Having tried the 'licks over chords' approach I now find it results in a kind of tourists attempt to master a language rather than a deeper appreciation for the rules of grammar and syntax.

When I like part of a solo, I'm now trying to think more about what's going on inside the line in terms of grammar and syntax as well as vocabulary or note choices.

Considerations are along the lines of...

what sort of interval moves
what kind of ornamentation (deflections/ telescopes/rotations etc)
what scale or melodic cell is used,
Use of octave displacement
Beat displacement
Call and response
How the riff targeted the chord tones
How the longer pattern or riff grew from a smaller underlying rhythmic melodic/motif and how it was transformed,(augmentation/diminution etc) how the was the motif was sequenced etc.

When it's a complex modal lick that seems to unfurl over about 8 bars you want to be breaking it down into the melodic cells in use (often 4 note ones but not exclusively)and looking at how it went beyond the underlying harmony if at all.

If I was to categorize them which i don't..it would be more in terms of these factors. This way you can come up with your own based on the techniques you've discerned.


As far as transcribing goes..for me it's more a case of trying to get inside the mind of the soloist to see his longer term thinking rather than ransacking it for licks. If I take something from it then It'll be how to pace and structure the solo over a period of time. Mostly in I'm thinking about the broader sweep of the solo, how it was builds from its initial gestures, note placement in relation to the pulse and the use of space between phrases, how one phrase or motif leads to the next etc.

Really when your playing there often Isn't time for consciously using licks (if they happen to be there its usually subconscious). So if you are going to learn them make sure you can transform them and build upon them so they can be part of the natural flow rather than some discontinuous stream of quotations.

A really good resource for building coherent lines in an organic way is Bert Ligon 'Connecting Lines With Linear Harmony'. This is really about how you target guide tones and I think this is the best way for a beginner rather than learning a bunch of licks.
The 'licks over each chord' approach runs the risk of solos that sound stilted and contrived. Using a linear method gives you space to breathe and be spontaneous whilst keeping the overall structure in mind.

Beyond that you want to breaking tunes down to tonal centres to which a 4 or 8 bar group of chords resolve. the strong tonal points in a tune. Then you can experiment with various substitute ways of arriving at these strong tonal points that are different each time.


HTH

Regards

Alan

Last edited by alan S.; 04/11/13 07:10 AM.