Pattern 40 – Cmaj7 (Honeysuckle Rose)

Pattern 40 starts with an adaption of the Honeysuckle Rose motif.

The original Honeysuckle Rose motif, named after the Fats Waller song that opens with this phrase, is over a minor chord.

The motif starts on the 4 of Dm7 and does a scale run to the 1, but the 3rd note of the scale (2) is targetted by an A minor triad from below (the description is more complicated than how it sounds).

Here’s how Charlie Parker uses the Honeysuckle motif at the beginning of a II V I:

You can apply this technique (targetting scale notes with an arpeggio from below) on other notes of a scale as well, as I demonstrate here on the C major scale:

Here is another example:

Other Positions

Used in (study/bar): 4/4 – 5/5 – 6/3 – 6/5