Why You Should Study That Lick

[Tal_175]

How about it? I probably started it, stopped it, learned it but never got it up to tempo, forgot it, changed fingering ideas, etc a dozen times over the last 15 years.

Laziness.

I'm up to about 175 on it. I'll be happy to get it up to about 200...that's where the original is, I think. It's become a bit of a "musical sports competition" in the years since, I suppose.

But it's really just a string of good bop licks.

I think it's around 220. I've been working on it on and off. I won't give up until I can play it along side the recording I like this youtube video, although she doesn't always phrase it like Bird did:

[Tal_175]

I just (finally) learned the head to Donna Lee. Gotta say, if a beginning player were to learn that and a few other bop heads, in a few keys, they'd have their next 5 years of practice mapped out for them pretty easily.

Now to go back in time and slap 18 year old me.

Yeah Donna Lee, Confirmation, Joy Spring and solo's on these tunes (especially Bird and Brownie solos) make up the ultimate bebop licks book. As a bonus, they also teach how to use the bebop scales.

[TOMMO]

Received the book a couple of days ago. Sampled a couple of phrases - good stuff. This is a great resource for ideas for phrases and will be very useful for years to come.
Thanks for the tip, DB!

[unknownguitarplayer]

Now to go back in time and slap 18 year old me.

You have articulated the single most compelling argument for time travel research I've ever heard.

[DB's Jazz Guitar Blog]

Received the book a couple of days ago. Sampled a couple of phrases - good stuff. This is a great resource for ideas for phrases and will be very useful for years to come.
Thanks for the tip, DB!

You're welcome Tommo. It's a great book indeed. An encyclopedia of jazz vocabulary.

DB

[mr. beaumont]

You have articulated the single most compelling argument for time travel research I've ever heard.

Should your research pay off before mine, feel free to get a slap in on me. I might need a couple.

[TOMMO]

A question for DB: the wealth of material can be a bit overwhelming. How do you use the book? Pick a phrase at random and put it through the paces or do you get about it in a more organized way?
Thanks.

[Tal_175]

A question for DB: the wealth of material can be a bit overwhelming. How do you use the book? Pick a phrase at random and put it through the paces or do you get about it in a more organized way?
Thanks.

This is a good question. I think one lick a week is plenty if one is really working to internalize the lick with various variations rather than just memorize it. Of course I don't mean working only on one lick for whole week but as part of the daily routine. I'm curious how others do it.

[TOMMO]

So far I have just played through a handful IIm-V7-I s and picked one or two that I really liked and shifted them to different positions and fingerings so they'd be easy to transpose to any key required. I also analyze them in terms of the underlying chord and the respective function of the notes which helps me in memorizing a line / phrase.

[DB's Jazz Guitar Blog]

A question for DB: the wealth of material can be a bit overwhelming. How do you use the book? Pick a phrase at random and put it through the paces or do you get about it in a more organized way?
Thanks.

Yes, it's a bit overwhelming. I play through the licks, find some sounds that I like, analyse them to find what is going on scale wise and then change them to a form that I like. I sometimes come up with my my own lick that expresses the same melodic idea. Or I combine two fragments or use only half the lick. I rarely use the licks as they occur in the book. It's more that I steal the ideas.

But though I have had the book for years, I only recently started going back to to really study it so it's not like I have been studying it for years. I have only just begun, like you.

Drilling in the sounds takes some time though.

DB

[DB's Jazz Guitar Blog]

So far I have just played through a handful IIm-V7-I s and picked one or two that I really liked and shifted them to different positions and fingerings so they'd be easy to transpose to any key required. I also analyze them in terms of the underlying chord and the respective function of the notes which helps me in memorizing a line / phrase.

Sounds like the way to go. In the introduction Les states how to use the book and it's exactly like this

DB.

[TOMMO]

Yes, it's a bit overwhelming. I play through the licks, find some sounds that I like, analyse them to find what is going on scale wise and then change them to a form that I like. I sometimes come up with my my own lick that expresses the same melodic idea. Or I combine two fragments or use only half the lick. I rarely use the licks as they occur in the book. It's more that I steal the ideas.


DB

Thanks for your input. I pretty much learn and study licks like you have described above. Even if I haven't played a specific one for some time I can remember enough of it to complete it on my own and that seems to be the way it 's supposed to work best.