Professional Documents
Culture Documents
jazzguitar.be/blog/george-benson-jazz-guitar-licks
One of the most successful, and sometimes controversial, jazz guitarists of all time is
George Benson. While he began his career as a pure jazz guitarist, taking up the lineage
of Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, Benson later branched off into the pop
world where he achieved worldwide success with albums such as Breezin’.
In this lesson, you will learn a number of Benson’s favorite soloing concepts. You will
learn to play, and apply 19 different George Benson jazz guitar licks to a variety of chord
progressions and musical situations.
1. Major Licks
Major Lick 1 – George Benson & Benny Goodman
1/27
2. Minor Licks
Minor Lick 1 – D Minor
Minor Lick 2 – D Minor
Minor Lick 3 – A Minor
Minor Lick 4 – A Minor
Minor Lick 5 – A Minor
3. Dominant Licks
Dominant Lick 1 – C7
Dominant Lick 2 – E7b13 to Am7
Dominant Lick 3 – E7alt to Am7
Dominant Licks 4 – George Benson & Tap Dancer Jimmy Slyde
4. II V I Licks – Major
2 5 1 Lick 1 – Eb Major
2 5 1 Lick 2 – C Major
2 5 1 Lick 3 – C Major
2 5 1 Lick 4 – The Bebop Pattern & Diatonic Triads
2 5 1 Lick 5 – Octave displacement
2 5 1 Lick 6 – Octaves With 4ths
5. II V I Licks – Minor
Minor 2 5 1 Lick 1 – C Minor
Minor 2 5 1 Lick 2 – “The Lick”
Major Licks
The following footage comes from a 1975 television tribute to John Hammond. In the PBS
show, Benny Goodman (66 at the time) reunites with musicians he’d worked with over the
years such as bass player Milt Hinton, drummer Jo Jones, and George Benson,
substituting and honoring the playing of Charlie Christian.
In this video, the band is playing Seven Come Eleven, a famous composition by
Goodman and Charlie Christian from 1939.
Have a look at the video, Benson’s comping, soloing and interplay with Goodman is
phenomenal.
Funny anecdote: at the end of Goodman’s first chorus [1:33 in the video], he signals
piano player Teddy Wilson to take a solo, but George Benson takes it away instead…
2/27
I did a transcription of the great lick that starts at 2:10 in the video:
In this lick over Ab, George Benson switches between an Ab6 arpeggio and the Ab minor
pentatonic scale:
3/27
Minor Licks
Most of the phrase is in the D minor blues scale, except for bar 5, where an Am9
arpeggio is used.
0:00
0:14
-+
79
4/27
Minor Lick 2 – Dm7
Here’s another phrase that brings out the 9-sound over D minor.
The first 2 bars are a combination of the D Dorian mode and chromatic notes, targetting
the 9 in several places.
Bar 3 starts with an Abmaj7#5 arpeggio and bar 4 has a major 3rd as a passing tone.
Both sound a bit atonal, which is nice to keep long lines over one chord interesting.
0:00
0:13
5/27
-+
69
6/27
0:00
0:13
-+
73
There is a lot of chromatism around the A minor blues scale going on in this next phrase
over A minor 7.
Bar 2 starts with a Cmaj9 arpeggio, bringing out the 9 and 11 over Am7.
7/27
Bar 5 ends with a typical jazz guitar embellishment. The target-
note is the A on the 1st string.
0:00
0:19
-+
66
8/27
Minor Lick 5 – Am7
This one uses the A minor blues scale, which is a common scale choice for George when
soloing over m7 chords.
0:00
0:14
9/27
-+
54
Dominant Licks
Dominant Lick 1 – C7
There are a lot of blues influences in Benson’s playing such as the blues scale and
double stops (playing 2 notes at once).
0:00
0:10
10/27
-+
60
The first lick starts with a Cmaj7#5 arpeggio over E7b13 and continues with the A melodic
minor scale. This arpeggios highlights the b13 of the E7 chord, and is a solid way of
outlining altered chords without simply playing the altered scale in your lines.
Cmaj7# Arpeggio C E G# B
11/27
0:00
0:14
-+
44
The first bar of the next lick uses a Dm7b5 arpeggio, which gives an altered type of sound
over E7:
Dm7b5 Arpeggio D F Ab C
The use of a major 7 on a dominant chord is a bit unusual but sounds ok here because it
is part of a series of arpeggios that are used to build tension.
12/27
Abmaj7 Arpeggio Ab C Eb G
After the Abmaj7 arpeggio follows an Ab augmented triad (3, b13 and 1), which then
resolves to the 9 of Am7.
0:00
0:14
-+
51
Here’s some great footage from the early 70s of tap dancer Jimmy Slyde tapping on
George Benson’s guitar playing (Papa Jo Jones is on drums).
13/27
The video is an extract of Louis Panassié’s L’aventure du Jazz (The Adventure of Jazz). A
young George Benson improvises a tune loosely based on bass player Ben Tucker’s
song Comin’ Home Baby (1961).
