# Learning licks - What of it?



## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

Question for the teachers and experienced players out there. 

What happens when a player either takes all their favorite songs, watches their favorite guitar player and/or gets a bunch of books of "licks" and learns them?

Where does that come back out in one's playing abilities? 

It appears at first glance to be a very "isolated" kind of thing. As in... I learned the lick in that cool new tune but if I'm not playing that cool new tune what of it?

I imagine having a pool of licks at your disposal may allow you to create your own phrases but I'd like to see the process explained if anyone can do it.

Think of my question this way... If you are telling someone (a student perhaps) to "learn a lot of licks and solos" why do you suggest this? What's the end result of them doing this? What is learned along the way?


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

I never did learn licks, mostly because most of my favourite licks are played over harmonic changes that I later wouldn't know how to use over a different song. I'm also very lazy to learn licks. I prefer to focus on where the licks come from. 
I can't say I don't play licks though, but none of them I learned, they created themselves playing. 

Maybe licks are the reason why everybody sounds good lately.


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

I like to take several licks. phrases, riffs whatever you wish to call them and pilfer a little from each one, transpose them all to one key and rearrange them into one long solo, riff whatever. I did one using parts from B minor D major, A major, G major, F# minor, E minor and I used these all from licks in a couple of books. Once you have worked out what you feel comfortable with the next thing is phrasing and thats your own feeling coming through. Make it sound like you mean it when you play it.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

As a teacher, I don't really teach licks and riffs so much as complete songs - and most of the songs that I teach are chosen because there is something larger to be learned - a picking technique, for example. And I don't really encourage just learning someone else's licks. Learning licks does have some value though if you look at how they work within the structure of the song. I also encourage students to develop their own "library" of licks that they can draw on when necessary. An understanding of scales and how they relate to chords is far more important than knowing a bunch of licks, and if you have that understanding, it is then far easier to figure out and create licks.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

How many times have you heard of a very famous musician proudly go down a list of all the artists that have influenced them.
Although there may be other influencing factors I would think the vast majority are saying that they played their music and learned something from it.
Licks , songs , paying style etc. etc.are all things every musician should learn to build up their own repertoire.
To be original means that you take what you have learned and make it your own.

G.


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

Learning licks is fine if all you want to do is improvise a solo at a blues jam. But keep in mind if you ever want to publish a song you could be accused of ripping off some one. I would learn the scales and modes and come up with your own solo's. I can not remember other peoples licks myself. I constantly disect great solo's when I am learning them and figure out how the notes relate to the scale or mode.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I only teach licks as a function of song/tune or solo construction. Licks for licks sake aren't very practical from a fundamental musical education standpoint. It doesn't hurt to learn anything musical, but recognizing the context, construction (theory) is more important, along with ear training. 

You can learn this and a million others like it and still not be able to improvise, compose, or understand what you or anyone else is doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDxhnaKD7Q

Peace, Mooh.


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

GTmaker said:


> How many times have you heard of a very famous musician proudly go down a list of all the artists that have influenced them.
> Although there may be other influencing factors I would think the vast majority are saying that they played their music and learned something from it.
> Licks , songs , paying style etc. etc.are all things every musician should learn to build up their own repertoire.
> To be original means that you take what you have learned and make it your own.
> ...


This is what I'm referring to in principal. I've heard the above so many times and from a few teachers that I got to wondering what in the process of doing this turns a student into a player. The mechanics of this and the process are what interests me. Why does it work (if it does)?


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

Hamstrung said:


> This is what I'm referring to in principal. I've heard the above so many times and from a few teachers that I got to wondering what in the process of doing this turns a student into a player. The mechanics of this and the process are what interests me. Why does it work (if it does)?


The influence of other musician to make you practice till your fingers bleed will usually turn a student into a player.
The motivation to be as good as (_ put in your favorite player_) is the great separator.
Learning theory can be part of that journey but theory is not the motivator.

G.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

GTmaker said:


> The motivation to be as good as (_ put in your favorite player_) is the great separator.


That's true. There's no need to learn x player's licks be as good, in fact, to be as good as x player you would have to be as original as him. 


GTmaker said:


> Learning theory can be part of that journey but theory is not the motivator.


To some extent it was to me. I remember me as young student wanting to know theory because I didn't want to sound like the players everybody was listening to. That changed when I first listened to Henderson and Scofield, then they became my motivation!


