A question about the interchangeability of different licks
Hey David,
I recently got the idea to start using a snipping tool to outline, copy and paste different licks from all the PDFs of the songs and exercises that I’ve been studying and practicing. I paste them into different word documents that correspond to what each lick is used for, such as “I chord”, “IV chord”, “fills” and “turnarounds”. The idea is to be able to kind of keep a database of every lick in isolation to be able to practice them and hopefully use them in songs as my improvising skills continue to advance. I was also thinking of combining and plugging in the different licks from different chords to create new songs (Frankenstein songs, if you will). I know that as long as the key is the same for all the parts, the song should be able to fit together. But my question is: are there other factors that prevent the different licks from working together? For example, can I plug a “I chord” shuffle lick together with a “IV chord” swing or slow blues lick?
Thanks!,
Andrew
Hello Andrew.
That is a good idea.
When I recommend this to students, I also have them make categories for licks that start on different holes. I assume you've already been through some of the improvising study lessons, so you're familiar with the concept of Focus Notes (Study 2). For this reason, I have them make categories for 1 draw licks, 2" licks, 2, 3, 4. 5, 6+, 7, 8, 9, 9+, turnaround, V-IV-I, and ending licks. Here are some general rules you can use...
1) Use I Chord licks for I Chord Licks (Bars 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8)
2) Use IV Chord licks for IV Chord Licks (Bars 5, 6, and 10)
3) Use V-IV-I licks for V-IV-I Licks (Bars 9 and 10, resolving to bar 11)
4) Use turnaround licks for turnaround licks (bars 11 and 12), though you can take off the last 1 draws or 4 draws of a turnaround lick and now they're fill licks, or add those 1 draws and 4 draws to turn a fill lick into a turnaround lick.
5) You can slow down up-tempo swing licks to make them shuffle licks, and shuffle licks to slow blues, but not generally swing to slow (too much of a tempo change) and vice-versa.
6) Swing-eighth (shuffles, swing, and slow blues) and straight-eighth (rock beats and 2-beats) licks can be interchangeable, but sometimes not (you just have to experiment).
These general rules of thumb can be violated, they're just general guidelines for you, but hopefully they are helpful. If you have not done so, go through all the Improvising Studies (even as a quick review, not doing the lesson studies yet) and Music Theory Studies, they will answer a lot of questions and cover areas of study you weren't even aware of.