Vocal Lick ? Tori Kelly: "Never Alone"

Introduction

So let's look at our second vocal lick from Tori Kelly. This is a song called "Never Alone," which is a bit of a gospel song she did with Kirk Franklin. The end of the song finishes with a big gospel choir, and she does a big kind of gospel rave over the top, which is really, really exciting. It's definitely one to learn if you're wanting to push yourselves a little bit more.

We're going to choose one of the licks from that particular song.

Key Information

This song is actually in two keys:

• It starts in G major
• It goes up a key in the end to A major.

We're starting in the A major section. Let me show you how it goes.

The Lick

So, it's using a "W" and a "Woo" and then some "O's" at the end. Check these out:

3 and 4.
There we go. I'll try it again.
1, 2, 3 and...
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Great!

Ornamentation

Now we have some ornamentation in this. Remember these from our previous lesson? We've got these little grace notes in there. Actually, there's only one grace note we need to really worry about, and it's in the first part of the lick.

The Grace Note

• Your top note is ___.
• We're going to come down from there.

So we're going to sing:
Whoa.
Try it for me.
Whoa.

Do you want to try that, Alicia?
And whoa.
That's it!

Support with "W"

You're using a "W" to take you through this lick, which gives you a little bit of support along the way.

So, don't be too reticent to involve that consonant because it will actually help you articulate some of these notes really well.

First Bit

So the first bit:
Woo, woo.
Use those two W's really generously:
Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Grace Note Practice

Let's do this little grace note here now:
Whoa, whoa.
Can you hear it?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I sometimes call them a flick because they sound like this elastic moment in the lick that adds a little extra, a little flick.

Practice Together

Let's try that:
Whoa, whoa.
Try it with me:
And whoa, whoa.
Good!

As you're coming down, really relax that jaw:
Whoa.
Almost like you're letting it hang or just kind of being in a nice place of nice movement. Try it.
And whoa, whoa.
Great!
And again.
And whoa, whoa.
Great! That's sounding really nice.

The Turn

Now, we do a turn. There's a lot of ornamentation in this lick.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
If you're struggling to memorize it, you can even say:
Turn. Woo, woo, woo.

Let's use the word for this time through:
And whoa, whoa. Turn.
And turn.

Can you hear? It's going up a whole tone rather than a semitone. It's not turn. It's a semitone. It's a full tone.
Turn.

Sing Together

Try it together:
And whoa. Turn.
That's it!

Continuing Practice

So let's go on now. We're going to sing:
Whoa. Back up.
So. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Let's try that.
And that's it.

No scoops for that one. Just one note there.
Yeah. And. Whoa, whoa.
That's it. Perfect! That sounds great.

Pentatonic Scale

So, whoo. Whoa. And then 1, 2, 3, 4.
Of course, those notes are all from...
You guessed it - the pentatonic scale.

If you're struggling to remember that as well, use the word pentatonic.
Whoa, turn. Pentatonic.
And there's your whole lick there with some words just to help you through.

Practice with Words

So we try it with words:
So turn and then pentatonic. Here we go.
And whoa. Turn pentatonic.

If we need to, we can say up pentatonic.
So whoa, whoa. Up. Pentatonic.
Yeah. Cool.

Conclusion

Three and four. That's it. Let's try it again.
Three and four. That's fine.
We're getting there. This is a hard lick.
Three and four, turn. A pentatonic.

As you can notice, we're using lots of numbers and words just to help us through these licks. We've got a really clear idea of what goes where once we know the structure of the riff by using a few little helpers.

Some things that we can remember a little easier than just notes really give us a pathway through, ensuring we don't skip any notes and have a strong sense of where the lick is going.

I would recommend this approach, even if you feel like you're confusing yourself a little bit at the beginning.

Final Practice

So, that is our Tori Kelly lick! Shall we do one more just to finish this off today?
So, woo.

Is our first note. Remember, we're starting on E. Here we go. Nice without words. And nice and energetic:
1, 2, 3, 4. Whoa. Whoa.

How do we do?
We did it! We did it! We did it!

And if that starts you off with this lick, keep working at it. You'll find that you start to know how to get through these complicated phrases, and it will feel really comfortable for you eventually.

So persevere! Tori Kelly is hard, but she is worth it when you've got them learned.