The Ethical Way To STEAL Guitar Licks From Your Guitar Heroes

[@fivetimesyo]

Golden rule of a PhD student: "Stealing from one is plagiarism. Stealing from many is research".

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Been there... ;-)

[@MrHwilRRR]

xD lmaooooo!! This is brilliant!

[@TedBoyRomarino]

Great comment!

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

And research is worth nothing without the trophy list (aka "Bibliography") ;)

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Great. Now I need to start a peer review journal that requires the heading "trophy list" rather than "bibliography" in their article formatting guidelines... ;-)

[@LJHowardPhoto]

When I was first learning guitar in the '50s, I stole hammer-ons from Mother Maybelle, pull-offs from Doc Watson, slides from Les Paul, palm mutes from Chet Atkins, string bends from James Burton, tremolos from Andres Segovia, rakes from some flamenco player, and various other techniques from the records I listened to. I had a big collection of guitar instrumental records in many genres. It never occurred to me that I shouldn't be doing any of those techniques because I had 'stolen' them from other players.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

Excellent post! ^-^

[@robmccully1066]

Nice content- thanks. I liked and subscribed. You are a good teacher- addressing these things that mentally challenge us (students). Some advice along that vein I learned from another teacher- “You have to want to be a performer”. I needed to hear that- and, I constantly have to remind myself- to this day- to continue my journey learning to play this instrument and sing. Oh, and I wanted to add DONT STEAL FROM E.C.

[@seanhayes2998]

I stole this from somewhere, but I think you will like it: “the art of being original is stealing from someone nobody’s ever heard of “

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Nice. But it's even more awesome if you steal from somebody that everybody knows ;-)

[@seanhayes2998]

@@MusicTheoryForGuitar sure if you can do it so that no one spots it, that’s truly master level.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

That's one way. But you can also do it and everybody spots you. Ever heard: "I love the Jimi Hendrix influence in his playing" shortly followed by "I love how original he is"? We're even at the point where some of the players reputed "most original" became famous by doing a video where they imitate other guitar players... (I do not make any names, but it should be fairly evident who I am talking about...)

[@seanhayes2998]

@@MusicTheoryForGuitar True. And both things can be true. I would say that SRVs rendition of little wing, while ostensibly an out and out cover/copy of Hendrix’s approach, is also original and possibly better than the original because of Stevies personality coming through. With guitar that is always going to happen, because it’s nigh on impossible to truly steal from others and not have your own personality be evident.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

YES, both things can be true! :-) I didn't mean to contradict you, only to add to what you were saying.

[@richardhunt809]

I remember Paul McCartney saying in an interview somewhere that he was worried that he had subconsciously stolen Yesterday from somewhere. He hadn’t, as it turned out, but it makes you wonder how many things are stolen subconsciously, so why worry about it?

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

Music is a lot like speech. Reusing other people's licks is like picking up idioms. It is not stealing someone's property, only parroting other people's phrases, either for intentional reference and shared identity or for lack of own thoughts.

[@sewerynhabdank-wojewodzki4403]

One of the most "stolen" chord progression is the one from Pachelbel's Canon in D Major 🙂

[@TedBoyRomarino]

We are not just allowed, we are supposed to make a tribute to our heroes, specially when we are beginners. Look at Rush: they started sort of copying Led, and ended up getting mature and giving us stuff to copy.

[@TedBoyRomarino]

Pure Lavoisier's law applied to music creation

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

As per your usual, you are _making too much sense_ Ted. lols Keep being you! ^-^

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Did I mention today that I *love* my audience and that I get the best comments to my videos? THANKS!

[@TedBoyRomarino]

@@aylbdrmadison1051 thanks, you are too kind, my friend.

[@TedBoyRomarino]

@@MusicTheoryForGuitar your audience gets not only knowledge here, but also we get your good vibrations, amico mio

[@ForProfit-x100]

If we don't take inspirations from our favorites,we won't have any content to build our own ideas from. You can copy someone else and add your own flavor to their style, incorporate their styles into yours

[@scottkidwellmusic9175]

Pete Seeger referred to this as "the folk process" ... we, as musicians, end up begging, borrowing, and stealing from those before us. We are the sum of our influences. We imitate our heroes in order to find our own voice. Plagerism is bad, of course.

