Hi and welcome to this very first Lick of the Week (LOTW), a series of concept lessons which will go more in-depth into both the technical AND theoretical side of the "piano lick"
In this particular post and corresponding lesson video, I'll be touching a few of the basic concepts of musical "licks," but for this first lesson I'll stick more to the practical side of how to actually use and RE-use (a very important aspect of Piano Hacking - the overall approach to playing music here @ Piano Couture) the piano lick.
I'm strongly considering doing a lot more of these more "general" lessons, not focusing on just the one song like in most of my tutorials, but teaching about more general musical concepts and techniques. Please let me know what you think of that in the comments below!
Lesson | contents
In this lesson we'll:
- Take apart, and build back up the rhythmic placement of this piano lick, the most important aspect of it (as it is so often - maybe even always)
- Doing so creating three (or is it four?) very cool and highly usable alternatives.
- Take a look at how this piano lick changes flavor as we change the underlying harmonies, and even actually change the key
- Giving a nice insight in how licks can be used, re-used, transformed and transposed!
Jamie c. | Jazzy blues lick master
A few weeks ago I posted a tutorial for Jamie Cullum's "These Are The Days". Jamie plays a funky little lick in the start of that song, which I thought would be very cool to use here in this first LOTW lesson. Serves as a wonderful subject to be taken apart and experiment the different aspects I have in mind for these new series kind of lessons.
He plays this lick while we're finding ourselves in the key of G, making this a very pentatonic (Em or G) oriented flavor. Something that tends to work quite well when you're shooting for the more bluesy type of jazzy mood.
However, in the lesson video we'll also discuss how to transform the mood by changing key, when the different note relationships to the underlying chords/key change and how to do this.
Please, in the comments below, let me know what you think and which piano lick you'd like to learn!
Cheers, Coen.
piano lick | note pic
I like the way you make things seen so simple, but how does a person retain all these things, is their some secret,I'm not looking for something easy just looking for a progression to get better!!!!!!!! thank you
Hi Prophet, thanks so much for your comment.
The key to it all is to make sure you know your chords and scales. If you're comfortable with those and can "speak fluent" within each key, everything will start making so much more sense and is much easier to remember.
In my mind, when I "think" a key, the corresponding notes just seem to light up in my mind and I know in which ballpark I am... so to speak 🙂
Then it's a matter of matching up ears and knowledge.
If you're interested in getting into this, maybe you could try out my intro course which will give you an introduction in this way of approaching music!
Cheers, Coen
Have you done any more .This is what I would like to see. More general concepts
I sure do Tom, just released a new one and more to come! 🙂 Check it out here: https://piano-couture.com/lotw-2-bluesy-thirds-piano-lick/
Cheers, Coen.
Love these little "lick" sessions you are recording. They are great title transferable dazzlers you can take into any piano conversion..."so to speak". Would love to see more of these little lick sessions.
Just came across your YouTube and website world. Absolutely love how you are deconstructing the way to play. I played for years as a young kid learning classic approach...but lost interest. This approach has awoken me from a 20+ year slumber. In just a few hours, I have put together more fun chord and melody progressions than I've ever managed to sight read and remember. For someone like me, someone who has a pretty good natural ear and a few years of base technique and theory,...this is the ideal wake up call and enabler to get back into piano. Thank you for sharing the way you think about and embrace your playing, It is very different, but it truly does "speak to me." Just wish the rest of the world could realize that there are always different approaches and ways to understand and think about things in our adult journies. -Andrew in Michigan
Hi Andrew,
Thanks so much for your kind words! Truly motivational comment, which tells me I'm still going in the right direction 🙂 - 2016 wasn't the best year and there's a lot of re-structuring going on at the moment, both in my head as well as on this website. I'm having a lot of moments of clarity-of-mind lately; epiphanies if you will, and am really finding my drive and motivation again. 2017 is going to be great - I just know it.
I'm really excited I've been able to provide you with such a wake up call! Those are the messages that drive me and that's the motivation I'm talking about.
Thanks again for your comment and for becoming a Couturian! 🙂
Cheers, Coen.