Finger picked Guitar Lick

A repeating guitar lick using some hammer on, pull off and slides. Starts off playing around with a G chord shape pattern based off the 10th fret root on the A string. Used a bit of a tremolo effect to kind of emphasize different parts on each repeat.

Alternate Picking Guitar Exercise

Here is an alternate picking exercise for guitar based around the E and B strings using 16th notes. It is based on the C Major Scale but uses the high E string as a repeating pedal note so this idea could be expanded on over a chord progression using the E Phrygian Mode. In the video the lick is played at three speeds. It is a good idea to practice this slowly with a metronome and using strict alternate picking.  Great examples of this kind of repeating pedal note are found in Iron Maiden's "Waster Years" and ACDC's "Thunderstuck".

Melodic Guitar Lick

A little melodic guitar lick that I came up with jammin. I like the vibe to this one so I am going to use it for the basis of a song. By design the phrasing is a bit quirky and meant to imitate a vocal conversation or call and response. Haven't analysed this in terms of scales or theory just kinda popped into my head. But if anyone is interested I could derive some scales from it and discuss the theoretical underpinnings more.

Legato Guitar Lick - Lydian Mode

This lick was inspired by the chord that kicks off one of my favorite Steve Vai songs "Call it Sleep". The guitar lick starts off with that chord which is a B11. I base the lick around the E Lydian Scale. Just a basic little legato guitar lick but I hope it inspires you to create your own licks. If this is too basic or mundane check out Mr. Vai himself. For some real tongue twisters as well as great music his "Flelx-Able" album is hard to beat.

Whole Tone Scale Guitar Lick #10,11,12

We finish off the week with three whole tone scale guitar licks. I hope the licks from the week have prompted you to check out this scale and maybe work in into some of your own music.

Whole Tone Scale Guitar Lick #7,8,9

Three short but interesting ( I Hope) whole tone scale guitar licks for Friday. The first is a series of 16th notes in a pattern that moves up a set of strings. The second is a short riff that incorporates 16th note rests. The third guitar lick is a phrase that uses wide intervals and the symmetrical nature of the whole tone scale to create and interesting melodic pattern. I am going to base an improvisation around this pattern on the weekend so stay tuned.

Whole Tone Scale Guitar Lick #6

A nice feature of the whole tone  scale across the guitar fretboard is that it can yield a lot of symmetrical patterns. For example in today's guitar lick we use a pattern on the B and G strings. Because of the whole tone interval we can move this pattern up and down the B and G strings and play it on every even numbered fret and remain within the A whole tone scale. In this example I play the main lick and them move it up 2 frets then back to the main position and then up four frets.

Whole Tone Scale Guitar Lick #3, 4, & 5

Today were looking at three more short guitar licks using the whole tone scale. Guitar Lick #3 is a short repeating rhythmic pattern. Guitar Lick #4 is a lick that uses slides and is based primarily on the high E string. Guitar Lick #5  begins with a sextuplet pattern and them mixes in both 8th note and 16th note groupings.

Whole Tone Scale Guitar Lick #2

Our second guitar lick using the whole tone scale uses some odd note groupings of 5 and 3  to create a unique pattern with the whole tone scale. The last 16th note grouping is played with sweep picking.

Whole Tone Scale Guitar Lick #1

This week we are going to look at some guitar licks using the whole tone scale in the key of A. The whole tone scale is simply a scale where every  successive interval is a whole tone apart. On a guitar that means on a string a distance of two frets apart. Looking at the fretboard you will see in the key of A the B and G strings use all the even numbered frets and the E and D strings the Odd #. This can lead to some interesting patterns.

Classic Rock Guitar Riff

Break out the wah and hammer away with this classic rock guitar riff 70's style. A basic pentatonic based riff in A. Uses hammer ons and the standard first position of the A Minor pentatonic scale as a base. Begins by hammer on to the root note A and moves back into the "last" postition of the minor pentatonic scale based around G on the third fret. Drums are courtesy of Sonoma Wireworks Riffworks instant drummer.  Recorded with a great piece of software from Sonoma Wireworks. T4 version of Riffworks is a free and makes an ideal practicing and recording tool. I messed up the mix a bit but that is my bad  not the software.

Finger picked Guitar Lick

Today's lick was inspired by @fretterverse "Break Out of Your Rut Day" Fingerpicking is something I seldom do so I based today's guitar lick around a classical sounding finger picked lick I wrote.

Whammy Bar Guitar Lick

A little bit of whammy bar from the strat in our guitar lick. Breaking out the strat also means the guitar lick is played tuned down a half step. I hear this lick in C Lydian but it does tend to emphasize the D note so you may interpret this as the D Mixolydian Mode. In either case it is derived from notes of the G Major scale which are all natural with the exception of the F# note. I use the whammy bar on the strat between the slide from the D note to F#. You can practice using the bar in multiple places with the legato in this lick to try and create some different phrases and feels.

Legato Guitar Lick #2

Another legato guitar lick over our last progression. Played mainly on the second string with lots of hammer on and pull offs as well as slides. I apologize for the sound but I recorded the video with the backing track which unfortunately distorted the quality of both. But if you like the lick I think it gives you the gist of the feel I was going for. Have a great guitar filled weekend!

Legato Guitar Lick

A legato based guitar lick over a D#/F#/C#/G# powerchord progression.

Drop D Guitar Lick

This is an alternate picked guitar lick in Drop D tuning. Use palm muting throughout.

Guitar Lick - D Minor Pentatonic Scale

This guitar lick is based around the D Minor Pentatonic scale at the 10th position. The rhythm and lead guitars are in Drop D standard tuning although the lead does not use the 6th string so you can play the lick in standard tuning. I used dotted quarter notes in the lead  which creates a tension with the underlying rhythm guitar that I kind of liked. If you prefer the parts to interact more closely play the initial triplet with eight notes and the dotted quarter notes as quarter notes.

Guitar Lick - B Minor Pentatonic Scale

A tried and true rock guitar lick using the B Minor Pentatonic Scale as its foundation. Notice however that we draw on the F note from the Major Pentatonic scale to mix things up a  bit.

Pask: Guitar Improv for Easter

A guitar improv reflecting on Easter.

Odd note Grouping Guitar Lick

This guitar lick looks at phrasing with odd note groupings. I was watching a Jazz masterclass that Dave Frank put on about Frank Zappa. He was discussing  "Peaches En Regalia" and the use of five and three note groupings in one of the main melodies in that song. You can check my twitter page for the link or visit www.davefrankjazz.com to watch the masterclass. So after the class I began messing around on the guitar with some odd note groupings and chromatic passages and came up with this little lick. Ideally I would like to play it a bit faster but it can be quite challenging, at least for me, to finger correctly. If anyone is interested in the powertab let me know and I can send it to you. Have a great weekend.