[@bzeliotis]

In classical music there are homages to composers by other composers 'Variations on theme by x' ' Steal or Borrow' is a tricky question. Look at what happened to The Verve: They bought the copyright to a simple lick by Keith Richards and when they came up with the original song ' simple symphony', that became a worldwide hit, the Stones sued them (and won!) because they had used part of the lick they had bought! All the money they made from their song went to the Stones (Shame on the Rolling stones for being so greedy and unfair!! Decades later the Verve made a little when the Stones withdrew their claim.). Also Hey Joe, which made Hendrix famous, was not original but written by Billy Roberts. Another time Bob Dylan said that what Hendrix did with his 'Alll along the Watchtower' was better than his own original version. My own opinion is that you must always give credit and acknowledge the source. But there's no harm in using musical ideas like melody snippets and chord progressions which you then transform to make your own. It's very difficult to be original! Most often composers steal and they don't even realise it because these harmonies become part of the landscape of our unconscious. BTW using snippets of Bach's or Mozart's melodies as ringtones I think shows terrible taste, it's misappropriation, and I don't think their composers would have approved of this, because both the context is wrong and their music is mirepresented! To sum up, the one thing you should never compromise is 'Integrity'. What makes you, you. And if you take something, you must also give something back!

[@Sebastian_Mroczek]

If I would like to play more like my favourite guitar player, will learning all his solos create his habits in my playing or I should take out the licks that I like and expand on them? What to do if there are 100s of them? What to do if I forget half of them learning new ones? There's no way I am going to practice 200 licks a day just to remember them, it's pointless... Not even saying that each lick need to work in different context, so no chance to spend enough time to be able to do that with every one of them. I don't know how to solve this problem. Maybe this is a good idea for a video Tomasso😁😁😅

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

No, you can't learn all these licks AND remember them. Instead, you want to be more "granular" and break the licks in modular sub-licks. Have a look at this free eBooks and you will see what I mean (I do not teach licks, but you learn to build licks with the tips I give): www.musictheoryforguitar.com/pentatonic-guitar.html

[@antsonc]

Ma è il traduttore automatico che converte "licks" in "leccate"?😀

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Guarda, certamente non sono io a tradurre in quella maniera...

[@antsonc]

@@MusicTheoryForGuitar eh, lo immagino! 🙂

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Cio' detto... hai cliccato sul video perche' ti interessava l'argomento, o perche' la traduzione era chiaramente sbagliata? Chiedo per un amico... ;-)

[@antsonc]

@@MusicTheoryForGuitar 😀 sono iscritto al tuo canale e quando credo che l'argomento mi interessi, guardo il video (solitamente su armonia). Ciò detto, questa traduzione appare molto spesso e volevo capire se ne eri conscio🙂

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Non lo sapevo. Ovviamente KZbin mi mostra l'originale Inglese, non la traduzione. Mica vogliono che me ne accorga... ;-) Grazie!

[@GrimScarFayn]

Unless it's VERY unique, you can't copyright chord progressions. Check it out, change the key and even after I straight out tell people, no one (or at least no one I asked), can hear the similarities. I have a song where I stole the Rite of Spring rhythm You know the part and for anyone familiar, it will be obvious, but I like how it's used.

[@Shloopers]

Jeff Beck- Cause We Ended As Lovers Live @ Crossroads 2007. Look it up, you won't be disappointed!!

[@TedBoyRomarino]

We can see it in biology. Birds came from reptiles, which came from amphibians, which came from fish and so on. I think it's called evolution.

[@zenripper1]

The exact same analysis applies to SRV - 90+% of his signature licks can be found in the previous work of Texas and other blues players ... and let's face it, there probably isn't a person viewing this video who hasn't "stolen" the 12-bar blues in some form, or the ii, V, I (why is that OK?). The licks and styles of others are just vocabulary for the language of music. Would we force writers to never use words that were "used" by previous writers? What about the potter who made the first coffee cup (one coffee cup? Oh hell no)? Someone figured out how to make the color red from natural materials..... use it once and it's off limits? One and done? Of course not. We all need to learn the language before we can innovate.... how would we even know that something was innovative unless we had deep knowledge of a vast library to compare it to. Music is variation and co-opting variation is how the musical conversation evolves. If you hear something cool, take it, make it yours, and upgrade it (that is the trick)! This is how we all get better. And I'm pretty sure I'm preaching to the choir (who keep "stealing" different versions of the star spangled banner and many other hits). Rock on!

[@hijmestoffels5171]

An even more infamous thief of licks is Jimmy Page. Think of Whole Lotta Love and Killing Floor. But, just like Hendrix, he made something new and original from them. On the other hand, it would have been nice if he, and his band mates, hadn’t stolen the credits as well, especially because they also copied the lyrics. By the way, Jimi and Jimmy are my #1 and #2 favourite guitarists of all time.

[@christopherheckman7957]

Page started out as a session musician, which means he had to learn how to play in a lot of styles of music. He's on the Kinks song "You Really Got Me"; he plays the riff (the chords), but NOT the solo.

[@abrahamjohnson2018]

please can you do a video explaining how to recognize music genres especially funk music? it really bothers me

[@izakbou8651]

This does not answer my question, what is the origin of these stolen ideas, who did they belong to first?

