Charlie Parker Licks

Charlie Parker was one of the greatest and arguably the greatest saxophone player of all times. His playing is so fluent and fast, still every single note in his lines makes sense.

Charlie Parker (or "Bird") is considered as one of the founders of Bebop. He was the master of chordal improvisation and that's the reason why he is so interesting for guitarists to study.  Even if you would leave the band out and listen to Parker playing solo, you can still hear every chord of the tune's chord progression.  Outlining the chords in your improvisations is a way to make your solo's more interesting and give them more structure. Having a look at some Parker licks can help you a great deal in accomplishing that.

Make sure you have a look at the 'Charlie Parker Omni book', a book with transcriptions of Parker's compositions and a great resource for every jazz improvising musician.

Recommended listening : 'Boss Bird' (CD box with 101 of his most representative recordings)

II-V-I Licks

1) A lick from Charlie Parker's Donna Lee. Notice the 'Honeysuckle Rose' motif in the first bar.

2) The first bar starts with a Dm chord shape.

Major Licks

1) The second bar of this major lick is played around a Cmaj7 chord shape.

2) This is the opening lick from 'Anthropology', a standard written by Charlie 'Bird' Parker and John 'Dizzy' Gillespie.