Prim lick from “Moja Juliska” by Jerry Grcevich

Moja Juliska is one of Jerry Grcevich’s trademark songs. He is one of a few tamburasi that can truly capture the gypsy style in his songs and instrumentals. For any students of Grcevich repertoire, Moja Juliska is a ’must learn.’

When I first heard this song (many years ago), I was most impressed by how beautiful the transition from Bm to the relative major (D) sounded. The inner brac lines combined with the rhythm section made me think of the fresh smell of cevapcici and onions being made by Chef Delmar. As the song progressed, my ear was drawn to the prim improvisation in the 4th verse. It was as smooth as a cold Ozujsko on a Split summer day. It fits so well into the song that if it weren’t recorded in the original version, musicians would have naturally added it in themselves. The finishing touch of course is that same improvisation played a few choruses later. The difference, however, is that it is played faster than you can say “metak” (word of the day???). Also, one measure has a few less notes. Let’s take a look…

The key to pulling off this little solo is playing it smoothly. The best thing to do while practicing is to take one measure at a time. Get comfortable with each grouping of eight sixteenth notes first. Then work at combining two-measure phrases. Divide all eight measures into two-bar phrases. The hard part will be to combine all of the two-bar phrases together. It is really important to maintain a smooth line throughout so that you cannot hear your hand shifting. I would start each measure (except the last one) with my second finger. Most people would agree that measure four should be played on the second string. If you can maintain flow and clean picking by switching between the first and second strings, be my guest. The last thing to do is to work on speed. Always start slowly! This will prevent bad or inconsistent habits. Every time you are successful playing it at a slow tempo, speed it up. If you are not successful at the next speed, work on it more until it is clean. Until next time, happy picking!

Click here to download lick at regular speed
Click here to download lick at slow speed
Click here to download midi file