Licks (Rock, Blues, Metal) - Novice/Intermediate/Advanced

50 Licks in A Minor Pentatonic (Shape 1)

This tutorial is for those of you with a bit of experience playing pentatonic scales but find that you quickly run out of ideas when you jam/improvise, and for those of you starting out with improvisation but not knowing what can be done with a pentatonic scale. It is also a valuable resource for more experienced players looking to build upon their vocabulary of licks - you never know, there might be something new here!

I’m assuming that you have a basic understanding of hammers, pull-offs, slides and string bends (bending tips at the end of this tutorial). All of the licks here are based in shape 1 of the pentatonic scale (see the scale sheets in the previous lesson for all 5 shapes). You should aim to practice your scales daily with alternate (down/up) picking, hammer-ons and pull-offs. Use a metronome and keep a daily practice log of the tempo that you achieve comfortably (i.e.; without mistakes). This will build your speed, co-ordination, dexterity, strength and stamina (I will be posting some demanding speed exercises shortly).

Listen to the licks whilst reading the TAB and see which licks appeal to you. For the moment you will need to click (press shift when clicking to open in a new window) on the following link



http://chrispearcemusic.com/downloads/50licks.php



to listen to the licks (you will need Flash installed). The great thing with this link is that the licks are presented individually and can be heard at full and half speed. Via the menu on the page you can click on any number (1 to 50) and hear and see in TAB and notation, the lick of your choice. I have also added the eight pages of licks in this tutorial (see below) so that you can print them off for ease of practice.

Learn the licks that you like the sound of first. If the lick is long, break it down into small, easily manageable sections. You will need to be patient when attempting to build up speed and dexterity with your fretting fingers. Take your time, as music is never a race. It’s better to be able to play something slow and well, rather than fast and patchy.

Try to use the same fingering as suggested on the pentatonic scale sheets. Using a finger-per-fret technique is an excellent way of training your fingers to do what you want them to do, rather than using a sloppy technique of "any-old-finger" which will lead to potentially huge problems in the future. It's best to take your time and get the fingering correct, than to rush head-first into a lick not caring about the fingering. It's better to take twice as long getting the lick perfect, than taking half the time ending up with something sloppy and half-baked. After all, you want to get good at the guitar don't you? Why cut corners? Solid technique will help you learn faster later on down the line, so be patient and try to be accurate at all times. And yes, I do realise it's difficult to do sometimes. After all, I had to learn all this stuff too!

Here are the licks so you can print them off (do use the above link to hear them though!)...

Phew! That's a lot of licks! Hopefully it'll keep you busy for sometime!

In the next improvisation lesson we'll look in more detail at how we can get the most out of these short little ideas and start to create some great guitar solos. There is more to it than simply stringing a load of licks together, although that is a good place to start. There is a backing track on my website (in Free Downloads section) which is streamed. I will be posting some backings here when I get the time so that you can download and save them.

But hey, why not create a backing track of your own? You can record it on just a simple tape recorder, or for those with the know-how, use your computer. Try a really simple chord progression (the easier, the better) such as a pair of chords. Start with Am and then use any of the following basic chords - C, Dm, Em, F & G (yes, I could go into m7b5s, 7s, 9s etc. (I won't now as we're keeping it simple - the focus is upon practicing the licks - we'll concentrate on chord/scale theory soon...)). Loop the chord pattern around, i.e.; Am G Am G, and make the backing last for at least 4 minutes (there is nothing worse than really getting into jamming the licks and then suddenly the backing track stops because it's so short!).

Well, good luck and have some fun with the ideas here. Once you have the licks under your fingers, play around with them and turn them into a licks of your own. Experiment, but nail that technique first!

TIP: String Bends

When bending a string, try to reinforce the note you are bending by placing a finger-per-fret behind the main note. For example, if your 3rd finger is on the 7th fret ready to bend, place your 1st finger on the 5th fret, and your 2nd finger on the 6th fret on the same string. Push the string upwards (towards the ceiling) if using one of the three high strings (drag downwards towards the floor if using one of the bass strings). The extra fingers help to push the bend upwards with relative ease. Using the 3rd finger alone would produce an unsteady note and your finger may even slip off the string resulting in a dead note. You will also need your 1st finger in position if releasing (returning the string to it's original pitch after a bend) and then pulling-off (see the licks above for examples of bend, release, pull-off situations).