
STEVE WATERMAN
JAZZ LICK OF THE MONTH - JANUARY 2026

Transpose to all keys without writing anything down. Do it all by ear.
Try singing the pattern and then playing it on your instrument.
The articulations are suggestions - you may find your own way of articulating the pattern.
Below the notes I have written how the note relates to the chord. 1 = root, 3 - third, 9 = 9th, etc.
Use these to easily put the pattern into other keys.
Take the pattern around various cycles eg: Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7: Gm7 - C7 - Fmaj7: Cm7 - F7 - Bbmaj7 etc.
Repeat the pattern until it becomes fluent and you can play it without reference to the music above.
When you have the pattern fluent, start inserting it into chord progressions you are working on.
You may have to alter the pattern depending on where the chord 5 resolves.
Practice inserting only the chord 2 part of the pattern and improvising out of it into the 5 and 1 chords.
Practice inserting only the chord 5 part of the pattern and improvise into the pattern from the 2 chord and out of the pattern into the 1 chord.
The chord 5 part of the pattern will generally work over a bar where the 2 - 5 chords are half a bar each.
Practice improvising into the chord 1 part of the pattern from the 2 and 5 chords,
Try manipulating the pattern so that you are now improvising with it. Writing 10 variations of the pattern can help to develop this. This will help to give you a feeling that you are improvising rather than playing a pattern.
Manipulating the pattern is very important as you will then be creating your own music from this pattern.
eg: start the pattern in a different part of the bar or start with the pattern and then at a point in the pattern improvise to continue.
Improvise into a part of the pattern.
Be patient. Gradually you will find that manipulations of the pattern will gradually appear in your improvisation.
WORK ON THE PATTERN AND MANIPULATING IT EVERYDAY.
© 2026 Steve Waterman. All Rights Reserved.

