Drop D Clean Metal Guitar Lick

Here is a clean metal guitar lick in Drop D tuning. Like a few of the other guitar licks posted recently it can be played at a variety of tempos and still sound interesting. The rhythm is all eighth notes so it should be pretty straight forward even without the video or audio but email me if you need a powertab for any of the guitar licks and I'll see if I can't help out. The only trick to playing this guitar lick smoothly is the placement of the fretting hand. I find it is easiest if you finger the D and G strings with  the second and fourth fingers. To me that makes it easier to play the notes that do not remain constant.

Here is the guitar tab:

Clean Triplet Metal Guitar Lick

Here is a clean guitar lick in standard tuning. If you want to play it in a lower tuning just drop everything one whole step to get a deeper bass sound. This guitar lick is based on a triplet pattern where the only thing that changes is the bass note. This guitar lick sounds good at a variety of speeds so try it slow and at a medium tempo as well. At faster tempos it also makes a great piece to practice your alternate picking.

Clean Metal Guitar in Drop D Down a Whole Step

I've had some requests to do some clean metal guitar parts in drop tunings. Absent a working video camera I've just posted the guitar tab. The tuning for these licks is Drop D Down a Whole Step so from low to high CGCFAD.  Here are a couple licks I used finger picking but you can also try playing with a pick and fingers too.

The first guitar lick is pretty straight forward it closes with a kinda classical sounding pattern that I like. A great extrapolation on this type of diad playing at the end is Joe Satriani's "Baroque".

The second guitar lick takes advantage of the drop tuning shape and uses a barre across the top three strings. I've used 5/4 here as a time signature. Try altering the rhythmic values and come up with your own guitar licks using similar patterns.

May Day Guitar Lick - No Pick Needed

It's been a busy weekend by my standards. The new Dell has finally arrived and I'm deep into loading it with guitar software so I can get recording again. Took a break from the computer upgrade to catch the 8th Annual PEI Guitar Festival 2011 at the Guild last night. A really diverse and talented group of musicians performed. The standout for me was a country singer and guitar player named Raymond Taylor. I had never heard his playing before but his voice blew me away. He was truly a gifted singer I was literally spellbound listening to him.

Brent Johnston performed an improvisational piece to finish his set that drew heavily on the minor pentatonic scale especially on the first high E string. So as a tribute lick today's tinylick will be based around the E Minor Pentatonic scale and played solely on the high E string.

The guitar lick is based primarily on a rhythm based on 16th notes. It incorporates some basic tapping on guitar but nothing that will prove too difficult with some practice. The remaining notes are played with hammer-on and pull-offs no pick is needed. Repeat the whole phrase when done. To me the sound has a Celtic tinge to it so shoot for a light dancing uplifting feel.

I don't normally record tinylicks but thought I'd do a quick video of this one to test out the new computer. Turns out though my webcam is incompatible with Windows 7. So no video until I find a workaround or buy another camera.

Fun Diversion

Computer woes are ongoing but fingers crossed will be resolved before the next millennia. Found a very cool site for creating music that I wanted to share. Here is a link to a little piece I created now try and create your own.
Earslap

Changing Guitar Chords with just one note.

I've always been fascinated by the guitar. To me the guitar offers an endless variety of note patterns and sequences. The fingerboard's variety is a lot like the complexity of a chess board. Today's tinylick demonstrates how you can go through a chord progression while changing only one note in the pattern at a time on the guitar. I was inspired by the cool intro to the Kiss song "Rock Bottom" for this example. You can also find this used a lot by the Red Hot Chili Peppers especially on the album "Californication".

The first part begins with a G#Minor chord then followed by what I think of as a B chord with no root and a major 7th. Then a B chord no root with a 6th. The progression ends with an E Maj7 chord.

Computer Blues and a tinylick - guitar lick

Bad News my computer is officially dead. No more recording or music until I get my new one. Good News - my new computer is on its way and hopefully will be here in the coming week. You would think without a computer that works for more than five minutes at a time I'd play more guitar but I've become so accustomed to playing with music and backing tracks and online guitar lessons I really miss my computer when I want to jam or practice guitar. Today's tiny lick guitar lick is based around the E Minor Pentatonic scale. It is a descending triplet run that has been used by everyone from Jimmy Page to Kirk Hammett. Although this lick has reached cliché status you can still find variations of it in lots of songs. Try doubling up notes and using chunks of it within your solos and improvisations. A great way to use licks like this is chromatically. Move parts of the shape up the fretboard horizontally to build up to your next lick. Randy Rhoads does this to great effect with a lot of his live pentatonic based guitar licks. For a more advanced variation of this type of lick check out the solo in "Readymade" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Frusciante really tears up the fretboard with a fast repeating lick.
Ok so here is the basic lick - triplet rhythm.