Hey Barry:

I think it might be fair to say that I have gotten more mileage out of the Major II V I lessons based on your Charlie Parker transcriptions than virtually any other lesson on your site (which is saying a LOT--cause I get tons out of every lesson!) Those 8 simple lines (based upon the 7-3 movement and the incorporated b9) have totally transformed my ability to play over II Vs and I encourage anyone who hasn't checked them out to do so. Both your more recent Major II V I lesson and the older one (where you use Tune Up as a vehicle) are just tremendous resources (also the Linear Turn Around Secrets lesson). Occasionally in those videos, to illustrate where the simple concept can ultimately take one, you'll take off and play a series of lines at blazing tempos etc. and say something about how one can become a "bebop machine" once these lines have become internalized etc. I'm not there yet and my lines STILL sound collegiate and I STILL just recycle that basic scale line on the II chord etc. Anyway, I KNOW you've already given a lot of attention to this concept, but given the transformative impact that it can have, MIGHT you consider doing a lesson based upon how to integrate these lines more fully into one's playing, how to be creative with them and how to achieve "bebop machine" status with them? I'd sure appreciate it. And the open invitation to St. Croix remains ;-) Thanks!
-JGC

JGC,

You are not alone. I think this is what most of us struggle with. Digesting the scales/chords/Arps take a lot of repetition, but since there is nothing artistic about that it's a milestone that is easily reached with practice. My approach is "one bite at a time". Basically, I will learn some lines from the PDF's, (or transcription of a solo that I like). Once you have the line internalized, then the next step is to see where else on the fretboard it is comfortable to play. If I'm learning a ii-V-I line I will even break it down to each element (if the line fits vertically over one of the chords). Finally you need to force that stuff into your playing. You can learn three different ii-V-I lines and take the ii from the first, the V from the second, and the I from the third and basically create a 4th line. Sometimes you may have to embellish a bit to get it to flow, but that's really the process to continuing to build a vocabulary. The more you listen to you favorite players, you can begin to hear "go to" lines that are recycled. I think this is basically what Barry noticed from Bird in the lines referenced in your original post.

I would really stress learning lines in different shapes on the fretboard. That has helped me tremendously, and allows me to mix and match different snippets that I learned from different sources. Everybody steals from everybody. The trick is to hide the fact that you're stealing :)