I was thinking about a fun way to push myself to play guitar every day, no matter what the circumstances, and I recently came up with a fun idea. The concept is based on stuff like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) or Vlogmas (where you vlog every day in December until Christmas). I’m calling it L.E.D.I.A. - and while it might sound like the latest drug to cure your allergies, it’s in fact just an acronym that means Lick Every Day In August.
And that’s exactly what I intend to do! No banking of licks or making them up all on the same day, but rather picking up the guitar each and every day with the intention of writing one lick. The lick doesn’t have to be mind-blowing, but it does have to happen once a day, and be different from the previous day’s lick.
There’s not a whole lot of rules to follow, and what I expect will happen is that picking up the guitar each day will not only inspire me to write that one lick, but also replace less meaningful time (like Netflix/videogames), with a better, guitar-every-day habit.
What I intend to do is film my lick each day, and then post it to Instagram and TikTok for accountability. At the end of August I want to take all the licks and make one big montage video for YouTube. I’m excited to get going, and I’m even more excited for August 31st to see how it’s gone.
I think there are a few things that would make this experiment even better for everyone - a video camera (can even be your phone), staff paper or some way to write down your licks via tab (Guitar Pro, etc.), and a simple notebook to track your progress.
I hope you’ll join me on this journey, and that it’ll improve your guitar playing and lick writing too. If you’re trying the challenge, tag your videos with hashtag LEDIA. And make sure to follow the Chasing Sound livestreams on YouTube for bi-weekly check ins in August. If you want to reach out for support or just to talk writing music, feel free to join our Discord server. Happy lick writing!