Stevie Ray Vaughan Blues Licks
In this lesson you’ll learn how to play two Stevie Ray Vaughan blues licks step by step. Both licks are using the E blues scale played up around the 12th fret and feature classic SRV style bends, double stops and more. Check out ‘Pride and Joy’ to hear lots more Stevie Ray Vaughan blues licks and tricks like you hear in this demo solo.
Remember it’s not just the notes and licks that gave Stevie his awesome style! You need to ‘dig in’ and play these licks with lots of attack to get them sounding authentic. This will help you capture the ‘high energy’ vibe so characteristic of the Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar style. Let’s get started…
0:30 Here’s a quick reminder of the scales used to play these SRV licks.
1:00 Here is the ‘Texas Pride’ solo study these licks are coming from. Listen to the solo to hear how these licks fit into it.
1:34 Here’s Stevie Ray Vaughan lick 1. It’s using a wicked double stop move from the sliding blues scale.
3:02 Stevie Ray Vaughan lick 2. It’s using similar SRV trademarks as lick 1.
4:15 Let’s give these licks some context now. Here’s how they fit into the Texas Pride solo.
Want to learn guitar scales fast? Well …playing up and down them like most players do is not the way to do it! In this lesson you’ll discover 3 powerful and simple scale practice exercises to learn your scales fast…and more importantly be able to use them when you play.
Imagine if you could learn the essential guitar scales fast…instead of spending hours playing them up and down. Well there are some ways that you can, but we’re not normally shown them. Instead we often play them round and round with the notes in the exact same order every time. Problem is you’re not going to use them like that when you solo and jam!
0:20 Just playing up and down doesn’t help you learn scales fast! It’s also got nothing to do with how we use them when we play. You need some different ways to practice themif you want to nail those guitar scales fast!
0:55 Scale exercise #1: The ‘Random Note Exercise’
1:25 Scale Exercise #2; The ‘One Note Per String Exercise’
1:58 Scale Exercise #3: The ‘Pivot Exercise’
In this blues licks lesson you’ll learn 7 blues licks you need to know from the playing of blues guitar legends like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King, BB King, Eric Clapton and others. All these licks are played in the key of A and are using the A minor pentatonic scale. Let’s look at blues lick 1
0:46 Blues Lick 1. If there was ever a must know blues lick then this is probably it! It’s used by all the blues guitar greats like Eric Clapton, SRV, Albert King etc and is a powerful lick to begin your blues solos with.
2:06 Blues Lick 2. This lick is borrowed from Stevie Ray Vaughan and is a lick he loved to play. Listen to his album Texas Flood to here licks like this used a lot.
3:14 Blues Lick 3. Albert King is an influential blues player and this lick is the kind of thing he used to play in his blues solos. Check out the bending tips in this lick too…you’ll need them to get your bends sounding like Alberts!
4:54 Blues Lick 4. Eric Clapton’s playing with Cream inspired this next blues lick. It’s packed full of tasty blues bends and curls.
7:08 Blues Lick 5. This Stevie Ray Vaughan style lick uses the sliding blues scale shape. Definitely check out these bends and slides in this scale pattern. They’re incredibly useful, versatile, and can add a lot to your blues solos.
8:25 Blues Lick 6. A classic BB King style lick here making use of a tasty double stop move. This is adding the 6th into our pentatonic scale (7th fret B string) giving us a ‘sweeter’ sound characteristic of BB’s guitar style.
10: 12 Blues Lick 7. British blues legends Eric Clapton and Peter Green used licks like this in their landmark solos. Some tasty double stop slides here coming from the sliding blues scale plus a cool pre-bend move.. Experiment with these they can sound great in your blues solos.
12:08 Once you know these blues licks be sure to practice using them in your solos. Also move them into other keys to you can use them in any blues setting. Have fun!
Time for more Michael Schenker guitar licks! This one is similar to something Michael Schenker plays in his ‘Too Hot To Handle’ guitar solo. It’s played right up at the top of the neck in the key of B minor. These sort of speedy pentatonic ideas are typical Michael Schenker guitar licks. Best of all they’re versatile and handy for using in your own solos.
