Speed Lick
Thu, 05/22/2014 - 05:53
In LOA 1, chorus 6 of Walk With Me has what you call a speed lick. I've looked ahead and see that tongue slaps are introduced in LOA 2 so I understand that this lick includes no slaps. But I can't help but wonder if speed licks sometimes include slaps or are they almost always played very cleanly? The speed required in Walk With Me doesn't preclude some tongue slaps, particularly on the first part of each triplet, so that's the kind of thing I'm wondering about. Thanks!
Hello SmokeJS. First off all, "Walk with Me" is more of a ballad blues and slaps are not used as much in that setting. Speed licks can use slaps, though slapping all the notes can be in some cases too much... too slappy. In those cases usually the downbeat of each triplet figure is slapped.
Here's a good example...
"Walk with Me," Bar 7 of the 4th Chorus you get the lick 6+ 6+, 5 5, 5+ 5+, 4 in a shuffle rhythm. It would be typical to slap all those notes.
In "Feelin' for the Blues" the same lick is changed to triplets with 6+ 5+ 6+, 5 4 5, 5+ 4+ 5+ 4. At that tempo you could slap all the notes, but it does't sound that good, so players will commonly slap the first and third note of each triplet. If the lick were faster and slapping the first and third note of each triplet was challenging then the player would just slap the first note of each triplet.
When you get to Tongue Blocking Study 3 it would be more common to see that lick played like 6+ P 6+, 5 P 5, 5+ P 5+, 4, again, slapping the first and third note of each triplet, but using a pull for the second note of the triplet. You'll see this usage as your studies progress.