Breaking Down Pickups and Main Licks
Hi David,
I’m working on improving my improvisation. I’ve already studied chorus forms and focus notes, and I’m trying to build up my vocabulary of licks (main licks, turnarounds, V–IV–I, and pickups). I’m someone who likes to structure things quite a lot — including improvisation — and that’s why I have a question regarding licks.
If we have a lick that starts before beat one of the bar, is everything that comes before beat one considered a pickup, or can it be part of the lick itself?
By ear, it’s easy to tell whether something is a pickup or not, since a pickup consists of notes that transition into something. But could we consider everything that comes before beat one as a pickup and learn it that way, making sure that all main licks land on beat one?Also, if you structure it this way, it becomes much easier (at least for me) to know which beat, bar, and chord you’re playing the licks over, and not get lost in the 12-bar structure.
Hello alberplayer.
Notes that come before the beat can be a part of the lick.
Take a listen to "Baby Scratch My Back" by Slim Harpo and you'll hear that all the notes lead to one target note, the downbeat of the next bar. One way to think about it is that all those notes are a pickup, but that also means you should be able to take all those notes away and that single note should stand alone as the main idea. So, are all the notes a pickup to that one note, or is it the nature of the lick to live before the beat? Arguments can be made for both sides.
One of the elements of syncopation (swings and shuffles... think Little Walter), is to vary where you play, especially starting on the upbeat instead of the downbeat.
As a teacher, I actively look for patterns, but one of the things that came clear fairly quickly was that music is both math and art. The art side of things will fight constants.
With all this in mind, most licks will start on, or around beat one (if you get rid of the pickups), so your method can work. As time goes on, do work on playing more on other beats (and upbeats)... rhythmic variety is an element of good music.