The Kicker

By Grant
Green

Transcription by Arlo Birss

 To learn more jazz language.

Why did I
To practice the guitar
choose this technique alternate picking.
solo?
To see how motifs and ideas
can be developed in a solo.
To learn more jazz language
• Grant Green is one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 1960s and influences
many jazz guitarists of today.

• The jazz guitarist Cecil Alexander recommends transcribing Grant Greens

solos to expand jazz language.

• Grant Greens style is a mixture of Bebop and Blues. This creates Greens
signature sound.
Alternate picking
• Alternate picking is a guitar playing technique where a guitarist plays
downward and upward pick strokes in a continuous fashion. This technique
is often used to play fast musical passages or to add extra emphasis to notes.

• This an example of an alternate picking lick from Greens solo on The Kicker.
To see how motifs and ideas can be
developed in a solo.
• Green makes use of motifs and ideas throughout this solo. This makes the
solo sound purposeful and more interesting and exciting for the listener.

• I wanted to transcribe this solo to further understand how Green develops

an idea effectively.

• Further understanding this concept will help my own improvised solos

improve.

• The following slides show some examples of ideas and motifs that Green
repeated throughout his solo.
The Kicker
Analysis
Harmony

• The kicker follows a 12-bar

chord structure. ii V I in Db major Tritone sub of Cm7(b5)

• The first 4 bars are Bb7 this

is followed by an ii V I in Db
major.
ii V I in Bb V of Bb
• The Gb7 is a tritone
substitution of Cm7(b5).
• Bar 9 to 11 is an ii V I in Bb
minor but goes to Bb7.
• Bar 12 has an F7 which is
the V of Bb creating a turn
around for the progression.
 Bb major scale (A Highlighted) odd Chromatics
Bb arpeggio from the F (V)
because Bb7 uses a Ab

Chromatics Db major scale

Chromatics

F altered scale Chromatics

Chromatics Chromatics
Chromatics
Chromatics

F altered scale Bb mixolydian scale

Db major scale Gb mixolydian scale

 F altered scale

Chromatics

Db major scale

F altered scale Bb mixolydian with chromatics

 Db major scale with chromatics

Bb major scale with chromatics

Db major scale Gb Mixolydian

Chromatics F Altered scale

In Conclusion • The main reasons I learnt this solo are:
1. To learn more jazz language.
2. To practice the guitar technique alternate
picking.
3. To see how motifs and ideas can be
developed in a solo.
• This solo uses multiple techniques and
compositional ideas to create an interesting
and exciting solo to listen to and play.