• • • Barney Kessel is one of the biggest names in jazz guitar history, but he doesn’t always get as much attention as Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, and others. Though he may not be studied as often as some of his peers, Barney’s playing is full of classic licks, sophisticated vocabulary, and a strong sense of musicality. Barney Kessel is known as a bebop guitar player. Born in 1923 he started his career by playing in big bands, like the one of Artie Shaw for example. In 1952 he toured with the Oscar Peterson Trio. During the 1960s he became one of the busiest studio musicians in LA.

As a session guitarist, he played on many famous pop albums and singles from bands like The Monkees and The Beach Boys. Barney Kessel’s most famous album is The Poll Winners, a trio album with bass player Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne. Another famous Barney Kessel album is Great Guitars, an all-guitar band with Herb Ellis and Charlie Byrd. Recommended listening: In this lesson, you will break down Barney Kessel’s soloing concepts, learning nine licks and an entire solo along the way. Besides learning licks on the guitar, it’s also important to understand the concepts behind each phrase, so that you can incorporate them into your playing in a natural way. Have fun with these lines, they’re classic Barney phrases that will elevate your bebop soloing to the next level.

Swing, blues, bebop, hard bop, and modern jazz licks in the style of Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, and Kenny Burrell. Constructing licks and improvising over major, minor and dominant 7th chord types. Playing over standard, modal and jazz blues chord progressions. Dec 16, 2016 - Why should you bother to learn other guitarists' licks? One of the most important aspects of proper jazz soloing lies in your ability to. Are heavily based upon arpeggios relating to the accompanying chords.

Barney Kessel Lick 1 This Barney Kessel lick uses an interesting harmonic choice that he liked to use in his lines, the B triad over Gm7 in the second bar: B Triad B D# F# Played over Gm7 3 b6 7 Here, Barney is outlining the notes B-D#(Eb)-F# over Gm7, but then resolving it to the more “inside” note F at the start of the next bar. By playing Bb-A-G-F#, Barney is delaying the resolutions of that F# by two beats, allowing him to extend his line in the process. Listen & Play Along. Barney Kessel Lick 6 This blues lick uses the in the opening phrase. From there, Barney uses a b13 interval to create tension over the Bb7 chord before bringing it back inside over Eb7. Over the Eb7, you’ll see a Gm7 arpeggio used to create a bit of tension.

In this case, Barney is still thinking Bb7 over that bar (the first half), as Gm7 is the 13-1-3-5 of Bb7: Gm7 Arpeggio G Bb D F Played over Bb7 13 1 3 5 By delaying the Bb7 chord over the Eb7 chord, Barney creates tension that’s released on the 13th of Eb7 (the C at the end of the bar). When playing over any jazz changes, you can delay the chord you’re on over the next chord in the progression, as long as you eventually resolve that tension. Listen & Play Along. Papa roach the connection torrent. Barney Kessel Lick 7 In this classic Barney phrase, you’ll use both lower neighbor (LN) and upper neighbor (UN) notes to create a tension and release sound over the first full bar of the phrase. These neighbor tones lead into the next chord tones (the root and 3rd respectively) by a half step.

Not only do they create tension and release in your solos, they’re an essential tool that every jazz guitarist should learn at some point in their development. In the second bar of the phrase, you’ll see an Abmaj7 used over Bb7, to create a Bb13sus sound in the first half of the bar. Abmaj7 Arpeggio Ab C Eb G Played over Bb7 b7 9 4 13 Playing a maj7 arpeggio a tone below a 7th-chord is a common Barney sound, which you can find in Wes Montgomery’s solos as well. The last item is the tension created with the B augmented triad sound at the end of the last bar, which is then resolved to Eb7 in the next bar of the full solo.

B Aug Triad B D# F## Played over Bb7 b9 4 13 Moving up by a half step and using augmented sounds are both ways to create interest in your solos. As long as you resolve that tension correctly, it will work out. Listen & Play Along. Barney Kessel Lick 9 In typical fashion, you’ll find a lot of influence in Barney’s playing, and this lick is no exception. This lick uses such as: • The 3-9 arpeggio (Ebmaj7 over Cm7) • The bebop scale • Superimposed triads (Gm) • 7aug sounds (F7#5) If there’s one that you should have in your blues playing, this is it. Lastly, the lick uses an A natural over the G7 in the final bar of the phrase.

This is a bit of an odd choice as that chord is usually G7b9. In this case, Barney is outlining a G9 chord, not common but you can work it in, and at the end of the lick the A doesn’t sound out of place.