transcribing

[Steve Holmes]

Hi Nikk.

Most of the mystery of linear phrasing was taken away for me when I went to MI (PIT). There was a few teachers there that knew a lot of those licks and I just hung out with those guys a lot. Once I learned them I figured out how to kinda chain them together. Most fast licks are either 16th note triplets or 32nd notes. I would take lick A and lick B and put a six-stroke roll (RllrrL) between them as a link kind of. After a while I was freely chaining licks together.
Then Weckl kind of made it clear to me that thinking in terms of "licks" wasnt the right way (for him) but rather MUSICAL PHRASES. SO with this in mind I tried to make the transistion from lick-->phrase by interpretation. I would change the phrases and try to do my own thing with them. I would try to play the stuff I was singing in my head instead of just playing shit for the sake of playing it.
ANYWAYS about transcribing, once I learned a lick, I would:
1) Figure out the subdivision (16ths, 16th note triplets, etc)
2) Write down the orchestration (what part of the kit am I hitting and when)
3) Write down the sticking.
Those are pretty much the key things. I would like to get some licks transcribed on the site actually, that would be cool.

hope this helps..

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webmaster,
www.houseofdrumming.com


[Note: This message has been edited by Steve Holmes]

[Nikk]

Hey Steve,

You are obviously very influenced by Dave and Vinnie. I'm just getting into transcribing (or trying to) some of their licks. Any advice on how to do this? It's freakin nearly impossible because they fly by so fast. How were you able to figure their licks out?

[Nikk]

Thanks for the reply, man. your words do indeed help. Yeah, that would be super cool if you posted some licks!! Then again, if the "secrets" get let out we may end up witth a buncha eighteen-year-old-Godsmack-t-shirt-wearing-dudes trying to pull off crazy licks. Just imagine the poor employees at the drum stores who have to listen to that shite. Hehe. Oh well, I was that same kid in a Nirvana t-shirt years ago. Peace out, Steve.