9 ii V I Jazz Guitar Licks and How to Mix Them Into Your Own

Good ii V I jazz guitar licks spell the D minor 7, add tension on the G7 with diminished, altered or tritone sounds, and resolve to C major 7. To make them yours, split each lick into its ii half and its V half, then mix the halves between licks.

One morning around 7:30 I wrote nine ii V I lines in C, and this lesson goes through all of them with Gabriel, who doesn’t know ii Vs yet. More important than the lines themselves is what we do with them afterward, so the second half of this post is about making a line your own.

What makes a ii V I lick sound robotic?

Usually it’s a line we play without understanding what’s going on in it, so we’re just quoting.

I remember very clearly trying to play jazz in high school. People told me I should learn ii Vs, and honestly, I didn’t really get it. When I did learn them, it was kind of robotic. I’d play the line and try to squeeze it into a place.

Also, the lines I wrote aren’t really mine. I mean, they’re mine, but I transcribed and listened to this stuff. They’re part of the language, accessible to all. So the goal here is to understand them in a deeper way and then make them ours. If you want the chord side of this progression first, start with my ii V I guitar lesson.

What are the 9 ii V I lines?

All nine are in C major for convenience: D minor 7, G7, C major 7. Each one articulates the D minor clearly, then does something different on the G7.

1. Surround the D minor. The downbeats articulate D minor 7, with notes like C sharp and E, the 9, in between on the upbeats. On the G7 it uses the diminished sound, a very common jazz cliche that gives us all these beautiful colors.
2. F major 7 over D minor. Play an F major 7 arpeggio on the ii, that super piano vibe. F, A, C and E over D gives you a D minor 7 with the 9. On the G7 it reaches for the flat 13.
3. Scale up, then 5, 3, 2, 1. D minor scaled up to the 5, then 5, 3, 2, 1, very triadic. On the V a little tension: sharp 9, flat 9, flat 13 to the 7, then resolve to the 5 of C. It’s kind of surprising, kind of harsh in a way, and then it resolves.
4. A substitution. Articulate D minor very clearly, then go to D flat in place of the G7, and end on the major 7.
5. 7 to 3. This one works on the stitch between the D minor and the G7, the moment the chord shifts. The C, the 7 of D minor, moves to B, the 3 of G7. It ascends with a diminished sound to get the flat 9 over the G7 and finishes with F, the 7 of G7, resolving to E, the 3 of C.
6. A bebop cliche on the V. Almost the same as line five, but on the G7 it plays the arpeggio and uses a very bebop cliche that starts on the flat 9 and lands 7 to 3.
7. The altered. Starting from the 9, and on the G7 we meet a creature we haven’t seen yet: the altered sound. Simple but really effective.
8. Diminished plus a whole step. Thinking diminished on the G7, but adding an approach note a whole step away. Coltrane did this a lot, Bill Evans as well, messing around with these diminished sounds. A lot of tension on the G.
9. Simple D minor, then the scale. Articulate D minor really simply, then jump and play the minor scale.

The video plays the lines slowly and in time with the chords, so you can grab them by ear. Line seven brings in the altered sound, and the altered scale lesson takes that color apart chord by chord.

How do you mix and match ii V I licks?

Take the ii half of one line and the V half of another. With nine lines, that gives you maybe 81 lines.

For example, I took the beginning of line two, the F major 7 arpeggio on the D minor, and finished it with the end of line one. I believed it would work, and it sounds good. You can also take line two and connect it to the diminished idea from line eight, or play a line in reverse. It doesn’t have to be any specific thing. What I want you to see is the concept: we can grab this idea, grab that idea, and make it ours. That’s what’s fun and cool about it.

How do you make a jazz lick your own?

Internalize it as much as possible: different places on the neck, different fingerings, different octaves, and sing it. Otherwise we’re just quoting things randomly.

• Move it. Find the line in different areas of the guitar. Start it with your first finger, then with your fourth finger. Try it on one string.
• Name the notes. Think about the notes as you play, letters or whatever you like, as long as you’re tagging information as much as possible.
• Sing it. Slow down. You can totally support yourself with the chord. We really want to hear the tension of the chromaticism and be able to imagine it.
• Write more. Memorize the ones you like, then write some more in the spirit of these lines, so you understand the mechanism that’s taking place.
• Use it in a tune. Take a blues, a solo or a song you know well, and put these lines in, or half of a line.

It takes time. It’s not like I woke up one day and could sing everything. It’s a process: we try, we stumble, until we figure it out.

In a way I feel like attention equals love. So in jazz there’s a lot of love toward what’s happening in the moment.

Rotem Sivan

What’s happening in the moment is this ii V. These cliches articulate it in a very attentive way, with hyper attention to all the details, and that’s beautiful.

Here’s a practice idea for today. Pick two of the nine lines. Play the ii half of the first and the V half of the second, slowly, over D minor 7, G7 and C major 7. Then find the same combination in another octave with a different fingering, sing it once, and drop it into a blues or a tune you already know.

If you want to go deeper, Solo Mastery is my full framework for improvising, with over 40 concepts for soloing and 10 real performances broken down note by note. And if the chords under these lines still feel shaky, Jazz Chord Essentials rebuilds your chords from the ground up, from how a 7th chord is built to every inversion of the four main colors.

Frequently asked questions

What chords are in a ii V I in C?

D minor 7, G7 and C major 7. D minor 7 is the ii, G7 is the V and C major 7 is the I. All nine lines in this lesson use that progression in C major for convenience.

What is a 7 to 3 resolution in jazz?

It’s when the 7th of one chord moves to the 3rd of the next. In a ii V I in C, the C of D minor 7 moves to the B of G7, and the F of G7 resolves to the E of C major 7. It’s a very classic sound in jazz.

What scale do you play over the G7 in a ii V I?

These lines use several sounds on the G7: the diminished sound for the flat 9, the altered sound, a D flat substitution, and flat 9, sharp 9 and flat 13 tensions that resolve into C major 7. Each one creates more tension before the resolution.

How do I stop my ii V licks sounding robotic?

Internalize them instead of quoting them. Play each line in different positions, fingerings and octaves, name the notes, and sing it. Mix halves of different lines, write your own in the same spirit, and use them in a blues or a song you know well.

Take the two halves you like best tonight and play them in a song tomorrow, even if it’s only half a line.