play really free stuff too.

I mention that cos I've got
a huge poster of Miles Davis on the wall,

he's looking at me going like this.

I think he's telling me I should end the
video, and stop talking so much dribble.

So I'm gonna do just that.

Take care of yourselves,
hope you enjoyed that lick,

and see you for another one very soon.

Take care of yourselves,
bye-bye.