[@Peasmouldia]

In English law theft is; "taking without the owners consent, with the intention to permanently deprive". That "permanently deprive" bit is crucial to a conviction. On that basis, you can't really steal guitar licks... which is fortunate for completely unoriginal players like me.. That's criminal law, civil law is a different matter. Copyright strike ahoy! Ta.

[@DJVipFlash]

If you get a Copyright Strike then you did something wrong. Look at what Mario/Zelda composer Koji Kondo did. If you do it right, you can't get copyright strike and you are a good artist.

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

This quote is misunderstood. It doesn't say that "stealing" is fine, it says that borrowers remain copy-cats whose borrowing are recognisable as such while those who use their borrowings in a truly original way appear to be the owner of the ideas they took. So it says that great thieves are those who don't get caught. That said, there is no ownership of licks and therefore no more ethical issue in using them than in breathing the same air as someone else.

[@LewdCustomer]

Now show us 10 unethical ways to steal tunes.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

Claiming one wrote a song they didn't write. Claiming one has no influences. Claiming one is "the first" to do a certain technique. Claiming they never "stole" anything themselves. Claiming anyone else never "stole" anything. Claiming it's possible to never "steal" from other artists. Claiming any artist is "the best," unless adding: "imo" or something similar. Claiming any genre was created in a vacuum. Claiming any artist is completely original. Claiming art is a competition.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

Saying you can't steal licks, melodies, or chord progressions, is no different than saying you can't steal words, sentences, or quotes. It's at best, just being wantonly ignorant. This whole idea is just capitalism going way way overboard. P.S. My apologies. Normally I refuse to mention anything political on a non-political channel. But this one was just screaming to be pointed out.

[@moogoomoogoo5990]

I was going to say Les Paul, because I thought he invented the electric guitar. But I Googled it. Apparently Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp invented it. Go figure.

[@lxathu]

There's an area of music where stealing is a must, and it's musical jokes. For example, P.D.Q. Bach's pieces (c'mon, check it on YT!) should be taught in schools right after the pieces he put his together from are learnt. Good jokes make good people.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

I love PDQ Bach :-)

[@christopherheckman7957]

P.D.Q. is my favorite of the Bachs. And if you like P.D.Q. Bach, you should check out Peter Schickele, too. 8-)

[@darrenross9168]

No Need to reinvent the wheel just enhance it, i think steeling from artists is fine as long as you enhance it in an original way but i would get the ebe geebes if the ones who have died come to reclaim it back. ( star-struck and totally spooked out)

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

I don't even see the problem with doing covers. Indeed I cannot think of anyone who hasn't, be they well known or unheard of.

[@nedim_guitar]

Compare these two songs: 1) The Dismemberment Plan - The City 2) Shiner - The Egg Shiner's song was their take on The City, that intro feel. The songs are completely different. That's not really stealing, and that's the point. You can even steal a chord that you really like the sound of, but as long as you make it your own thing, it's great! Otherwise, if you steal chord progressions and melodies, like Led Zeppelin, then it's a completely different matter.

[@HowlingUlf]

As long as Hendrix sounds like Hendrix and not like a Curtis Mayfield or Jeff Beck knock off (or vice versa of course) it's only natural. And as far as I know Beck sounds like nobody else and I can spot Hendrix guitarisms from a mile away. No problem.

[@pistoFF]

not "des lèches" ! XD we say "des plans de guitare" in French ;)

[@christopherheckman7957]

The (modern 6-string) guitar was invented by Gaetano Vinaccia around 1776. He probably stole licks from lute or oud players.

[@ytube777]

The ethical way is to steal and be stolen from alike. Unlike Disney, which stole from the classics (perfectly fine!), but God help you if you want to make a story with Mickey Mou$e. The thing about copying vs stealing is that if you copy, no one associates that piece of art with you; but, if you steal, they say you did that. You become the origin/source. People confuse "originality" with "ex-nihilo" (out of nothing)... that's not how humans work. It's ok to copy... just means you are a cover band or session player and there's nothing wrong with that.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

When someone "steals" one of my licks, I think of that as being the greatest honor I could possibly ever receive. I not only have always invited people to steal my licks, I happily teach them to anyone who wants to learn them.

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

[@listopadoff]

Stravinsky stole it from Keith Richards :)

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

HAHAHA :-)

[@izakbou8651]

I agree with you, jimi stole to jeff, jeff stole to Jimi etc... but if we go back in time the first Guy tooks from who??? we come back to: who was born first, the egg or the chicken? Ali From Algeria!

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Everybody 'added' something original over a core of 'stolen' ideas. In time, music evolved.

[@HikaruHero]

Stealing yourself is having style... Xd