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

to me, learning licks is about seeing patterns that work.

my theory isn't great, but if I see things showing up in different genres and still working, it seems there is something there.
example - a part of the solo of Judas Priest's "Night Comes Down" runs up the same scale as one of the licks in "Sultans of Swing" comes down
so now i have an area of the neck that I am fairly comfortable in if I happen to end up there (in the right key obviously)

another example: the start of Janice Joplin "Summertime" gives you some context for what to do with the Gm scale
[video=youtube;guKoNCQFAFk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guKoNCQFAFk[/video]


same way I learned what to do with a pentatonic scale - patterns that work.
I try to find that in other licks.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

This I agree with 100% GTMaker. I used to think, and maybe I was correct, that I was too damn lazy to learn licks and riffs and songs. But it became very apparent over the years of playing that much of my original playing style has a symbiotic relationship with pretty much all of the music I've listened to. Later on, it also became apparent that knowing basic theory and song structure/phrasing helped this original process along quite nicely. I can still only play a handful of well known licks or riffs from other guitarists when someone asks me to play something they might know.



GTmaker said:


> How many times have you heard of a very famous musician proudly go down a list of all the artists that have influenced them.
> Although there may be other influencing factors I would think the vast majority are saying that they played their music and learned something from it.
> Licks , songs , paying style etc. etc.are all things every musician should learn to build up their own repertoire.
> To be original means that you take what you have learned and make it your own.
> ...


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## dolphinstreet (Sep 11, 2006)

Setting licks as patterns is one approach, but you will gain much more by understanding why the lick works. I'm talking about *intervals* - it's very powerful, because it's universal. For example, a minor 3rd will alway sound great for a minor chord, etc. However, just the notes/intervals themselves isn't enough for a lick to be good - it has to have an interesting *rhythm* about it too. 

You should also experiment with playing licks in with different fingerings, or on different string sets, etc. Just explore and you may come up with something really cool as a result.


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

Some good insights here. Keep 'em coming!


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

For me, "licks" are usually about technique. I'd want to learn a lick/riff/phrase based on how it made me feel. I want to learn the part, so that I can hopefully recreate that feeling within myself and/or somebody else. Be it an interesting rhythm, or a dissonant note choice used in a somewhat soothing way, I want to learn it so that I can apply that emotion to something I would play. Usually said lick involves a technique, such as a bend, vibrato or slur. If I don't have a handle on the technique (often the case) then I can't reproduce the phrase that I enjoy. It's probably why I'm able to play varied rhythms that use staccato and sort of slurring lines - that kind of thing can get my blood pumping. When I was teaching, I'd use parts for the same reason. If a student came in and said "I want to learn this song" or "I want to learn this part" it was always because it was cool to them, and they wanted to be able to reproduce that.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

This morning's case in point: student wants to learn Stairway (yeah, THAT still happens all the time)...he gets the intro pretty good, good enough to move on...we take a look at the solo and he immediately recognizes that it's using the A natural minor scale for most of it and because of this many of the hurdles disappear and his technique and ear does the rest. Sure, he's recognizing visual patterns, but his ear is recognizing pitch as well, and combining it in the holy trinity of visual, auditory, and tactile elements of guitar. No licks to memorize, per se, because everything he hears, sees, and feels relates.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

fredyfreeloader said:


> I like to take several licks. phrases, riffs whatever you wish to call them and pilfer a little from each one, transpose them all to one key and rearrange them into one long solo, riff whatever. I did one using parts from B minor D major, A major, G major, F# minor, E minor and I used these all from licks in a couple of books. Once you have worked out what you feel comfortable with the next thing is phrasing and thats your own feeling coming through. Make it sound like you mean it when you play it.


This is exactly what I do! I transpose them, add a little of my own spice to the mix and make them my own. Sometimes it's just a lick fragment! I find there are sometimes where I just come up with something "balls to the walls" my own. My creativity amazes me sometimes.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

I find another way of creating licks, as opposed to copying them, really works well for me. I just pick out 3 or 4 random notes in a certain scale or mode position, be it major, minor, pentatonic, diminished, augmented......whatever...the list goes on, and working out as many possibilities, and there are a lot with various methods, as possible. You can even take 4 notes from a lick you've copied, or a bunch more, say 12, and work it out the same way. The possibilities are limitless.

I think I'm inspired right now. Better grab the axe! Thanks OP.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

The best workout involving licks I know is playing the same lick starting in every degree of a given scale but maintaining the key signature. That is going to change the relative intervals for every lick.


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## Bastille day (Mar 2, 2014)

I have learned few licks just by listening to classic country on Sundays on a local A.M. radio.

Every Sunday something different.

Got some of Tennessee Flat Top Box down last Sunday.

Not to difficult and fun.


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## Lafite (May 16, 2009)

I think some licks are important as a basic vocabulary. If you play rock, you probably want to know a few variations of Chuck Berry licks for example. Then someone writes a song like "Keep your hands to yourself". Same with Blues, you learn a bunch of Freddy King, Albert King and BB licks, then after a while, they will morph into something slightly different but original sounding. In blues and country there are also some "cliche" licks which you almost need to sound like those genres. The minor/major third hammer on in a lick for instance on a major key blues tune, or pedal steel licks for C&W. You can use these licks you have learned in a solo, as long as you recognise that a solo should be more than stringing a bunch of licks together. Oh yea, and have fun.


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