Take Five Solo – 5 Paul Desmond Licks For Guitar

Take Five is known for its famous alto saxophone solo, played by Paul Desmond on the 1959 recording with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Desmond’s playing is melodic and relaxed, relying on strong phrasing and repetition rather than flashy technique. This makes his solo a great example for anyone who wants to learn how to develop melodic ideas in jazz improvisation.

In this lesson, you’ll learn five licks that form most of Paul Desmond’s solo, as well as the Eb Dorian scale shapes you’ll use to play them on guitar.

Instead of sharing a full transcription of the solo, I broke it down into five licks that cover almost the whole improvisation.

The solo stays in the Eb Dorian mode the entire time, showing how much you can do with simple material by using phrasing, rhythm, and melodic changes.

Also check out our lesson on Take Five chords and the 5/4 groove.

 

 

Take Five Scales

Paul Desmond’s solo is played over the A section of Take Five and uses just one scale: Eb Dorian.

Eb Dorian is the second mode of Db major. It uses the same notes as the Db major scale, but starts on Eb instead of Db.

The main difference is not the notes themselves, but which note sounds like home. In Db major, Db is the tonal center. In Eb Dorian, Eb becomes the tonal center.

Here’s how the notes line up:

 

Db Major Scale	Db	Eb	F	Gb	Ab	Bb	C
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Eb Dorian Scale	Eb	F	Gb	Ab	Bb	C	Db
	1	2	b3	4	5	6	b7

 

Here are two common fingerings for Eb Dorian that you should learn on the guitar, one from the 6th string root and one from the 5th string root:

 

 

 

Take Five – Lick 1 (starts at 1:05 in the video)

The opening lick of the solo features a nice octave leap (Bb to Bb) in the first bar, as well as Paul Desmond’s characteristic use of space in the line.

Leaving space is a key part of Desmond’s relaxed sound and is closely linked to the Cool Jazz style. Rather than playing complicated lines, he lets his ideas breathe, making simple phrases sound melodic and conversational.

 

 

 

Take Five – Lick 2 (starts at 1:12 in the video)

In this lick, Desmond repeats a phrase, but changes the ending.

This shows how melodic development works. Rather than repeating the idea exactly, he changes the ending a little to keep things interesting.

 

 

 

Take Five – Lick 3 (starts at 1:26 in the video)

Desmond highlights the 9th of Ebm7 (F) in the first two bars of this phrase.

In bars 3 and 4, he shifts the focus to the 6th of Ebm7 (C).

Targeting specific notes like this is an easy way to add direction in a modal tune.

 

 

 

Take Five – Lick 4 (starts at 1:34 in the video)

This next lick is built on triads.

Paul Desmond uses a Db major triad in the first measure, an Ab major triad in the second, and returns to Db major in the third. He then finishes the phrase with a Dorian scale run.

Using triads like this is an easy way to add melodic structure in a modal setting.

 

 

 

Take Five – Lick 5 (starts at 1:41 in the video)

In this last lick, Desmond starts each bar with the same melody, but changes the second half of the phrase. Each bar begins with an octave leap, which connects the ideas.

Like lick 2, this is a good example of developing a melody by making small changes.