Phrase from Sugar

I was working on Stanley Turrentine’s tune, Sugar, with a student – we were working on the 16th note triplets, and I wanted to find different ways to use it on the horn. For my own practicing, I will take a lick that I like, and put it through all the keys, and use a variety of interval patterns, and root motion.

Here are a few ways that I could approach the root motion of the phrase so that I’m comfortable using it in any place that I hear it.

  • Diatonic, 4ths, major 3rds, minor 3rds, whole tones

I believe that when I start to move it around in this way, a phrase will become more integrated into my playing, and as the lick becomes more consolidated with my personal approach, I can use it while altering the rhythmic (starting it in different places, stringing several together, etc.), and harmonic elements (using it over different chords) of the initial line.

Here are the PDF for several iterations of this phrase.

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