Memorising and Practising II-V-I Licks on the Piano

II-V-I progressions, otherwise known as Perfect Cadences, form an integral part of jazz harmony. By establishing and reasserting the key-centres you move through, they anchor the tonality of a chord sequence.

Because of this, being able to construct improvised lines that encompass Perfect Cadences is a huge boost to any aspiring jazz musician.

A good way of becoming adept at this is to build a library of licks in your memory.

Having even a small collection of licks memorised in every key will give you a set of safe options for traversing these cadences.

With this in mind, here is how to build up your licks and prepare yourself for practical use of them.

Memorising Shape

In music, all melodies are shapes. The shape is partly what makes a melody pleasing to listen to, and a good jazz lick will have good shape to it.

This can be achieved by using triad shapes for example, or by using melodic devices such as enclosures and grace-notes.

When learning a lick, look at the shapes that are used to compose it. Look at what degrees of the scale the lick is using, and sing it back to yourself.

Pick a different key and try and sing the same shape back to yourself.

This is the most effective way of translating a collection of notes into a shape-based melody that you can memorise.

This is more effective than jumping straight to trying to play a lick in every key, because it forces you to recognise the melodic quality of what you are playing before you turn it into a robotic exercise.

All Twelve Keys

Every jazz piano teacher has uttered these words at some stage, and for good reason.

Once you have the shape of a lick memorised, it is essential to take the lick to every possible key, so that you can use it across the board.

This can be done simply as an exercise, or using an app such as iReal Pro you can play to backing tracks that run through all 24 perfect cadences (major and minor).

This is also a good opportunity to practise with a friend.

Challenge yourselves, taking turns to select a key, which will make it more entertaining to practise.

Practical Application

Once you have a lick committed to memory in every key, it is essential to start working the lick into solos on real tunes.

There is a leap from playing a lick in isolation to playing it in the context of a chord sequence.

Playing a tune with a lot of Perfect Cadences is ideal practise for this.

I would recommend the following tunes which you can solo over in multiple keys to practise Perfect Cadence licks:

• Tune Up
• Have You Met Miss Jones?
• Central Park West
• Afternoon in Paris

Soloing over these chord changes in multiple keys will give you practical experience applying a II-V-I lick in your solos.

Manipulate the Melody

Licks are not meant to be static objects.

Playing a lick the same way every time you use it is a very conspicuous way of improvising.

If you hear the signature licks of any great jazz pianist, you will notice they have many variations of it, including rhythmic, melodic, and sometimes also harmonic.

It makes sense then, that the same should apply for your licks. Once you are adept at applying a lick to any Perfect Cadence, allow yourself to vary it with each repetition.

Practising slowly improvising over a tune, only using one lick. Try and manipulate the lick as much as possible, developing it as you go. Reset at the beginning of each chorus, playing the lick in its original form, and see where your imagination takes you.

Diatonic Shifting

An extended method of manipulating a lick, is to move it around within the key it is being used for.

For example, if your lick in the key of C starts with E, D, C, G, try playing the lick starting with G, F, E, B.

This is not the same as playing it in different keys, but instead opens up different degrees of the scale, and targets different notes.

By doing this, you open the door to a whole new range of sounds by using the same melodic shape.

This also boosts your potential to manipulate a lick even further.

Conclusion

By using these methods, you can form the framework of intricate, well-developed, motif-based improvisation.

These methods can also apply to licks that are not based on Perfect Cadences, however the ability to apply this to Perfect Cadences will present the fastest route to fluent improvisation.

Start with one lick, and once you have gone through the process once, keep using that lick as you add other licks to your memory.

Over time, look at how one lick can lead into another, or how to manipulate your licks for optimal phrasing.

Most importantly, if your ideas run low, step back and listen to how the masters did it.

Your Perfect Cadence Licks will be the perfect foundation in no time!