Hard Bop Trumpet Turnaround Licks with Fingerings

These hard bop trumpet turnaround licks with fingerings start with a familiar problem: the valves are right, but the open G cracks. I slow that leap down before adding speed. You need the pitch in your ear, not just the pattern under your fingers.

Everything below uses written B-flat trumpet pitch, including chord symbols. Written C sounds concert B-flat. Ask your pianist for concert B-flatmaj7–G7–Cm7–F7.

These are original teaching exercises, not transcriptions. If you’ve tried the Hard Bop Trumpet Blues Licks with Fingerings, here’s the next job: make each chord change audible.

Start with the turnaround and valve key

Use this two-bar progression, followed by a resolution bar:

| Cmaj7 / A7 / | Dm7 / G7 / | Cmaj7 |

Each chord in the first two bars lasts two beats. Play four eighth notes per chord. Each group starts on beat 1 or beat 3.

Here is the fingering key:

• 0: open valves
• 1, 2, 3: individual valves
• 12, 23, 13: press those two valves together
• 123: press all three valves

C4 is written middle C below the staff. C5 is third-space C. These lines stay between C4 and G5, the G just above the staff.

Keep the Trumpet Valve Chart: Written Notes and Fingerings nearby. The same fingering produces several partials. Your ear still has a job.

Three hard bop trumpet turnaround licks with fingerings

Start at quarter note = 60. Fingerings appear in parentheses. Count each chord group as 1-and-2-and or 3-and-4-and.

Lick 1: Make the chord changes audible

Bar 1

• Cmaj7: C5 (0), E5 (0), G5 (0), E5 (0)
• A7: A4 (12), C#5 (12), E5 (0), G5 (0)

Bar 2

• Dm7: F5 (1), E5 (0), D5 (1), F5 (1)
• G7: B4 (2), D5 (1), F5 (1), D5 (1)

Bar 3: E5 (0), quarter note; D5 (1), quarter note; C5 (0), half note.

The C# is where I listen hardest. It makes A7 different from Am7 and points toward Dm7.

C5–E5–G5 needs no valves, but it needs three distinct partials. I sing that opening before playing it. Keep the air moving rather than squeezing the G into place.

Practice This In JazzValve

Open the C ii–V–I practice screen. Use Lick 1’s Dm7 group, G7 group, and E5–D5–C5 resolution. Adapt their lengths to the displayed chord durations. This isolates the ii–V–I, not the full turnaround.

Lick 2: Add a descending chromatic tail

Bar 1

• Cmaj7: E5 (0), G5 (0), E5 (0), D5 (1)
• A7: C#5 (12), E5 (0), G5 (0), E5 (0)

Bar 2

• Dm7: D5 (1), F5 (1), E5 (0), D5 (1)
• G7: B4 (2), Bb4 (1), A4 (12), Ab4 (23)

Bar 3: G4 (0), quarter note; E4 (12), quarter note; C4 (0), half note.

B–Bb–A–Ab falls into G, the fifth of Cmaj7. Bb supplies a sharp-nine color over G7; Ab supplies the flat nine. They’re passing colors, not parking spaces.

I isolate A4–Ab4 when the valves get tangled. Valve 2 stays down while valve 1 releases and valve 3 descends. Then add open G4.

Practice This In JazzValve

Return to the C ii–V–I practice screen. Play Lick 2’s Dm7 and G7 groups into its Cmaj7 resolution. Keep the chromatic descent smooth, adjusting note lengths to match the screen.

Lick 3: Surround the destination

Bar 1

• Cmaj7: G4 (0), B4 (2), C5 (0), E5 (0)
• A7: G5 (0), E5 (0), C#5 (12), A4 (12)

Bar 2

• Dm7: F4 (1), A4 (12), C5 (0), D5 (1)
• G7: B4 (2), D5 (1), Db5 (12), B4 (2)

Bar 3: C5 (0), whole note.

Db and B surround C from above and below. Db5 and C#5 share pitch and fingering, but their spellings show different jobs. I hear the final C before starting. Otherwise, the enclosure sounds like a wrong turn.

Practice This In JazzValve

Use the C ii–V–I practice screen for Lick 3’s last two bars. Fit the groups to the displayed durations. Sing Db–B–C, then play it without punching the landing.

Make hard bop trumpet turnaround licks with fingerings swing

First, play straight eighth notes to check coordination. Then swing lightly. I avoid forcing every pair into a heavy long-short shape.

Listen to Clifford Brown on “Joy Spring” from Clifford Brown & Max Roach, then Lee Morgan on “The Sidewinder.” These lines quote neither recording. Listen for attacks, placement, and breathing room.

Play one lick three times, then rest for the same duration. Raise the tempo only when the final note speaks cleanly.

Take the next phrase into practice

Treat these hard bop trumpet turnaround licks with fingerings as starting points. Change one rhythm while keeping the chord tones in place. I’d rather hear one clear variation than three hurried patterns.

Where to go next

• Hard Bop Trumpet Blues Licks with Fingerings: carry this chord awareness back into blues phrasing.
• Hard Bop Trumpet ii–V–I Arpeggio Exercises: strip the line back to chord tones.
• Trumpet Valve Chart: Written Notes and Fingerings: check a valve change before drilling it.