Miles Davis was a master improviser, there’s no doubt about that.

But what made him such a stellar jazz musician wasn’t necessarily his chops or flash, but his strong sense of melody and ability to find just the right notes for the right moment in his solos.

In this jazz guitar lick video lesson, we’ll be looking at a classic lick from Miles’ solo on So What where he mixes together the Melodic Minor and Dorian sounds within a two-bar phrase.

Learning to improvise over m7 chords is a must-have skill for any jazz guitarist, and bringing licks such as this into your vocabulary is a good way to study the jazz tradition and expand your soloing chops at the same time.

Things to Notice in This Jazz Guitar Lick

The use of the Melodic Minor sound in the first half of the lick

The use of the Dorian sound in the second half of the lick

The use of an ascending and descending arc throughout the lick

With some background on the lick and a good idea of what to look for when practicing it in the woodshed, here is how the lick looks like in tab and notation.

To hear this lick in action and get a detailed explanation of how it is built, check out the video lesson bellow.

Miles Davis So What Lick Video Lesson

What do you think of this lick? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

About Matt Warnock

Matt Warnock is the owner of mattwarnockguitar.com, a free website that provides hundreds of lessons and resources designed to help guitarists of all experience levels meet their practice and performance goals. Matt lives in the UK, where he is a senior lecturer at the Leeds College of Music and an examiner for the London College of Music (Registry of Guitar Tutors).