Here is the transcription of the theme, there are a few spicy licks in there:
14/27
II-V-I Licks
2 5 1 Lick 1 – Eb Major
The Fm7 chord here is substituted by Abmaj7 with a bit of chromatism. When playing
Abmaj7 over Fm7, you are outlining the b3-5-b7-9 of that chord, so it’s like playing a
rootless Fm9 chord.
Abmaj7 Arpeggio Ab C Eb G
0:00
0:14
-+
48
15/27
2 5 1 Lick 2 – C Major
In the second bar, George Benson plays a G#5 triad, followed by a G altered scale
phrase.
0:00
0:14
-+
51
2 5 1 Lick 3 – C Major
The next ii V I lick in the style of George Benson uses the G dominant bebop scale (in the
second bar).
16/27
Though it’s a simple device, adding a passing tone to the Mixolydian scale, the dominant
bebop scale is a staple of Benson’s soloing ideas.
0:00
0:11
-+
44
In the first two bars of the lick, you’ll notice a four-note pattern labeled “Lick”. This phrase
is a commonly used device that Benson, and many other jazz guitarists, use to add
chromaticism to their soloing lines.
The lick works as such: when you have two notes a half-step apart (such as F and E in
the example below), you can play the higher note (F), then two chromatic notes below the
second note (D and D#), that lead into the lower of the two first notes (E).
17/27
Here is an example of that lick used over a G7 scale.
In the G Mixolydian scale, you have two places where there are notes a half-step apart
(F-E and C-B). I have added in the bebop lick to both of these locations in the scale.
Here’s how that looks on the guitar neck. The blue-colored notes are the added chromatic
notes.
0:00
0:09
18/27
-+
48
In bar 3 of the following example, you see three ascending triads (Em-F-G) being played
over a Cmaj7 chord. All three of these triads come from the C major scale.
I have written out all of the diatonic triads in C major for you to check out and use to
create your own lines in a similar style.
0:00
0:12
-+
36
19/27
George Benson Soloing Jazzguitar.be 0
Once you have worked the above concepts in 12 keys around the fretboard, you can
check out the lick itself.
Start slow and work it with a metronome, to begin with. Then, once it’s comfortable on its
own, you can practice soloing over a tune and adding this lick to your ideas whenever you
encounter a ii V I progression.
0:00
0:12
-+
43
20/27
2 5 1 Lick 5 – Octave Displacement
Octave displacement is a device that Benson (and Wes Montgomery) uses a lot in his
solos.
Octave displacement = when going down a scale, at some point in the line instead
of going to the next note down, you play that same note up an octave.
You can see this between the B and Ab and the D and C in bar one, as well as the F and
E in bar two.
In both of these situations, the octave jump is used to continue down the scale, but go up
to a higher point on the fretboard.
Here is an example of a C major scale using an octave displacement pattern, where the
scale jumps up an octave every 5 notes. Try this pattern out in a few keys and at different
tempos with your metronome.
0:00
0:05
-+
33
21/27
George Benson Soloing Jazzguitar.be 0
The hardest part when it comes to adding this concept to your lines is the jump up in
fingering.
0:00
0:12
-+
41
22/27
2 5 1 Lick 6 – Octaves With 4ths
While both Benson and Wes use a lot of octave ideas in their jazz guitar solos, Benson
takes the concept a bit further by adding in an extra note in between his octave notes, the
4th.
In the following ii V I lick, you can hear how adding in a note a 4th above the lowest note
of an octave pattern helps to thicken the sound while maintaining an octave vibe at the
same time.
Since this concept is probably new to you, here is a C major scale harmonized with a 4th
above the lowest note and the octave on top. Work this pattern out in a few keys around
the fretboard, and in different octaves, to get a feel for how this pattern can be used to
create your own improvised lines and phrases.
0:00
0:10
-+
35
23/27
Here is a Benson lick using the octave and 4th concept.
To get a typical Benson sound, you can strum the chords down with your thumb or pick. If
you find that hard to nail as far as accuracy is concerned, you can pluck each note with
your fingers, or with your pick and fingers.
0:00
0:13
-+
37
Though it seems like a simple idea, it’s these little tweaks of common concepts that make
Benson such a master of jazz guitar, and it’s a great way to play octaves without sounding
like you’re imitating Wes Montgomery or George Benson exactly in your playing.
24/27
This lick uses the C minor pentatonic scale, which when applied to the ii V in the
progression creates some nice color tones in your lines.
As you can see, this minor pentatonic scale highlights the b13 and #9 of the G7 chord in
this progression, which allows you to play altered sounds in your lines, without moving
beyond the pentatonic scale shapes you already know.
0:00
0:10
-+
40
25/27
Minor 2 5 1 Lick 2 – “The Lick”
George Benson knows the classics and you can hear that in his playing. He regularly
cites other guitarists that have influenced him, such as Charlie Christian and Wes
Montgomery.
An example of a cliche that comes back regularly in his playing is a phrase that is known
as “The Lick”. This line can be played over a 2 5 1 in D minor (see below) but also on
Dm7, Bbmaj7 or Gm7.
0:00
0:09
-+
42
Also check out these licks of Wes Montgomery, George Benson’s greatest influence.
26/27
27/27