licks
Hi David
Is there anywhere on your site a library of licks? If not, would you know anywhere I can find it? Sometimes when I get impatient with slow step by step progress, I want to play around with licks, get them into body memory.
Best
Miki
Hello David,
I am just looking for an explanation of it, and what do we do with breath, hands, tongue and so on. What is lick?
Thanks
Hello Saharmonsha.
A "lick" is a combination of notes that sound good together. Think of a lick as a word in language (combination of letters of the alphabet). Words are put together into sentences. Licks are put together to create musical phrases (combination of licks that sound good together).
Listen to your first study song "Walk With Me," in Tongue Block Study 1. The first three notes are 3 4+ 4, that's a lick. Then it's 5+ 5 6+, that's a lick. Then 6+ 5+ 4 5+ 4 3 3+, that's a lick. All of these licks together create a melody that we call a "head," the opening melody of a song.
Just as a speech is made up of many words, sentences, and paragraphs, an instrumental is made up of many licks, phrases, and choruses. When completed, we hope that either have left some impact on the listener.
Hello Miki. There are licks all over the site...they're found within each study song. Instead of studying the entire song, with transcription in hand, listen to a song and circle the licks that you like. Study those licks by themselves and if you want them to really stick (and end up in your soloing vocabulary), apply the Chorus Form process taught in Improvising study 1 and play each lick to a jam track with each of the Chorus Form options (AAA, Af Af At, AAB, Af Af B, A B/A C, etc.).