Hi everyone and welcome to my first lick of the week!
Repetition is one of the most important things to think of when building your licks and phrases, but repetition in music doesn’t mean playing everything exactly the same over and over again. If your licks have a common ground (similar rhythmic pattern, contour, dynamics, etc…) you can connect them to create phrases, and there will be still some repetition going on, despite notes being different.
In this lick, bars 1 and 3 are exactly the same and they function as a call, while in bars 2 and 4, we can find similarities in the rhythmic patterns in the first half and the legato feel in the second half of each bar, and that builds the response.
Technically, the call part is based around a hybrid picking pattern incorporating slides and wide intervals. The progression of the track is Csus2 – G#maj – F6 – A#sus2 – Csus2 – G#maj – F5 – G#5 – A#5 – Csus2 and we’re using a C minor scale over the whole thing, however, it’s the slides and the intervals that make the section sound more interesting and “modern” (at least to my ears ). There’s also a little muting involved which makes the part more percussive and helps it to sit better within the groove.
The response sections are more of a minimalistic and traditional nature and involve rakes, slides, whammy dips and bends. This part is more of a legato feel and contrasts the tighter call section.
I encourage you to experiment further with this idea. See you soon with more licks of the week!
Normal speed
Slow speed
Download backing track at 100 bpm
Download backing track at 75 bpm
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