Killer Blues 7 licks #5 Trilling

[Liam Williams]

Hi Johnny I am a recent member so I’m not sure if these questions have been addressed.

In killer blues 7 licks #5, the lick trills from the D#, E, F and F#. Which note or notes do I trill against each? I watched the 2 trill videos. Is there a pattern that I can apply when the passages start and stop in different chords. Such as do I always trill against a stepped up higher note for each trill note or all trills against the same higher note which would be a semitone higher than the last trill note in passage? You mentioned that the licks usually start on the root note and ends on the 5th of the chord, so #5 lick starts C and ends with a G. Makes sense. Sorry for so many questions but is this lick in D major (2 sharps) though we start on the dominant 7b C natural? Thanks. Liam

[john]

yes but this one is a more custom/specialized trill that’s not trilling with a neighbouring note…
with my left hand I’m trilling G and A consistently while playing the diatonic written notes with the right hand.
play the notes as written which are dotted quarter notes; D#, E, F, F#.
while holding those notes for their full dotted quarter note count you will trill the G with A above them….hope that makes sense.

[Liam Williams]

Thank you, ok, I will experiment with those notes until I hear the desired sound Liam

[Anonymous]

a trill is simply just an arrangement of notes played in a specific order, some people class it as playing a mini scale. Mathematically there is something like 268,435,455 different scales, which are impossible to learn in a lifetime, fortunately we only need a few of them.

the frustrating thing i find with trills and embellishments for that matter, is you can play embellishments in the style of different famous sax players and they sound different. So if your trill sounds slightly different, that’s ok, because that’s your style and the way you play a trill and if you become famous, people will recognise you from the way you play a trill.

lots of meaningless waffle, sadly true.

[Author]

Posts