@Richard_close2u That’s exactly what I was looking for, an example of playing these licks over a backing track. Thanks for putting this together, glad I found it!
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I have two questions from this lesson:
- Is it OK to use by pinky as an anchor of the body of the guitar when playing the licks or should I be better with a closed hand?
- I don’t get the bit about imaging the sound of the licks. I can visualise the movement but not the sound! How do I imagine the sound?
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HI @Stuartw , since nobody more advanced than me has responded, I will give you my take. I have spent some time with this lesson and have a few thoughts.
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I think either way is ok. I rest my pinky lightly on the guitar face to help orient the position of my hand. I don’t anchor it in the sense of planting it in one spot, which is not a good idea. My pinky is free to move around as my picking hand moves around, keeping light contact with the guitar. Lots of people play this way, but many also play with a closed hand.
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Can you hum a melody in your mind? If you can, then you can also do it with licks. I find this quite useful actually. I listen to Justin play the lick with my eyes closed and I try to repeat it in my mind. This helps especially with getting the rhythm of the lick right.
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Hi John, Just a nice reply if I was to help Stuartw above I would have said exactly the same as you I think it is good positive advice cheers Hec
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Apologies for not responding sooner but life got in the way.
Having double checked it seems to be that I rest on the side of the pinky, which floats and isn’t fixed. I’ve been trying to get away from that and use the closed hand.
Yes I can hum a melody but it’s about as good as my singing!!
I’ll give this a try.
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Specifically on this question Stuart … think in words … phrases, expressions … real and deep and meaningful, or silly and nonsensical.
For more on this very idea check this topic from post 4 on …
I have this topic as a shortcut on my desktop and refer to it frequently, although the particular post not recently. I do indeed repeat licks, to BT’s even, but can’t say that they are speaking words to me!! At the moment my head just doesn’t associate sounds with words. Will this ever come?
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Yes in time but when they do they might not make sense ! Without to much of a spoiler and if I get put on the naughty step again, so be it BUT !
For the series of licks, Justin presented in BLIM he gave them names and phrases to describe them. Now that works for some folks and not others but to take a lick from Pattern 1 and a very old screenshot long before the website relaunch
Now I guess you’re familiar with the lick ?
In BLIM Justin calls the “I Got The Blues”.
Go play the lick, even listen to the lesson with that in mind, speak it or say it how the lick is framed, with the same feel and emotion. That’s kinda the principal that folk are suggesting here, what do those licks convey to you ? Listen to the other P1 licks, do they say anything ?
Could be anything and to be honest it don’t always work for me. But heck the lick could be
“I need some bread”
and a follow up lick in my head,
“but the bay kers woz closed”
Random madness you are now doubt thinking but its me ?? Hope it kinda helps ??
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When to move on?
Hi ya’ll! I have been practicing these licks for a month and a half now and I was wondering when to go on to the pattern 2 lesson.
What was your metric to decide you could move on?
My decision at this day was to move on when I will be able to do each lick 5 time in a row at 90 bpm.
I practice them every time with backing track and will move on when i feel satisfied of how I use them in this field but this is harder to evaluate.
Best regards, Valentin From Paris France
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Re lick 5 there’s a lot of notes to get in a bar!! I’ve been practicing this at 60bpm (using Justin’s Strumming Machine that counts) and still can’t really get this in incl. the curl! At this point there’s no way I would get all the notes with a faster speed. I guess I could spread this over two bars.
Have been tying to follow Justin’s fingers in the video but not sure I’m doing the first 3 notes right. He starts on 5:1 and the pulls of 8:5 but can’t follow how he frets 5:5 to get the pull off note. I’ve been fretting 5:1 and 2 at the same time to get this but not sure that is right!
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Hi Valentin.
I think you’ve answered your own question. You’re ready to move on to learning pattern 2
You can continue exploring the first set of licks and mix new ones into your playing as you learn them.
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Stuart, slow it down to a tempo you can easily play it. Practice at that tempo until the lick(s) become ingrained, then gradually speed it up.
Justin explains rolling the index finger for the triplet on beat 3
You could use the same technique going from the note on beat 1 to the triplet on beat 2
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If I slow it down much more I’ll be going backwards!! I use Justin’s strumming machine for counting (so I know where beat 1 is) but the slowest that will do is 60bpm. Tried a metronome but can’t keep count!
I’ll give that a go.
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FYI, I’ve had to go as slow as 40bpm when first trying to learn a lick (specifically, the intro of “She Talks to Angels” by the Black Crowes). After being able to play the lick(s) SOLIDLY at 40bpm, I was able to quickly increase the speed. The lick didn’t sound anything like the original recording at such a low speed, but once I was able to get the pattern under my fingers, speeding it up made it sound right again.
There are dozens of free metronome phone apps out there that will go slower than 60 and have an accent on the tone of the beat 1 click so you know where you are in the bar, negating the need to count so much. I suggest you try one. The one I use is called “Smart Metronome & Tuner” for iOS by Tomohiro Ihara. It’s free 
YMMV
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I’ve been trying to play the 5no. licks over this single chord backing track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZPVstFpCzw but can’t keep them in time. I can’t work out when one bar ends and the next starts. Have tried tapping my foot but playing the lick just puts my foot out of time. Can’t do three things at once! Any ideas?
It doesn’t help that YT stutters on playback.
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Are these the 5 P1 licks Stuart ?
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I think for your needs, that backing track is not going to work. Yes, it has a drum beat (1 2 & 3 4 with an occasional drum fill) but no other rhythm. The chord just rolls on and on and on giving no other rhythmic information.
There are loads of interesting backing tracks. In my view, that is not one.
PS
If we’re really going to help you we need to see and hear yoh play.
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How about this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1iVA8Pm3Yc If this is not OK can you suggest any at 60bpm?
I reminded of a Buddy Holly song at this point. 