Steal licks for your solos

I’ve been learning Deep Purple solos by Ritchie Blackmore recently and I’m definitely stealing some licks.

A lick is basically a short piece of music, often from a solo. They’re just short phrases of music. They can vary in length, but they’re often 1 to 2 to 3 measures long.

If you’re playing your own solo, or improvising a solo, but don’t know what to play or don’t have any ideas you can start by using licks you’ve learned. This is a great way to start getting into improvising and playing your own solos. Start with a short piece of a solo you’ve learned. Here’s one of my favorite Ritchie Blackmore licks that I’ve heard him play in a number of different solos:

It’s a simple lick and it’s a variation of a pretty common lick. This short little thing is in the solo for “Smoke on the Water” as well as a number of other Deep Purple songs.

You could take this lick and use it in your own solos if it works over the chords. It’s such a common piece of musical vocabulary that it’ll just sound like you’re quoting Ritchie Blackmore.

This is quick way to learn how to solo. Learn solos you think are cool. Take some snippets from them. Incorporate those snippets into your own solos. Suddenly you’re solo.

ISJ