Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Guitar lick based on C Major Scale

A guitar lick based on C major scale. No Foolin.Just on the safe side with this crazy
worm approaching I thought I'd post it early. Cheers.

Rock Guitar Lick - Pentatonic Scale


A guitar lick derived mainly from the
pentatonic scale in the key of Am but draws on the 9th note B
and omits the minor 3rd C. Or you could look as an
E Minor Pentatonic scale over an A chord.
I'm not expert on theory so I'll leave it open for
discussion.Either way a basic rock guitar lick
that is fun to play and I think sounds cool.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Chord Progression with Modulation Effect


Today's guitar lick is based around a simple guitar
chord progression with a modulator effect.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Celtic Guitar Lick with Tremolo Effect


A celtic inspired guitar lick in D with a tremolo effect.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Octave Guitar Lick Emulating Keyboard


Today's guitar lick tries to emulate a keyboard sound on guitar.
It's uses a volume pedal and outlines a basic melodic statement
using octaves. It's a pretty basic melody but you could elaborate on this
theme by employing a few techniques that are well suited to octaves such
as slides and whammy bar manipulation.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

80's Rock Guitar Riff


A rock guitar riff straight from the 80's. Using two note chord shapes called diads. This style of riff was employed by a lot of 80's rock and metal bands across a wide variety of styles. Bands from Motley Crue to Iron Maiden and Metallica frequently used them. The most famous diad is the root/fifth "power chord" loved by rock guitar players everywhere. The use of diads in this idea revolves around the muted open a string as a pedal point. You can incorporate diads into a wide variety of musical settings by changing your guitar tone, muting and rhythm. Using techniques such as slides and hammer ons can also change the feel of the riff.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Classic Rock Guitar Rhythm


A classic rock muted guitar rhythm today. This progression alternates between two chord shapes and uses muting and hammer ons to add color to the rhythm. Try expanding on this to create your own progressions. This style of rhythm guitar playing originated with Curtis Mayfield and was perfected by Jimi Hendrix. Today it is employed by John Frusciante from the Chili Peppers on a lot of songs from 'Dani California' to 'Under the Bridge' and many more.

The rhythm style is rooted in soul and rhythm and blues that was played in the 60's on the 'Chitlin Circuit'. Jimi Hendrix in fact played this group of clubs and bars when he started his career during and just after his brief stint as a paratrooper.

This guitar lick is a pretty basic example. You can experiment with the amount of distortion and ornamentation to alter the effect of this rhythm technique and use this in anything from rock or funk to soul or blues playing.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Funk Guitar Rhythm 16th note 9th Chords


Today's guitar lick is a funk guitar rhythm using 16th notes. It is comprised of two chords A9 and G9. The rhythm is made up of 16th notes with a combination of muting and rests to funk things up a bit. The video example has two pretty heavy effect based sounds but this lick can sound pretty good with a clean tone and some wah as well. Hope you dig it. Funk and Funk Rock are very demanding and precise style of which I am really only peripherally familiar. For some great funky rhythms I recommend the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prince and Fishbone on the funk rock side and the late great David Williams whose funk guitar studio work and clips on youtube will astound you.Have a funky Monday!



Sunday, March 22, 2009

Jemsite Blog Lick#2 Posted

Guitar Lick #2 for the Jemsite blog goes live today. Check it out with tab here:http://www.jemsite.com/blog.html It is based on the intro lick to a guitar instrumental I'm writing. You can hear the whole track at my soundclick page:http://www.soundclick.com/adave.
In terms of scale usage I'm sticking to the E Major Scale which you might hear as A Lydian mode because there is a pedal point A note in the rhythm guitar on the demo track.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Country Guitar Lick in A


A twangy guitar lick in the key of A. Some half step bends with a double stop to emulate a pedal steel kick of this twangy guitar lick in A. The lick ends with a descending 16th note pattern that incorporates some chromatic notes and resolves to the A note on the third string.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Funk Rock Guitar Muted Octave 16th note strum


