My first job out of music school was at a gym called Know No Limits (imagine answering the phone with a business name like that…). It was a small business that started in the owner’s garage, and over about 15 years grew into a wonderful little community of people trying to better themselves by working out.
There was only ever one staff person working at a time, and our duties ranged from selling memberships to cleaning machines and doing laundry. It was far from a glamorous job, but it was PERFECT for me at the time. I could ride my bike too and from work, workout for free, and easily swap shifts with my co-workers to make room for the little bit of teaching and gigs that I had.
One of my favorite responsibilities was choosing the music that played while I was working. I had pandora stations for every mood or time of year, but my favorite and most played station was based on the band Earth Wind and Fire.
I fell in love with the up tempo, horn driven tunes like Boogie Wonderland and Getaway, and the gym members would often commend me on my choice in music. Music is mental programming, and the EWF tunes made their workouts more fun and my work days fly by.
Most EWF tunes have sizzling horn lines, and they are often quite challenging to play. This lick from Got To Get You Into My Life is a combination of a minor pentatonic scale (1,3,4,5,7 from a natural minor scale) and a chromatic scale.
Strive for a brilliant, energized sound, and phrase toward the top notes of the line so the energy builds as you progress through the lick. I found it helpful to loop beats 3&4 of the 2nd measure a few times to help ingrain the motor patterns.
Happy Practicing!
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