Anatomy of a Lick – Bill Evans ii-V-I


Learning How to play jazz guitar means digging into classic licks from your favorite players and absorbing those concepts into your soloing vocabulary.


While learning lines from memory is helpful, the real learning happens when you break down the lick into musical concepts and devices. 


In this lesson, you learn a Bill Evans ii-V-I line and break down this phrase into 5 different concepts to study further in your practice routine. 


Doing so adds a new line to your vocabulary and allows you to improvise similar phrases using these 5 concepts in your own solos. 

The Bill Evans Lick


You begin by learning the full lick, which you can see in the example below. 


Go slow, learn one bar at a time, sing along for added benefit, and play the line over the backing track when ready. 


Once you can play with the backing track, alter the line by changing a few notes, leaving some notes out, changing rhythms, etc. 


As well, you can experiment with picking such as adding hammers, slides, and pull-offs to this phrase. 


Have fun learning this line, getting it under your fingers, and setting yourself up for the exercises in the rest of this lesson below. 

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Backing Track

Bill Evans Audio Example 1

Bebop Phrase


The first device that you pull from this line is the bebop phrase in the opening 2-beats of the lick. 


This pattern has been part of the jazz vocabulary since the Bebop era and a concept that sits well on the fretboard.


The phrase is built with two scale notes and one chromatic note to form a four-note pattern. 


You start by playing note C, then you move down two scale notes to A. 


But, before playing that A, you sneak in a chromatic half-step below, G#, then you play the A and back up to the first note C. 


When you break it down, the pattern is:


  • Scale note.
  • Approach note.
  • Two notes below original note. 
  • Original scale note.


Once you’ve checked out this pattern as written, take it through an entire scale, such as C major in the example below. 


Practice this phrase through the C Major scale to begin. 


Then, take it to other keys and various tempos before applying it to other scales and modes you’re working on in the practice room. 


When you can play it through one scale comfortably, add this phrase to your solos over backing tracks, ii-V-I’s and jazz standards.  


This short pattern builds your bebop vocabulary and turns scales into bebop lines quickly on the fretboard. 

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Backing Track

Bill Evans Audio Example 2

Descending 3rd Pattern

 

As a guitarist, one of the first scale patterns you often learn is diatonic 3rds through different scales and modes. 


Normally, you play ascending 3rds up the scale and descending 3rds down the scale. 


In this line, Bill plays descending 3rds up the scale, creating interest in the line with an often-used pattern. 


Start by learning the pattern through the C major scale below, then take it to other keys and other scales/modes when ready. 


From there, put on a backing track and solo over ii-V-I’s, jazz blues, and standards with this pattern as you add it to your improvisational vocabulary. 

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Backing Track

Bill Evans Audio Example 3

7alt Pattern


Another concept that you can steal from Bill’s line is the 7alt pattern in bar 2 of the phrase. 


Here, Bill uses an arpeggio pattern that outlines the #9, b9, and b13 over the G7 chord, without ever actually playing the root G. 


To get this pattern into your playing, begin by working out a comfortable fingering that fits your hands. 


Then, practice this pattern through all 12 keys. This gets the lick under your fingers and into your ears. 


It also prepares you to use this phrase in your solos over jazz standards.


Notice that Bill uses the 7alt sound in a major key ii-V-I. 


This pattern works over any 7th chord when you want to create tension, and over 7alt chords when you want to outline those juicy altered intervals in your lines. 

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Backing Track

Bill Evans Audio Example 4

4123 Pattern – Double Enclosure


Here, you pull out a double enclosure from Bill’s line and add it to your soloing vocabulary.


In this instance, Bill is using one chromatic note above, Ab, and two chromatic notes below, F F#, before resolving to the target note G. 


Because the double enclosure uses the fingers 4-1-2-3, I also refer to it as the 4123 pattern. 


As a quick shortcut, any time you have a 1-3-4 fingering on any string, in any scale, in any key, you can play the 4123 double enclosure. 


This allows you to quickly add this pattern to your solos in a way that creates tension and resolves that tension without too much thinking on your part. 


You can also apply this 4123 pattern to any note in an arpeggio, as you see in the example below. 


Here, you place your pinky finger one fret above your target arpeggio note, then play 4123 fingers, and voila, instant bebop phrase. 


Have fun with this pattern as you level up your soloing chops and expand your bebop vocabulary at the same time. 

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Backing Track

Bill Evans Audio Example 5

Upper Structure Triads


The last concept to explore in this phrase are the triads used over the Cmaj7 chord in the 3rd bar of the line. 


Here, Bill plays G and Am triads over Cmaj7. 


G outlines the 5-7-9 intervals over Cmaj7 and Am outlines the 6-R-3 intervals. 


Combined they give you every note in the C major scale except the 4th, F. 


Because of this, diatonic triads are used to solo with scales over chords when you don’t want to sound like scales over chords. 


The triads break up the scale into groups of 3 notes, with leaps between each note, that adds interest to your soloing phrases. 


To take this concept further, whenever you solo over a progression in one key, such as Dm7-G7-Cmaj7, use any/all triads from that key. 


In this case, you could use C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am-Bdim over that ii-V-I progression in C major. 


As you can see, in these three and a half bars there’s literally weeks, if not months, worth of practice material to explore. 


As you go forward and move beyond this line, take licks from your favorite players and dig into them with this same level of detail. 


This approach expands your vocabulary and technical ability as well as gives you a detailed look into the creative process of your favorite players.