Here's a funk rock guitar lick using a 16th note rhythm incorporating muted notes and a pretty funky delay effect. The goal here is to keep the right hand relaxed and evenly strumming 16th notes while the left or fretting hand is responsible for the placement of the muted rhythm which enhances the delay effect. Happy Friday!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Guitar Lick - Alternate Picking Harmonic Minor Scale


Today we look at a guitar lick based around the A Harmonic Minor scale that uses alternate picked 16th notes on the E string. For a different feel you can try muting the open E to different degrees and alternate where you place the accents on the scale notes in the 16th note groupings. Try altering the delay effects if you have one so the repeats create different rhythmic patterns as well.


Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ring Modulator Guitar Lick


A pretty experimental and dissonant guitar lick today using a ring modulator effect. Remember when using dissonant material in general it is a good idea to balance out the dissonance with some resolution to a more pleasing melodic note choice somewhere in your composition. But there are lots of very dissonant pieces so your emotion and intentions along with your ears and heart should be the final arbiter.



Monday, March 16, 2009

A Harmonic Minor Scale Guitar Lick


A guitar riff and lick using a tremolo effect based around the A Harmonic Minor which uses all natural notes with the exception of G#.







Friday, March 13, 2009

E Major Scale Legato Guitar Lick


A legato guitar lick using the E Major Scale. Make a good warm up exercise because of the position shifts with the left ( fretting) hand on the guitar neck.







Thursday, March 12, 2009

Drop D Guitar Lick with Delay


A delay based guitar lick today in Drop D Tuning. Very much inspired by the popular chord pattern that Police guitarist Andy Summers uses in 'Every Breath You Take' and other Police tracks.


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Sub Octave Guitar Riff


A pretty basic guitar riff based around a chord progression but spiced up with a guitar effect that alters the original tone by mixing it with an octave lower. SO you get the feeling like the guitar is being doubled by a bass.


Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Guitar Lick Triads and Phaser Effect


Todays guitar lick goes through some triad shapes and uses a phaser effect to jazz up the clean guitar sound a bit. Pretty basic but I like this style of playing. In the guitar tab the rhythmic notation is not exact so listen to the video clip to get a feel for the phrasing. Once you get the triad shapes under your fingers try different rhythms and mix and match the chords to create other progressions. The Red Hot Chili Peppers later material frequently uses triad shapes and Frusciante is a real master at this style.




Monday, March 9, 2009

12 Bar Blues Guitar Riff


Here's a 12 bar blues guitar riff in A with some muting and a little bit of effects to shake things up a bit. You can try this riff out at various tempos and also tweak the rhythm and note choice for some variations. If you like this guitar riff try practicing it in different patterns. If you don't like it analyze why and create something you do.








Saturday, March 7, 2009

Demo - "Withered Hand" Rock Guitar Instrumental

Just thought I'd share a scratch demo of an instrumental rock guitar song I'm working on called "Withered Hand". Been messing around with the intro chord ideas for about a week and finally had some time to lay down some ideas. The video is just public domain footage if you'd prefer just the audio you can check out my soundclick page here: Soundclick



Thursday, March 5, 2009

Guitar Lick - Neoclassical Delay


A slight neoclassical flavor to today's guitar lick.






Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Guitar Lick - Funky Blues Rhythm


A funky blues rhythm guitar lick for today. Watch the muted guitar 16th notes in the rhythm and how they set up the accent on the non muted notes.




Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Drop D + Guitar Lick - Legato


Another Drop D ( down one and a half) guitar lick. This time using a legato pattern that ascends the guitar neck. Use palm muting on the open strings to tighten the lick rhythmically and make it a bit heavier.







Monday, March 2, 2009

Metal Guitar Lick Drop Tuning


Another metal guitar lick in drop d tuning down one and a half steps. A rocking way to start off March.