Guitarists who improvise in any style-rock, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, metal-have to have an arsenal of hot licks to draw upon. Little tricks which, played at just the right moment, can elevate the music to another level and blast an audience right out of their seats. All of my favorite players have their own signature licks that kill me every time I hear them. This is what inspired me to take up the guitar in the first place.
This classic "Talkin' Blues" column originally appeared in the pages of Guitar World.
Guitarists who improvise in any style-rock, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, metal-have to have an arsenal of hot licks to draw upon. Little tricks which, played at just the right moment, can elevate the music to another level and blast an audience right out of their seats.
All of my favorite players have their own signature licks that kill me every time I hear them. This is what inspired me to take up the guitar in the first place.
The secret of using licks effectively is to apply them in such a way that they don't just sound like a bunch of rehearsed, fast licks. The key is to use them tastefully, and follow the "less is more" concept of getting the most mileage out of a single, well-placed lick.
One of my favorite ones is not at all fast; it just sounds really psychedelic! I learned this one from Jimi Hendrix, and it's illustrated in FIGURE 1A, complete with left-hand (or in Jimi's case, right-hand) fingerings. Note the use of reinforced bending. This lick is in A and it's very effective when used in the context of a slow blues. FIGURE 1B shows the same lick in E.
Here's another hot lick that I think most guitar players