I think I heard at some point that we are going to create a “lick book“. I’m very curious about this concept! Will this be explained by Justin at some point?
I’m already thinking of ways that such a book could be organized:
By style (like B.B. King)
By pattern (like Pentatonic or CAGED shape)
By type (Like a turnarounds)
Has anyone started to make one or know how to get started on one?
I’m “licking” my chops to sink my teeth into this project!
Cheers,
Todd
I started mine off some time ago, in a looseleaf type of folder. It allows you to move stuff around, as you change your mind. And you will change your mind. 
Cheers, Shane
Thanks Shane!
I realized after posting, Justin does have some printouts. I was just kinda wondering how people organized them.
I may try to do them in Guitar Pro and print duplicates to go in different folders. Seems like there’s a fair number of possibilities on how to file!
If anyone has any other tips, I’m all ears!
Thanks!
Todd
Hi Todd,
This is mine, I started writing 3 pages last year, to be honest that is 2 and a half more than I expected 
, if there is any possible doubt about where the lick came from (some are so obvious that I don’t need to add anything above them) I will write it above… … the red line is the end of the lick…
there are about 25 leaves in it, my wife says (she made it) so by the time it’s full I’ll be playing jam sessions in a pub 
I’ll have to look into it some day , but it’s nice to know it’s there
inserts would probably be better for a messer like me…but I am equipped with a bottle of correction fluid 
Greetings
Hah, now that’s an idea. Never thought about that.
And why not?
Maybe not quite the same, but I’ve started using Songbook Pro.
It’s a program that’s really set up to collect and categorize songsheets, and those songsheets can be in ChordPro format, which allows for the program to make key changes, show chord charts, and even switch instruments (to show chord charts for those instruments, too). Where it might be relevant here is that it can also categorize songs that are in pdf documents. That doesn’t really allow you to do the key changes or any of that, but it does help with the categorization.
So you can insert the song or lick into your library once but then tag it/categorize it into multiple places at once. So if it fits more than one of the categories you’ve set up, you don’t have to duplicate it.
I’ve started off by populating my library with a library from ozbcoz.com. Most people download stuff from there in the single huge pdf document. That’s fine, but it’s a real PITA to search and pull up the song you want. The songs are ALSO available individually in ChordPro format. I found a browser extension that let me bulk download all 4,000+ of them. I’ve also started adding my own. My wife uses the same library of songs for her ukulele playing and has started adding her own stuff (so far, just variations on songs that are already in there).
Since this app can also handle stuff in pdf format, I’ll probably eventually start to add things like licks and other lead material (say, lead guitar parts for songs already in there, but are essentially just rhythm) by creating them in clean Guitar Pro TAB formatting.
It’s probably more common for folks to use OnSong for this, which is an iOS only app (which is also a subscription-based app). But since I don’t have any iOS devices, I had to choose something else. Songbook Pro has versions for Android, Windows, AND iOS. That’s super handy for me because I can make edits on my desktop or laptop, sync my edits to my Google Drive, and then pull those up on a tablet.
I like this method better than just keeping a massive binder full of stuff that gets harder and harder to search and categorize the bigger it gets. I won’t be getting completely away from the binder for awhile because I still have a bunch of handwritten material from my instructor. But I can absolutely move stuff into the digital library over time. In fact my instructor gave me a song yesterday that I liked so much that I put it into my digital library last night.
Yeah not quite the same. Been using SBP for a good few years for collating repertoire ie songs but it really isn’t much use when creating a lick library. A good tab journal like @roger_holland shared or annotating in Guitar Pro. Both methods used here.
I think there is a way you could use it for this, though. For example, here I imported a PDF. No reason you couldn’t do the same for licks (in PDF format or scans of handwritten material, even). You can edit the metadata for these just the way you can for text-based material. So you could bring in licks, tag them as licks, and then assign them to categories based on genre, key, technique used, etc.
The whole idea of a lick book is to write them out so they stick in your brain. Justin is a big advocate of transcribing and writting things down. Copy and paste doesn’t teach you anything
putting it down in Guitar Pro works just as well for me as handwriting it, at least for the things I have done so far. in this case, Songbook Pro is just a way to help me find stuff later. And if you want, you can scan your handwritten stuff, too.
if I bury myself in handwritten musical notes, I’m going to be buried in handwritten materials that are difficult to organize. that doesn’t serve me very well. for me, if I’m going to digitize and digitally catalog it, it doesn’t make sense for me to handwrite it and then digitize it when I could digitize it in the first place and avoid wasting the paper. maybe that’s my neurodivergence coming out some, but I’m not going to discount a solution that works for me as a one that might work for others, too.
there’s more than one way to do lots of stuff. far be it from me to say what won’t work for someone else, but I figure if it works for me, I’m probably not the only one who finds it useful.
Hi Nate ,
The whole idea of a lick book is
and not to remember it immediately all direct, when you are a year later or 3 and 40 + licks further you will see that half of what you wrote down (in whatever way) you have forgotten, sometimes because the licks do not suit you, more often because something else comes up every time you learn a song or the licks lessons from Justin where 5 or in the Blim 10 a time will be teached and me and Justin and most people simply can`t remember that all. (not quite my own words but Justin’s most)
In this case copy past does teach/remenber you someting later 
So you are doing fine.
Greetings
hey, someone understands how my brain works!
I’m new to using apps and programs, so I appreciated the 2 you mentioned in this post. They look promising.
As an aside, I read your log concerning learning music in school, and I sympathize with the difficulties. I often wished I had learned a different way, too, but I suppose I should be grateful that at least I learned >something< and it’s a stepping stone to helping me decide how I want to learn now.
Play on!
it’s taken me a really long time to wrap my head around some of the ways that I learn. for so long, some things just came so easy to me that I didn’t need to think about them.
it wasn’t until I was well into adulthood and had some major changes that exposed some things and really forced me to learn how my own brain worked and how I learned things. it wasn’t until I went through that process that I started to piece together some of the reasons why guitar was a challenge for me. I’m glad to have learned these things about myself, but man, I wish I had learned most of them earlier.
