LJS 117: How to Practice Licks in all 12 Keys

Welcome to episode 117 of the LJS Podcast where today we are talking about learning licks in all 12 keys and how to do it. Learning small pieces of jazz language is a great way to start developing vocabulary over chords and progressions. Taking them through all 12 keys adds even more value to that material and your musicianship. Listen in!
Listen to episode 117







If you've ever learned a new language (or attempted like me), you probably remember starting out by learning short sentences to express simple ideas.
When it comes to learning jazz language, learning short phrases is also a great way to go. We like to call these "licks;" these short musical sound bites that teach us vocabulary over chords or chord progressions.
But often times we learn musical information only in one or two keys, which leaves other keys weaker than others.
In this episode, I let you sit in on my practice session where I take a Sonny Rollins blues lick through all 12 keys. I walk you through my step-by-step process and show you how I do it.
Here are the things I cover in this episode:
1. Why learning licks by ear is so beneficial.
2. Why taking licks into all 12 keys takes things to the next level.
3. My step-by-step process.
4. How I use the Circle of 4ths to practice the different keys.
5. I take the Sonny Rollins lick through the keys, mistakes and all.
My challenge for you this week is to take a lick through all 12 keys. This is such a great practice and I know you'll benefit from it!
Here are is the solo I took this lick from:

The lick starts at 3:32.
Here is the lick notated:

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Read the Transcript
Brent: Check, check, check it out. Hey, what's up? My name is Brent. I am the jazz musician behind the website, Learnjazzstandards.com, which is a blog, a podcast, and videos all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician. You know what? I'm here every single week delivering the goods, free jazz educational content for you. My goal every single week is to serve you the best I can to help you become a better musician, a better jazz player and just improve your skills, so I want to thank you for listening, especially if you're a regular listener. I promise that I will continue to be here and I hope you get something out of today's show. I know you will.
Today, I'm talking about a practice that is really important, I think, and that is taking musical material, musical language, little bits and pieces through all 12 keys. I'm going to let you sit in on my practice session today. I'm going to be taking a lick through all 12 keys, just shedding for myself here. Maybe you can get a little bit out of just seeing my step by step process, how I go through doing it. Learning licks through all 12 keys, I think is a great idea. Licks because they're small little ideas, musical ideas, that we're trying to learn, get little bits of language. If you want to learn how to speak any language, you start with learning a sentence, maybe, right? Then someone teaches it to you then you repeat it back and then you use it in different contexts, different situations.
That's kind of the same thing that's happening when we're learning licks, preferably by ear, is that we're learning these bits and pieces of musical information that usually fit over top of a chord or a chord progression, and the idea's not that we're able to quote that lick or piece of language verbatim, but that the essence of it sinks into our playing, and we are able to extract things from that, that we like or that we find important. The more we do that stuff, the more we start developing our own vocabulary of the way we want...