Record, Create, Play - Lick Book
Record, Create, Play is the name we gave this book because that is what is how it helps us – You record your ideas in this book, then create riffs, songs, etc., using those ideas, then go out and play or record them with your band or other musical friends. In short, we call it the “Lick Book”.
What is a Lick Book? It is a book of blank manuscript pages and is where you write down and keep all your creative ideas in one place for the future so you can easily access them later for your musical projects.
Most music students do not realise how valuable this book will become in their future musical lives. For example, myself - Kevin, I didn’t realise what my teachers were talking about when I first heard the idea of a lick book. Joe Diorio, one of the founding teachers at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles (Now called the Musicians Institute), was the first person I heard tell of the idea. He said you should write everything down because all your good ideas today are too easily forgotten tomorrow.
Then years later, Len Doran, my first great teacher in Wellington mentioned it to me. Len also said that for everything I write down will be like putting money in the bank, but I couldn’t see money going into my bank account back then. I wondered what it all meant.
It wasn’t until later I realised that all these ideas I had written down I could use in my guitar solos, original songs, arrangements, and later in my writings of books and articles, etc. There were just so many ways I could use these ideas I was astounded. That is when I realised what he was talking about. It took a long time to click in my head. The same is true for many musicians, including our students.
Whether you are using these ideas for your garage band, school band, church band, semi-professional, or professional career, I am sure you will find many places you can use all the ideas you come up with.
Some ideas might not be the best when you first write them out, but when you come back later in a few months or years’ time you will find new ways of playing them or changing them slightly, etc., to make them better.
We suggest you use this lick book with a decent pencil and rubber. Software programs are not the best for this type of work for many reasons, computers take a while to start up and an idea could be lost before you get to the software. All your ideas will be strewn all over the place on your computer. If you are new to this, writing the rhythms could take a long time compared to handwriting them, and there are many more reasons why handwriting is best.
We also suggest you ask your teacher(s) for some advice on how to use and organise your lick book.
Many of our students who have used this lick book system have gone onto become the best players in their city, professional careers, and have won best CD of the year at the New Zealand Music Awards. You could be one of them? Remember - you don’t have to be a professional to play like one or come up with ideas like one, it is just a matter of writing ideas down and implementing them.
We wish you happy days writing all your ideas down, using them in your amateur or professional careers, and showing what a creative soul, you are and can become with time.
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