snarf
making guitars wish they were still trees
At the workshop over in Allen back during the summer, I talked to Griff about what it takes to go from being a "he's ok" guitar player to becoming a "dude, that sounded really good" player. I've been trying to follow his suggestions since then. One of the things he mentioned is to, rather than just playing whatever pops in my head, learn some actual tried and true licks and start incorporating those. So, for the last couple of months, I try to learn a new lick every weekend.
In effort to keep working on that, I saw and picked up a Blues Licks Encyclopedia this week on a whim. You know the kind of book. 10 licks like SRV. 10 licks like Freddie King. 10 licks like Otis Rush. That kind of book. Supposed to have like 300 licks in it. Sat down and been playing through a bunch of them today so I can mark the ones that I really like to be sure that I get them learned. Something dawned on me a little while ago, and I had to go back and quantify it. 50 pages and 140 licks into the book just trying them out, and, so far, 2 licks don't start on beat 1. 98.6% of the licks so far, start on beat 1.
That's something Griff has so ingrained in us over the years (and that I've been noticing he does as I work my way through BSBB), that when I got half way through this book and noticed it, I had one of those wait-a-minute moments. I'm already looking at the ones that I like in order to see what I can do to start them somewhere else.
In effort to keep working on that, I saw and picked up a Blues Licks Encyclopedia this week on a whim. You know the kind of book. 10 licks like SRV. 10 licks like Freddie King. 10 licks like Otis Rush. That kind of book. Supposed to have like 300 licks in it. Sat down and been playing through a bunch of them today so I can mark the ones that I really like to be sure that I get them learned. Something dawned on me a little while ago, and I had to go back and quantify it. 50 pages and 140 licks into the book just trying them out, and, so far, 2 licks don't start on beat 1. 98.6% of the licks so far, start on beat 1.
That's something Griff has so ingrained in us over the years (and that I've been noticing he does as I work my way through BSBB), that when I got half way through this book and noticed it, I had one of those wait-a-minute moments. I'm already looking at the ones that I like in order to see what I can do to start them somewhere else.