What you can do with licks is virtually limitless: changing the first/last note, playing with the rhythm and even changing what beat you start the lick on will give it a different feel (more on this on my blog “Phrase Development”). But one of the coolest things to do is to “change the mood” of the lick by changing the mode.
To do this we have to understand the difference between our different type of Modes:
Natural Minor: 1 – 2 – b3 – 4 – 5 – b6 – b7
Example: C – D – Eb – F – G – Ab – Bb
Dorian: 1 – 2 – b3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – b7
Example: C – D – Eb – F – G – A – Bb
Phrygian: 1 – b2 – b3 – 4 – 5 – b6 – b7
Example: C – Db – Eb – F – G – Ab – Bb
Harmonic Minor: 1 – 2 – b3 – 4 – 5 – b6 – 7
Example: C – D – Eb – F – G – Ab – B
Let’s take a look at my Dorian Licks | 3 (Video| PDF)
In practice we’d have to change all the degrees/notes used in a lick to their new degree/note. Since this example I’m going from Dorian to Natural Minor, Dorian to Phrygian and Dorian to Harmonic Minor I’d be changing:
Dorian to Natural Minor: All 6’s to b6’s (A’s to Ab’s)
Dorian to Phrygian: All 6’s to b6’s (A’s to Ab’s) and All 2’s to b2’s (D’s to Db’s)
Dorian to Harmonic Minor:All 6’s to b6’s (A’s to Ab’s) and All b7’s to 7’s (Bb’s to B’s)
Let’s take a look at my First Lick:
I see an A (7th fret – 4th string & 10th Fret – 2nd String), Bb (11th fret – 2nd String) and D (7th fret – 3rd string & 10th Fret – 1st String), so I’d be changing those appropriately as you can see in the “new licks”.
Let’s take a look at my Second Lick:
The first little run is a little chromatic thing but the note I end up on is important. I see an A (10th Fret – 2nd String), Bb (11th fret – 2nd String) and D (10th Fret – 1st String), so I’d be changing those appropriately as you can see in the “new licks”.
Let’s take a look at my Third Lick:
The first little run is a little chromatic thing but the note I end up on is important. I see an A (17th Fret – 1st String), Bb (18th fret – 1st String [bent note] & 15th fret – 2nd string) and D (15th Fret – 2nd String), so I’d be changing those appropriately as you can see in the “new licks”.
Try these out over of my drone Backing Track to get a feel for the different licks in different modes without having to worry about whether or not it fits the overall chord progression! Dig!