Tiny Guitar Lick of Terror

Happy Halloween! I've finally been able to get back to picking up the guitar post surgery. To celebrate Halloween here is a  tiny guitar lick of terror. It is an ascending chromatic guitar lick played in 6th note grouped sextuplets.  Repeat each section marked x2 and them repeat the entire sequence. Use palm muting and distortion to amp up the terror factor.

Guitar Lick - Open String Pull Offs

This is a guitar lick that alternates between a legato open string hammer and pull section based around the open E string and then switches to a similar pattern with the open B string. With the exception of the final note in each pattern the notes are 16th notes. Repeat each section twice before proceeding to the next string set.

Legato Guitar Lick

This is a legato guitar lick based around the A Minor Scale. Strive for the hammer on and pull offs to be even in both note duration, volume and clarity.  The rhythm is primarily in triplets.

Unison Bend Guitar Lick

Our tinylick guitar lick today uses Unison Bends. Unison bends are where two  different notes are played and then one note is bent up to the same note as the other starting note. Here we are using the A Minor Pentatonic scale as a basis point. We are starting with a unison bend progression that goes from E to G to A with fills added using notes  from the minor pentatonic scale. Jimi Hendrix uses a similar pattern of unison bends in "Manic Depression". In that songs he begins at the A 5th fret position and moves us the neck with unison bends until the solo kicks in at the 17th fret A position an octave higher.

Palm Muted 16th Note Guitar Lick

This guitar lick is based around the C# Minor Pentatonic Scale and uses a repeating 16th note alternate picked pattern. Use varying degrees of palm muting in conjunction with distortion to beef up the sound. Start slowly with a metronome 4 notes for each quarter note beat.

Guitar Altered Tuning "Irish Purr"

I've been trying to get a creative spark going that seems to have fizzled a bit as of late. I was reading the latest "Guitar World" magazine about an alternate tuning Jimmy Page used on Led Zeppelin III and thought I'd mess around with it. The tuning Page discusses in the magazine was "low to high C A C G C E" I altered this a bit and tuned C A C G C C  ( all down tuned except the B string which is up a half fret - be gentle or you will break this string). This little musical phrase stuck in my head so I thought I'd share.

Hendrix and the E7#9 Chord

Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix. It reminds me of the tragically young life lost and the immensity and enduring power of his music and its message. I thought I'd share a guitar lick based around the E7#9 chord he made famous in "Purple Haze". RIP Jimi. I hope your jammin with Mitch and Noel upstairs.