Similar Concepts
A lick is different from the related concept of a riff in that riffs can also include repeated chord progressions. Licks are usually associated with single-note melodic lines rather than chord progressions. However, like riffs, licks can be used as the basis of an entire song. Single-line riffs or licks used as the basis of Western classical music pieces are called ostinatos. Contemporary jazz writers also use riff- or lick-like ostinatos in modal music and Latin jazz.
A lick can be a hook, if the lick meets the definition of a hook: "a musical idea, a passage or phrase, that is believed to be appealing and make the song stand out", and "catch the ear of the listener". A lick may be incorporated into a fill, which is a short passage played in the pause between phrases of a melody.
For musicians, learning a lick is usually a form of imitation. Imitating style is as important as learning the appropriate scale over a given chords.
By imitating, musicians understand and analyze what others have done, which in turn allows them to build a vocabulary of their own.
Read more about this topic: Lick (music)
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