50 Jazz Blues Licks is an exclusive series of video guitar lessons by David Hamburger covering the jazz blues styles of historically great guitarists like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, and many others. A new lick will be released each week, so be sure to subscribe and check back often!
Boy, do I love Hank Mobley. I first got hip to him when someone played me “Uh Huh” from the 1964 album Workout. It’s one of the zillion and a half Blue Note records Grant Green played on in the 1960s, and generally considered one of Mobley’s best efforts. Which is saying something, as Mobley’s records tend to feature the cream of the Blue Note stable, musicians like Lee Morgan, Green, Wynton Kelly and Art Blakey, and the material ranges from blues-based material and other funky originals to well-chosen standards. From a learning perspective, Mobley’s a great one to listen to, as he favors a famously “round” tone and clean, uncluttered lines, articulately delivered with an incessantly swinging feel, making it easier to pick out what’s going on than when checking out, say, Stanley Turrentine. Our lick this time is loosely adapted from Mobley’s playing on a tune from the fabulously titled “No Room For Squares” (and yes, say what you will about John Mayer, that guy obviously listens to good music in his spare time). We’re on a straight-eighths feel again, and with a little guitaristic flimflam you can make the descending double-time lick come out more smoothly than you might at first expect.
Read on for the full guitar lesson…
Video Guitar Lesson
If you like these guitar lessons, be sure to also check out Frank Vignola’s Jazz Up Your Blues, which showcases essential jazz blues vocabulary and techniques, Mark Stefani’s Jazzed Blues Assembly Lines, which takes you on a sonic learning tour through the funky rhythm and blues stylings and fretboard concepts of top jazz blues players, and of course all of David Hamburger’s courses.