things that make you go hmmmmm...

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.
 

MarkRobbins

Blues Junior
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.
Okay, now I'm confused. Well, I'm always confused, but now I'm even more confused. Here I had thought that Griff preached that licks DON'T start on beat 1.
 

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
I haven't seen the book, but Is it just a convenient way of writing them down? Whereas Griff gives us a bit of help by putting them into a real solo situation.

That would be my guess. Licks are building blocks that can be moved between keys and also moved in time. The book author probably just took the lazy way out with timing and started note one on beat one of the notation unless that wouldn’t work.

Also what Griff says is not an absolute. Most players start most licks on a beat other than one, but that is a stylistic thing not a hard rule.
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
Okay, now I'm confused. Well, I'm always confused, but now I'm even more confused. Here I had thought that Griff preached that licks DON'T start on beat 1.
That's why it stood out to me, and, re-reading what I wrote, didn't do a good job of explaining. Griff has talked about it for so long ("don't start a lick on beat 1") that it stood out to me in this other book that they were all starting on beat 1. I'd have to go back and look, but I don't think any of the longer licks start on beat 1, and the shorter licks only do when you first play them. None of them do when you start using them in the solo example.

The book author probably just took the lazy way out with timing and started note one on beat one of the notation unless that wouldn’t work.
As I started trying to move them around yesterday, that's about what I decided as well. Most of them worked just fine if you dropped the first note or two so they started on the & of 1 or the 2. Enough so that it actually made me wonder if he added those, at least in some cases, so that they could start on the first beat.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
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.

Do they seem different or better than the hundreds of licks available in Griff's courses? Not being snarky (to Snarf.. lol) just curious.
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
Not that much. So far I've come across a couple of turnarounds that I haven't heard Griff use (one that I really like that he lists as a turnaround, but I think works better going from the I to the V than as a straight-up turnaround), and a few others that are different, but not really better. The ones that sound different are the ones that he's saying sound like someone specific, and he's got a lot of folks in here that I don't remember hearing Griff talk about that much, for example, Hubert Sumlin, Johnny Copeland, Albert Lee, and George Benson (who I always thought was more a jazz player). I think I paid $15 for the book (regular price was $21). It's probably worth that, but, given the chance to do it again, I definitely wouldn't pay regular price for it.
 
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