p54

~ 'lifting' ideas off recordings ~

~ ... following the ancient aural traditions of the generational passing along of musical ideas through hearing them, 'lifting' generally means getting ideas from a recording of music; getting pitches, licks, riffs and dittys, chords or rhythms under our fingers right off the music we love to listen to ~

Lift this line. Ever do this before ? Lucky that we ALL get to be newby's and enjoy our first success ! Find this first melody riff ditty by ear, tuned up to standard pitch.
Get it on the first try ? Right on ! Second ? Cool. Three tries a charm ? No worries, just keep on trying at it'll come, as this melody and pitches are among the first we might ever have learned ...

suggested songs for lifting

~ This song is copyrighted, so you will have to find your own recording, work it out by ear and you'll be good off to a good start ~

~ Selena ~
"I Could Fall In Love" (live)

hint: we can find all the bass line story notes for this song on the low 'E' string of a bass or guitar :)

~ This song is copyrighted, so you will have to find your own recording, work it out by ear and you'll be good off to a good start ~

~ Michelle Branch ~

~ Carlos Santana ~

"Game Of Love" (street scene)

~ This song is copyrighted, so you will have to find your own recording, work it out by ear and you'll be good off to a good start ~

The Beatles
"I Will"

~ This song is copyrighted, so you will have to find your own recording, work it out by ear and you'll be good off to a good start ~

Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and Friends

Crossroads ( live )

"Sweet Home Chicago"
12 bar blues in 'E'

now, what's next for you ... ?

Review. The three tricks to lifting are to figure out the key of the song your lifting from, then tune up solid. Second, is any pitch we are trying to find is one of 12. So even searching one by one takes like a minute :) Third, and this idea could be first, that most produced songs are a couple of minutes. Meaning that the same spots in song will come along a few times. So while in some of these exact spots it's hard to hear a pitch, or whatever, that maybe the same spot in the next chorus might be easier to hear. Hope this helps :)

"I find myself listening to the older players. You see one bar of theirs and you can get one hundred more licks out of it ..."

References. References for this page's information comes from school, books and the bandstand and made way easier by the folks along the way.

Find a mentor / e-book / academia Alaska. Always good to have a mentor when learning about things new to us. And with music and its magics, nice to have a friend or two ask questions and collaborate with. Seek and ye shall find. Local high schools, libraries, friends and family, musicians in your home town ... just ask around, someone will know someone who knows someone about music and can help you with your studies in the musical arts.

go to a public library and ask the librarian

Always keep in mind that all along life's journey there will be folks to help us and also folks we can help ... for we are not in this endeavor alone :) The now ancient natural truth is that we each are responsible for our own education. Positive answer this always 'to live by' question; 'who is responsible for your education ... ?

Intensive tutoring. Luckily for musical artists like us, the learning dip of the 'covid years' can vanish quickly with intensive tutoring. For all disciplines; including all the sciences and the 'hands on' trade schools, that with tutoring, learning blossoms to 'catch us up.' In music ? The 'theory' of making musical art is built with just the 12 unique pitches, so easy to master with mentorship. And in 'practice ?' Luckily old school, the foundation that 'all responsibility for self betterment is ours alone.' Which in music, and same for all the arts, means to do what we really love to do ... to make music :)

 

"These books, and your capacity to understand them, are just the same in all places. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing."

wiki ~ Abraham Lincoln

Academia references of Alaska. And when you need university level answers to your questions and musings, and especially if you are considering a career in music and looking to continue your formal studies, begin to e-reach out to the Alaska University Music Campus communities and begin a dialogue with some of Alaska's finest resident maestros !

~

~ comments or questions ... ? ~

~ jacmuse@ak.net ~