To Lick or not to Lick?, that is the question!

[cheddatom]

[quote name='alstocko' timestamp='1349883302' post='1831776']
Not from mid-late career he didn't.
I believe that players do relax into tendencies though, but this is different from learned licks...
[/quote]

Well that's subjective. Some people have described their "tendencies" as licks.

Personally, I'd like to think that everything I do is pure improvisation, but I know full well that's not the case because I record myself and can hear repetition. I don't hear other peoples' licks but then i'm not listening out for them

[gjones]

The guitarist in my band recycles his (stolen) licks a million times. To the amusement of the rest of the band (he'll whack a line in a swing and then put the same line in a minor key slow blues). He expects people who know their stuff to realise where he's getting them from and sees it as tribute rather than a straight copy.

Edited October 11, 2012 by gjones

[MacDaddy]

This thread reminds me of the Bill Bailey skit, where the jazz keyboardist thinks he's playing toccata and fugue in Dm, in a solo, but actually ends up playing the theme to Ski Sunday.

Edited October 11, 2012 by MacDaddy