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Lick (music)
 
 
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In popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
 genres such as rock music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short phrase
Phrase (music)

In music a phrase is a section of music that is relatively self contained and coherent over a medium time scale. In common practice, phrases are often four and most often eight bar s, or Measure s, long....
, or series of notes that is used in solos and melodic lines. The term is most often used by rock music
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
ians who play the guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
. Licks in rock and roll are often used through a formula, and variation
Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
s technique in which variants of simple, stock ideas are blended and developed during the solo. In heavy metal
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
, the term "hot lick" is often used.

In a jazz band
Jazz band

A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music usually without a conductor. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section....
, a lick may be performed during an improvised solo, either during an accompanied solo chorus or during an unaccompanied solo break
Break (music)

In popular music a break is an instrumental or percussion instrument section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main section of the song or piece....
.






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In popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
 genres such as rock music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short phrase
Phrase (music)

In music a phrase is a section of music that is relatively self contained and coherent over a medium time scale. In common practice, phrases are often four and most often eight bar s, or Measure s, long....
, or series of notes that is used in solos and melodic lines. The term is most often used by rock music
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
ians who play the guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
. Licks in rock and roll are often used through a formula, and variation
Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
s technique in which variants of simple, stock ideas are blended and developed during the solo. In heavy metal
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
, the term "hot lick" is often used.

In a jazz band
Jazz band

A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music usually without a conductor. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section....
, a lick may be performed during an improvised solo, either during an accompanied solo chorus or during an unaccompanied solo break
Break (music)

In popular music a break is an instrumental or percussion instrument section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main section of the song or piece....
. Jazz licks are usually original short phrases which can be altered so that they can be used over a song's changing harmonic progressions.

Similar concepts

A lick is different from the related concept of a riff
RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks.It was introduced in 1991 by Microsoft and International Business Machines, and was presented by Microsoft as the default format for Windows 3.1x multimedia files....
 in that riffs can also include repeated chord progression
Chord progression

A chord progression is series of chord s played in order. Chord progressions are central to most modern music and the principal study of harmony....
s. Licks are usually associated with single-note melodic lines rather than chord progressions. However, like riffs, licks can be used as the basis of an entire song. Single-line riffs or licks used as the basis of classical music pieces are called ostinatos
Ostinato

In music, an Ostinato is a motif or phrase which is persistently repetition in the same musical voice. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody....
. Contemporary jazz writers also use riff- or lick-like ostinatos in modal
Modal jazz

Modal jazz is jazz using musical modes rather than chord progressions as its harmonic framework....
 music and Latin jazz
Latin jazz

Latin jazz is the general term given to music that combines rhythms from African and Latin American countries with jazz and classical harmonies from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States....
.

A lick can be a hook
Hook (music)

A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase , that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener"....
, if the lick meets the definition of a hook: "a music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
al idea, a passage or phrase
Phrase (music)

In music a phrase is a section of music that is relatively self contained and coherent over a medium time scale. In common practice, phrases are often four and most often eight bar s, or Measure s, long....
, that is believed to be appealing and make the song stand out", and "catch the ear of the listener" (Covach 2005, p.71). A lick may be incorporated into a fill
Fill (music)

In popular music, a fill is a shortened musical passage, riff, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the listener's attention during a break between the Phrase s of a melody....
, which is a short passage played in the pause between phrases of a melody.

See also

  • Vamp (music)
    Vamp (music)

    In jazz, Gospel music, Soul Music, and musical theater, a vamp is a repetition musical figure or accompaniment. A vamp may consist of a single chord or a sequence of chords played in a repeated rhythm....


Sources

  • Covach, John. "Form in Rock Music: A Primer", in Stein, Deborah (2005). Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517010-5.
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