Too Much Melody???

Tommy Gibbons · Posted 4 Jun 2011 6:44 pm

Can you play too much melody and not enough adlib? I play melody for intros and turns. I can't hear the "adlib". BTW...what is "adlib".

Thanks,

TommyG in Tennessee
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Dana Blodgett · From: California, USA

Tommy, my interpretation of "Adlib" is improvisation! You make it up as you go. In my book, nuthin' wrong with that!
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Elton Smith · From: Texas, USA

Don't be like an acountant hunting for a penny.Remember the song you are learning has already been chiseled in stone anyway.If you like what you are playing and pretty close ,move on.I've seen guys spend hrs trying to get that one lick,but never make it .Including me.
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richard burton · From: Britain

Sometimes it's harder to play the melody than to make something up on the spot that fits with the chord sequence.

I've caught myself many times playing very similar 'adlibs' to songs which have a common three chord pattern, but very different melodies.

Fills can also get repetitious, if I'm not careful.

Bill Mayville · From: Las Vegas Nevada * R.I.P.

Hi to all that will read this.First time back since the pace maker installed.
Bandstand backup takes you further into what to do.
Extremly simple ,but a must.
I call them pickups.Sometimes you have to play a 7th chord.A pickup out of that would be to use it(sometimes)backwards.There are four chords there to use.The 7th,
and one fret back,and another,then the root chord.
Experiment with 1 to 4 chords,and 1 to 5.The you have
5 to 1 in the same fret.All are backup methods.
5 to one example.

8/86&5BD to 8/86&5AB to 8/456D to 8/45&6.
Or Backwards.Not near the steel,so I'm hoping.All the players I have helped,start there,and it starts to make the steel , part of you.
Millions more I guess.Pretty soon it starts to be part of you,so you don't start on a Harmoica,any time soon.
Hope this settles in,in a good way.If it does,I need a good recipe for potatoe salad.
Bill
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Stephan Franck · From: La Crescenta, California, USA

For me, it really depends who else is on the bandstand. If another guy tends to be playing all melody all the time, then, it's fun to throw in a few crazy licks to shake things up. On the other hand, if the other players shred constantly, then I tend to become the "melody guy" for the night. Anything to break the "sameness" and make the music feel "eventful", or the audience gets bored.

S.M. Johnson · From: Oregon, USA

A lot of the old Homer & Jethro records will reveal what a great player Jethro was on the mandolin. His solo's are unequaled; always fresh and full of neat things to hear. Lot's of little nursery rhymes homogenized in with some jazz runs, etc., etc.

It should prove to be a great place to start.

Elton Smith · From: Texas, USA

Once you learn that cool lick,try not to use it in every song.Move on to another one.Ever hear the Statler bros.album Lester Roadhog Maran and the cadilac cowboys?Their kickoff guitar man Witchataw.uses the very same lick on every song they do.It's a very funny album about musicans.
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Buck Reid · From: Nashville,TN

If you learn the melody you'll never run out of things to play.
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Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Right on Buck...

I've been to a few Jeff Neuman seminars [in the past, of course] and have a handful of his VCRs.

He always stressed to learn the melody and, most of the time, stick with it. Jeff emphasized, "if you ever get yourself in a jam(b), just go back to the melody". Fall back on the melody, and you'll be safe.
Just like at home plate.

But, Jeff also showed you there was a time to go WILD (improvise).

He not only knew the steel; he knew how to think steel. You gotta know how to THINK steel.

...and what he meant by this, is that you have to move the bar (among other things). You can play almost any melody 1 or 2 frets apart, using pedals and knee levers. And it's easy and fun; but it's far from the whole picture. You gotta know/feel to slide [gliss]. You gotta tease the listener by SLIDING. TEASING - that's a big part of the steel, and how to do it. Smoothly Very Happy

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bob drawbaugh · From: scottsboro, al. usa

wasn't it Jackie Gleason that said "Just Play the Melody." I think people like to sing along, but if they don't know what your playing how can they? You can never go wrong playing the melody.

Paul E. Brennan · From: Dublin, Ireland

There is a fine line between playing the melody and improvising. There's a time and a place for both. Knowing that time and place and the nature of that fine line is part of your musical maturity.

There has been lots of good advice here about knowing how to "tease" the listener and knowing how to do it in a "steel like" manner. Listen to how the great players do it. Observe when they state the melody and when they depart from it. Try and understand their thinking and then try and use that knowledge in your own playing.

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

Ad libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib".

Once I had a rapper in my studio laying down a sort of background rap overdub and before I rolled tape he advised me that he would be "adding lib".

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Perhaps, Michael, what he meant to tell you was that he would be "adding lip" Muttering

Owen Barnes · From: Utopia, Texas, USA

I am in total agreement with Paul's comment previously. I, myself, tend to "feel out" the crowd, moment, and if I think the melody line is the important thing at the moment, I do it. If not, then I improvise. A good example is a typical Merle Haggard song ending where the guitar ends the song with the "7" note. Somtimes I use it to "accentuate", sometimes not.
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Franklin · Posted 10 Jun 2011 4:32 am

Tommy,

This is the method that worked best for me..........Practice by learning the strict melody first, then learn how to freely adlib using slides, pedal bends, add a few alternate notes and licks around parts of the melody as a means of embellishment. Then learn to improvise through the changes creating new melodies using the appropriate musical style......

I try to never put the cart before the horse when practicing.....

On the gig I play whatever I hear to play in the song and enjoy the moment........I record it whenever I can.

After listening, I practice on what I heard as weak moments.

..........Paul

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

My humble approach, at my low level of skill---In practice, learn the melody, as well as pick up on any of the signature licks, then express the melody in my own words----Like back in the days of school, when the teacher asks you to explain "it" in your own words. Sticking to the point is like sticking to the melody, just put it in your own words, so to speak. When I'm on the bandstand, I seldom play the same thing twice, because I try to find a new way to "say it again". I don't want the listener to wonder what was that(?) when I'm done. I want them to "get it". It keeps me learning my instrument. Always expanding. But I'm just a novice, I confess-------
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David Ellison · From: California, USA

I don't think you have to make the choice between playing the exact melody of the song one one hand, and just playing stock licks on the other hand. My approach to playing (usually) is to play "off of" the melody. I take the licks I already know and try to phrase them in a way that sounds a little bit like the melody. It references the melody, without actually being the melody. When you do that, you also never run out of things to play... plus, by doing that you start to turn the licks you know into a kind of musical vocabulary. That, to me, is what "thinking on the steel" is all about.

If you think of Tom Brumley on Together Again, that's probably more or less what he was doing. He used the same licks on lots of other songs, but on that song he made those licks into a melody that complimented the original melody of the song... and he probably did it on the fly.

If all you play are the melodies to songs, how would you ever learn to improvise?

Roger Edgington · From: San Antonio, Texas USA

There are different ways to play the melody. You can simply play a one note at a time straight up melody or you can play around somewhat with the phrasing depending on the tune and feel you want. Then you can play a melody with a second string added for some harmony, Or, you can grab big chords on the C neck and still play the melody. Sometimes I will play enough melody that people can track with the song and embelish on it as I feel. OK, sometimes you just gotta go out on the limb and romp on it.

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