0:38 Let’s hear the lick played fast over the backing.
0:46 Let’s slow it down now a little!
1:00 Michael Schenker lick breakdown. Let’s check it out one phrase at a time now. Notice the fingering guidelines here: following these will make it easier to play up high on the neck.
3:20 Here’s the Schenker lick slow now.
3:53 You might want to move this lick down an octave too. Here’s how to do this.
Hope you enjoy learning this Michael Schenker guitar lick! Be patient with it – it’s pretty fast.
Here’s the next wicked lick in my Michael Schenker Licks series! This one is similar to something Michael Schenker plays in his ‘I’m a Loser’ guitar solo. It’s a fiery little repeating blues lick in the key of F# minor and uses more trademark Michael Schenker guitar style devices. A perfect addition to your rock soloing trick bag and a classic example of the Michael Schenker guitar style.
0:43 Let’s hear the Michael Schenker lick played fast
0:57 Let’s slow it down now a little!
1:09 Michael Schenker lick breakdown. Let’s check it out one phrase at a time now. Notice the picking guidelines here: following there will help you get the lick up to speed.
Hope you enjoy learning this alternate picked lick! Be patient with it – it’s pretty fast.
Want some awesome Michael Schenker licks? Then check out this one! Michael Schenker mainly uses pentatonic and blues scales for his rock guitar licks and this one is no exception. It’s coming from the F# blues scale and is typical of many Michael Schenker licks which you can borrow and use in your own rock and metal solos.
0:34 Here’s the Michael Schenker style lick played at full speed. It’s similar to something he plays in his solo on ‘I’m a Loser’ by UFO
0:44 Let’s hear the lick played slower now. Notice the use of common unison bends and pentatonic scale patterns. Take these rock lick ‘building blocks’ and use them to make up your own rock guitar licks.
1:02 Let’s break this Michael Schenker lick down now and look at how to play it one note at a time. These blues scale moves and ideas are found in many of Michael Schenker’s favourite licks..
3:05 Hear the lick played slowly again here.
3:25 Let’s have another listen to the whole lick played fast again over the backing track. Remember that this is just the start! Use the ideas here to come up with rock guitar licks of your own. This is essential for developing your own style. and voacabulary…just like Michael Schenker has!
In this BB King quick licks lesson you’ll learn a cool minor blues lick like something BB plays in ‘The Thrill Is Gone’. It’s typical of many BB King’s licks with it’s use of space, economy of notes and the sliding blues scale. Check out the recording of ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ to hear BB play licks like this and to get an overall picture of the classic BB King guitar style. Check out the other BB King licks in this video series too. Enjoy!
In this BB King quick licks lesson you’ll learn a great blues turnaround lick using ‘jazzy’ 9th chords similar to what BB King might play. It’s the perfect way to round off your blues solos and is shown here in the key of G. Although BB didn’t play chords very often, this example shows you how to work them into your BB King style licks if you want to. Look out for more BB King licks coming very soon in my Quick Licks video series. Enjoy!
In this BB King quick licks lesson you’ll learn a tasty blues lick from the master of soulful blues guitar. It’s showing off some of BB’s favourite blues soloing devices including the ‘minor to major 3rd move’, mixing up notes from the minor and major pentatonic scales and a cool, funky BB King style double stop (works great in blues solos!). Enjoy!
This A minor blues lick from ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’ is typical of ‘power blues’ Billy Gibbons’ licks. Like most Billy’s licks this one is it’s using shape 1 blues scale.
Billy often uses ‘pinch harmonics’ in his licks and you can hear them being used in this one. Billy simply descends the A blues scale in a ‘quarter note triplet’ rhythm, playing a pinch harmonic on each note for a cool squealing effect!
For tips about perfect pinch harmonics watch this lesson here.
Check out ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’ to hear this lick and plenty more awesome Billy Gibbons’ licks!