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As I mentioned, I practice the same bunch of licks repeatedly for weeks and weeks, but transposed to other chords, other keys and throughout whole songs. I'll add new licks as I find them. This is just practice.
Do they permeate to my playing?
Yes, but I only practice licks that suite my style.
I'm a lick hoarder.
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06-06-2023 11:15 AM
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I hope we don't turn this into a "licks aren't the goal" argument.
Licks are how you learn, how you get the sound of jazz in your head. Anybody who reads this who is just starting out, try to learn 5 licks off a record this week and post them here...that alone will teach you more than most books.
Edit: someone once told me, never borrow licks, steal them. Because when you steal something you say "this is MINE now. I OWN it."
Guy--totally agree. Be a lick hoarder. A sound collector.
Really enjoying everyone's posts so far. Even rag's "reluctant lick
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Ah yeah that’s fun. This is kind of a misconception about transcription. We think it has to be whole solos, and people certainly do that, but lots of guys do just what you’re describing here. Stealing what they like and leaving behind what they don’t.
Originally Posted by GuyBoden
As I mentioned, I practice the same bunch of licks repeatedly for weeks and weeks, but transposed to other chords, other keys and throughout whole songs. I'll add new licks as I find them. This is just practice.
Do they permeate to my playing?
Yes, but I only practice licks that suite my style.
I'm a lick hoarder.
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Galper's got it.
The least important thing about transcribing is actually being able to play the lick at tempo.
And yeah, whole solos are great, but so is 50 licks from 50 players. All about that PROCESS.
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Jimmy Bruno once said he never transcribed whole solos. He picked up licks here and there. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
Here's a short video of him playing the changes of "I Remember You" and then going over a familiar Charlie Parker line.
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Yeah and that short line about no two people hearing the same way. He mentions that people would listen to the same solo and pick two lines they like. That’s obviously true, but even more than that, I would never have described that lick you played in the way you described it, which means I would’ve gotten a completely different universe of ideas from the same line. So I think that analytical process, even more than the taste and ear, is even further differentiates one player from the next even when they’re both — say — listening to a lot of Charlie Christian richt now. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Not at all, I wouldn't waste my time. What I've said is valid. Originally Posted by fep
That's a silly question, I've already donated a lick. Quite a good one too :-)And why are you even posting on this thread?
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No way. Mine is only a personal preference. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Incidentally, what I do a lot is look over transcriptions and stop when I come to a sound I like. Then I'll go over what he did so I can get the principle behind it. I don't necessarily memorise the precise lick or line but apply the idea where it might work in my own stuff.
That's not really lick collecting but some might say it's similar. But I also tend to forget them pretty promptly so I don't know.
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“If you hear a lick that you like,it's a clue to how you feel about music, how you hear. Your responsability is to take that clue and put it through the ringer, copy it, put it in all 12 keys and then try to find a hundred ways to use it.” (Hal Galper). Originally Posted by pauln
I've got a big collection of licks that I've created for myself... not many of them were "composed", really... most of them were born spontaneously, while I was either improvising or working on something... and whenever they surprised me or made me smile I've somehow fixed them (on paper, on cassette-tape, on my phone or whatever). To acquire all of them under my fingers would be quite a task in itself (for various reasons) although I do have a small percentage of them under my fingers. On top of that, finding a hundred different ways of using them (perhaps the most important part of the work!) is where I've been faulty. Another aspect of the matter is: I love using my licks (or other people's ...they are, indeed, part of my vocabulary!), I like it much less when "I'm being used" by my licks, if you see what I mean. I must say both things happen (occasionally at least).Last edited by frabarmus; 06-06-2023 at 03:37 PM.
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Honestly not that different than what I do probably. I like to work them through on the guitar too, so that my ear hears the stuff but also my fingers go in maybe some new territory too. Originally Posted by ragman1
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Happy to contribute! Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I don't think I'll literally follow your instructions (re: different speeds and variations) as I already have a collection of short lick-videos I've made for myself in recent years, to go back to for personal study-purposes and practical reasons (filming a lick is quicker than writing it down and I can easily see how I've fingered something). Many of them are just short doodles, sketches of lick-ideas with much room for further developement.
This short lick came to me in 5/4 (I didn't set out to come up with an odd time-signature lick) and has a min7/Dorian flavour.
Cheers,
Francesco
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Only 24 seconds video clip.
Here's my first Riff contribution, a simple ii-V-I.
For me personally, the simpler the Riff, the easy it is to remember and then utilise into your playing. I use this Riff a lot.
I recorded the Riff slow and repeated it a few times.
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If I repeat fav Riffs, seemingly endlessly, for weeks during practice sessions, in various keys etc. I find that some Riffs do stick, but not all. Originally Posted by ragman1
It's a bit boring, so not a routine everyone likes, but it does work.
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I think what sticks are the most useful ones. For obvious reasons.
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It's Grant Green's birthday, and if you all know me, that's a holiday in my world. So I tried to think of the most Grant Green lick I could think of. And I think I found it. I'm not going to say he invented the little hammer on pull of thing in here, but if you play it, it's instant Grant.
Lick of the day #2:
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Nice … love little flourishes like that. I always just call them “isms” … little turns of phrase or idiosyncratic things. Maybe too small to be a “lick” but an instant calling card. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
And usually hyper-practical because they’re so little.
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Sounds great, Jeff.
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This one is based off an arp figure starting on a chord tone, I play it eight times each time starting on a different chord tone of A7 (the chord tone is the second note of the lick as the first note is an approach tone). I made this up myself.
Last edited by fep; 06-07-2023 at 12:12 AM.
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^ That sounds nice. I've been thinking about making arp sequences with other notes.
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That's important. Playing a lick or line got from somewhere else can make your fingers do very useful things you wouldn't have thought of yourself. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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Here's an altered line I found somewhere. The layover in the middle gives it a distinctive sound. But I might not have thought of playing it that way myself.
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Well, last night I recorded a train-wreck of an improv over Blues For Alice for my upcoming lesson. I realised the Turnaround was particularly bad, so I just had a quick go at composing a lick slowly:
(I seem to be at the stage when I can compose half-way decent lines, but can't for the life of me play anything decent or flowing in the moment.)
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Many thanks, I like that line a lot, my sort of thing, so I've put it into my collection. It's now in my practice routine, I hope if it sticks. Originally Posted by ragman1
Here's an altered line I found somewhere. The layover in the middle gives it a distinctive sound. But I might not have thought of playing it that way myself.
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