Guitarist Guthrie Govan was asked to put together an episode for the 20 Licks series, sold through JamTrackCentral. He came up with Odd Time Licks: Vol.1 5/4. Here's why:
I think there’s a lot to be said for overcoming your fear of odd time signatures just by kind of feeling your way around the structure of the bar and developing a sense for how far away the next ‘beat 1’ is going to be. There are 20 demo licks here to give you an idea about how to navigate your way through a bar of 5/4 or a series of bars of 5/4, and hopefully land on your feet at the end of the lick. The intention is that, as you work through these licks you get some sort of structural idea of how long the bar is and you start to feel to your way around the rhythmic stepping stones and it gives you confidence so that when you are improvising your own stuff you feel a little less lost and a little less at sea. Really there’s no reason to be scared of odd time signatures.
The download contains transcriptions of the licks as well as video and audio files.
Guthrie Govan will be on tour with The Aristocrats.
