Ok, admit it - have you played a lick over and over and over to elicit aud. cheers?

[KazJY]

Who's done it?

I was listening to a STUDIO CD of a great guitar player, and the same lick was played over and over - through like 4 to 6 bars of a 12-bar blues. There was no live audience to hear this, just me in my car.

Seems like this kind of thing would impress non-guitar players more, ya know?

For the record, I have done the hammer-on thing with one finger, alternating between 2nd fret and the open string before... (G or D string, for example) but the crowd was too busy eating and drinking, as it was a corporate affair. :messedup Now I know...

[gtrwrks]

Hell no.

Edit - Shades of Kenny G.

[Bryan T]

Those repetitive licks do get a crowd going, don't they?

[Gas-man]

Yes, I do it!

No shame in mah game bra.

[airzorba2]

i do the repetetive lick thing all the time - though never on purpose!

[Brian Krashpad]

If you're a rock and roll player and haven't done this, you're probably a lousy showman.

Stagecraft is an integral part of performance, at least in rock and roll.

[Funky Chicken]

I only know one lick. I have no choice.

[Dave Orban]

Yup.

Usually when my hand starts to get crampy, or something like that.

It's just friggin' AMAZING. LOL!

[MuseCafeChris]

I only know one lick. I have no choice.

Damn you. Beat me to it.

[DavidE]

Yes. In fact, I play the same ones. Over and over and over.

At a recent gig, I had some guy telling me how awesome I played and that I should make the band give me more and longer solos etc....

I looked at him and told him thanks, but my playing bores me to death already! :jo I thought it was funny, but it was also true in a lot of cases.

[jazzandmetal?]

I only know one lick. I have no choice.

Damn you. Beat me to it.

But is it the same lick?:messedup

[rwe333]

Works for players from Van Halen and Marino to Stern and Martino (all badass).
Can't say I do it, but more power to those that do...

[90wreck]

I feel embarrassed when I do(read RARELY)..Even though the crowd seems to get whipped into a frenzy over a silly lick played 20 times in a row.(remember now...each time with more enthusiasm)
I also don't like to to play solo's that are "cliched'"...I prefer to put my own stamp on them........ by repeating a 3 note triplet over and over again until the crowd is screaming..................STOP IT!
:p:rotflmao:rotflmao:rotflmao
BTW...I really wish I could express my playing...I don't like doing any "Look at me" stuff for the crowd......More playing for the band to make it come together and get a few smiles from the members.
(Fellow guitarist sits in...Plays "Eruption"...Give me a break...The crowd gows WILD...Really...I tell him..keep on going dude, you are doing great......Hey, what don't you do "Icecream Man" too?".. so he does)
I am a sarcastic bastard, you guys know that.:)

[lcjc800]

it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension , stops, looks at watch,
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
it builds tension
big bend and retard......:RoCkIn

[lcjc800]

no, never....

[gainiac]

Their definitely exists appropriate moments to repeat the same lick over-n-over.

:drool

[darth_vader]

I'm a slow-ass blues player, but for one little 16th-note triplet lick that I can sit on all day, and finishes perfectly with a full-step bend up to the root. That's when the rest of the band knows I've run out of ideas :p

As for the audience, they're usually too drunk to tell whether I'm repeating the same lick or not.

[mprvise]

No, but just for fun I held a note for 12 bars once. People dug it.

[KeithC]

I do it but usually only get about 2-3 times of the repeated lick right:jo

[wcmiller]

I'm a little surprised by some of the posts here, is motific development not a critical element of musicality? I know the OP was asking whether or not people do this specifically to impress the audience. Others have mentioned how a crowd will often indeed really respond to this scenario.

Does this not just reinforce that repetion can be a powerful and effective musical device. I'm all for showmanship and everything, it is show business after all but the audience responds because you're driving a musical ideal home that they can latch on to. Repetition, when down with taste and musicality should certainly not be avoided IMHO. I would be more interested in how an audience responds to my ideas rather than anticipating what other guitar players may or may not think. Maybe I'm not interpreting the posts accurately, can you please repeat yourselves so I understand, I'm a little slow :)

[Brett Valentine]

Yeah I do it. . .

Shamelessly!

In fact, if the crowd is really going, I'll even grab whatever I'm drinking and take a long drink too!


And of course, that's the only thing they remember.

[StompBoxBlues]

I remember seeing some jazz sax guy talking about Clarence Clemens with Bruce Springsteen, that "man...he's just holding ONE note....he's bent forward, backward, straining...but I mean, it's just ONE note, and the crowd goes wild"...

But the thing I think we guitarists do too much is not give the listener anything at all to "hang their hat on".

It's a very cool thing to play a phrase (or even a note) but it has to be played with feel, over and over, while the band goes to a new chord and back again, etc. Creates tension.

Even as a guitarist, I get turned off with just scaling, or constantly different things in solos all the time. A good solo is like talking...people often repeat themselves in a speech for emphasis. I like solos that start with an idea, a small phrase, build from it, go somewhere else (changing dynamic and timing) but RETURN to that phrase or a variation of it.

That to me is great playing.

[tone4days]

i probably have

doesnt Johnny A do the same 3-note lick over an entire chorus on one of his studio tunes?

[madscientist]

Are you kidding, of course I do.

Once, during a rousing cover of "Freebird", I did that descending pull off thing at the end for three full minutes...of course, it didn't end until the other guitar player harmonized and we held THAT for two minutes.

At almost 12 minutes, we called it our "King Crimson" version of Freebird.

[shredtrash]

All the time! The crowd loves it and I'm a ham so there you go.

[Greggy]

I am above that. It would certainly compromise my artistic integrity.

[Greggy]

No, but just for fun I held a note for 12 bars once. People dug it.

And you probably said more with that single note than BB King communicates with 3 notes.

[KazJY]

i probably have

doesnt Johnny A do the same 3-note lick over an entire chorus on one of his studio tunes?

This is the exact example that lead to my original post. I couldn't believe it. On a studio track too. He just didn't have to - that's what I was thinking.

[KazJY]

And you probably said more with that single note than BB King communicates with 3 notes.

Hysterical.

[Lucidology]

Naw .. but it's time I learn how ...

[atomicmassunit]

Of course, a lot of times that's what it takes to connect to the audience in a solo.

[realityczech]

I love good BBQ!

[violetlove]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, is that not called ostinato ??


Most effective when it's held for a bar longer than everyone expects.