Just playing live that one time has totally changed my perspective on alot of things.
For instance I didn't really like or understand the Jump style playing. From a harp playing perspective it just seemed rather simple and repetitive. However for some reason I get it now. I can see the song a bit better from an audience perspective. Aswell as a stage player perspective.
When playing I try to keep my playing moving and interesting. Which means playing new and somewhat complex things. However there's only so much material one can have and if your playing a song that requires you to play quite a bit ... you'll burn out all of your material in just a few songs. Also there are many different grooves, so you have to have material that fits each groove and speed.
The licks that I used to think were just boring and repetitive actually serve quite a few functions. For one, you've got alot of time to kill up there sometimes, especially if your leading the song and you dont want to burn up all your good material in one song. So These repeating style licks can sure kill some time. Also, while as a harp player I get bored with a lick after a certain number of repetitions because I'm trying to keep my playing moving, fresh, and interesting for me to play..... the audience actually is just starting to get into it when I'm getting bored with it. Because after it repeats a few times, now it's something they know... even if they have never heard the song before. You can literally watch the whole crowd start to move because they can anticipate the groove.
Anyhow ... just this simple realization has got me looking at music in a whole new way. I'm now trying to cop as many of these tasty repeating licks As possible.
I've often heard blues greats say that "the blues is repetition with variation" and I knew what they meant .. I just never played it that way. I felt that I had to make things complicated for some reason. Now I see that you can put in one nice little "showoff solo" and the rest of the time you need an interesting way to kill time ... lol. So even if you need to repeat yourself, they can still be flavorful and a bit complex. No need for them to be super simple.
I'm rambling now, so I'll just end it by asking what your favorite licks like this are?
I suppose I should have had a few examples ready .... but... I didn't... lol.
Anyhow notice on William Clarke's - Blowin Like Hell how many of the licks are repeated 3 or 4 times. Also at about 1:25 he repeats the same lick for about 30 seconds. 30 seconds is alot of time to kill on stage.
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 06, 2018 2:03 PM
Also I find another kind of repeating lick very useful. A "Hook" style lick.
For instance when playing a song like "Scratch my back" I find it Super easy to improvise. Because you can always fall back on that scratch my back lick when you get stuck or to tie everything together.
Ha, I was thinking about William Clarke when I read the first post, hadn’t seen the clip you’d posted, but had just been listening to Blowin’ Like Hell in the car What I’d noticed, I think I was listening to Lonesome Bedroom, was how Clarke played a couple solos in which he would play a 2 bar lick, or a 1 bar lick and repeat it, and rest 2 bars, come back on the change for 2 bars, and rest 2 bars. I think he plays 2 choruses in that fashion, with the guitar filling the rests and the turnarounds, then the final chorus he is active throughout, but still plenty of repetition. As Dave Barrett says, too much change = sameness. It’s quickly boring because it’s predictably unpredictable. No one can get in the groove, there’s no tension, so no release. You can apply the principle a number of ways. Check out little Walter on blues with a feeling. He basically plays a warble for 8 bars. Ok, he plays 1.75 bars, then interrupts briefly before hitting it for another 4 beats, a really cool transition leading to the chord change but it is just to a warble again, albeit relative to the new chord. Then he goes back to the original warble until bar 9 pops up and he lays out this great melodic line through the bars 9 and 10 and then hits us with a turnaround. Same, same, little change leading to... same, same, big change and end of story Tension, small release, more tension, small release, even more tension, big release, resolution. 12 very satisfying bars, great story, but almost 2/3rds of it is a warble
Repetition - yes that's what I like. I like playing it, I like listening to it. I've long been banging the drum about the joys of comping - while most other people are on about soloing, always soloing. Or tunes! On a harp! IMO the best harp solos are comping at heart with a bit of variation thrown in. Just like Superbee's analysis there in fact.
I was playing cards with my boys last night, and we put on some jazz, somewhat ironically. Good jazz, great jazz in fact, but after a bit uuughh all that endless variation - the apex of the art form - did our heads in.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jan 07, 2018 2:06 AM
That's my thoughts exactly Super Bee. Too much change gets boring too. There's certainly a delicate balance. I didn't really get this until recently. But it has certainly been an eye opener. I want to go back and visit Dave barret again. I keep hoping I'll be in the right place to really make use of what he has to offer.
MTG i just can't stand that type of jazz. Like a diarrhea of notes. No real rythm or structure. It's not for me ... lol.
Certainly there are some cool fancy repeating licks that yall like to goto. What are some of them?
Here are some instrumentals, among others, that I think demonstrate the virtues of repetition: Rick Estrin/Rusty Zinn, “Chicago Shuffle”; Gary Smith, “Chrome Bullet Boogie”; And, since Little Walter has come up, “Don’t Have to Hunt No More”. Bee, so I checked out Blues With a Feeling, listened as you broke it down. Hearing aids be damned, I heard it in quite a different and more appreciative way. So, thanks. ---------- Phil Pennington ---------- Phil Pennington
Fil thanks I'll check those tunes out. I'm trying to build up a good library of these types of licks as they are certainly key to playing in a live setting.
As far as hearing new stuff in old songs... BOTH Walter's do that to me quite often. There's tons of things that as I get better as a player I hear totally differently.
I found that as my ideas changed, I would mine existing songs for different nuggets. A corny example would be Juke - the main thrust of attention seems to be people replicating and extending it. But there are loads of repeating phrases in it which you can employ elsewhere. You might even get smiles of recognition from the cognoscenti in the audience thinking you are paying passing homage to the original :) They can turn to their guests and let them in on the secret, and you will have brought joy to the world, which is good.
Some time ago, I also went through a 'Blues Rhythm Guitar' book I had for ages, and adapted some of the ideas in that for harp. Rich pickings for repetitive phrases. So as Adam encourages us to do, you can look for phrases from other instruments. That can be a refreshing change from the standard blues-harp schtick.
Since sampling has been available, that whole idea is a valid and satisfying song form in itself. Taking a short phrase from one song and repeating it. Blue Boy's 'Remember Me' being a fav among thousands of examples.
Even the Juke opening riff was, they say, a standard sax phrase. Converted and repeated to make the basis for 12-bars for instrumental.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jan 08, 2018 5:30 AM
Great point MTG. I have started to pick these out in alot of songs. There are some pretty slick ones that the jump guys play.
But I suppose you can really Take any lick and repeat it. My instinct was to grab lesser known or more general licks. But you have a good point on the famous licks. I often hear them in a players solo and it makes me smile. Usually I'm sure it just comes out and is not really an intentional homage, but still ... it is one whether it was intentional or not.
