5 Blues Licks from Pattern 1

When practicing string bending on the highest E string (String 1), I have now broken two strings when bending from fret 8 to 10. The string break occurs around the 8th fret. This has happened whilst bending to the correct note (i.e., I have not been overbending to a too high pitch). Any experts out there have any advice for me?

First, check for sharp frets. Maybe give them a polish.

Cheers, Shane

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@Richard_close2u Thatā€™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:

  1. 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?
  2. I donā€™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?

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.

  1. I think either way is ok. I rest my pinky lightly on the guitar face to help orient the position of my hand. I donā€™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.

  2. 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 isnā€™t fixed. Iā€™ve been trying to get away from that and use the closed hand.

Yes I can hum a melody but itā€™s about as good as my singing!!

Iā€™ll give this a try.

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Specifically on this question Stuart ā€¦ think in words ā€¦ phrases, expressions ā€¦ real and deep and meaningful, or silly and nonsensical.
For more on this very idea check this topic from post 4 on ā€¦

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 BTā€™s even, but canā€™t say that they are speaking words to me!! At the moment my head just doesnā€™t associate sounds with words. Will this ever come?

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

image

Now I guess youā€™re familiar with the lick ?

In BLIM Justin calls the ā€œI Got The Bluesā€.

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. Thatā€™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 donā€™t always work for me. But heck the lick could be
ā€œI need some breadā€

and a follow up lick in my head,

ā€œbut the bay kers woz closedā€

Random madness you are now doubt thinking but its me ?? Hope it kinda helps ??

:crazy_face:

As I write in that topic, force the words if they donā€™t come.
Or nonsense.
In Post #5 I put this.


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When to move on?

Hi yaā€™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 thereā€™s a lot of notes to get in a bar!! Iā€™ve been practicing this at 60bpm (using Justinā€™s Strumming Machine that counts) and still canā€™t really get this in incl. the curl! At this point thereā€™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 Justinā€™s fingers in the video but not sure Iā€™m doing the first 3 notes right. He starts on 5:1 and the pulls of 8:5 but canā€™t follow how he frets 5:5 to get the pull off note. Iā€™ve been fretting 5:1 and 2 at the same time to get this but not sure that is right!

Hi Valentin.
I think youā€™ve answered your own question. Youā€™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.

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

If I slow it down much more Iā€™ll be going backwards!! I use Justinā€™s strumming machine for counting (so I know where beat 1 is) but the slowest that will do is 60bpm. Tried a metronome but canā€™t keep count!

Iā€™ll give that a go.

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FYI, Iā€™ve had to go as slow as 40bpm when first trying to learn a lick (specifically, the intro of ā€œShe Talks to Angelsā€ 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 didnā€™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 ā€œSmart Metronome & Tunerā€ for iOS by Tomohiro Ihara. Itā€™s free :sunglasses:

YMMV

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