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!
This lick from ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’ is typical of Billy Gibbons’ ‘power blues’ style licks. Most of Billy Gibbons’ licks and solos are based on, and this one is using the C minor pentatonic scale in shape 1 played around the 8th fret.
Notice the bluesy double stop phrase at the start of the lick. You can play this with a pick or if you prefer you can use ‘hybrid picking’. This is when you use the pick and a finger or fingers to sound the notes. Let the notes ring together for that strong blues flavour so present in most Billy Gibbons’ licks!
The lick then moves down into the sliding scale shape for some growling blues slides on the low strings! Check out ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’ to hear this lick and plenty more awesome Billy Gibbons licks!
This lick from ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’ is typical of Billy Gibbons’ ‘power blues’ licks. Most of Billy Gibbons’ licks and solos are based around the blues scale or minor pentatonic scale…and this lick is no exception. It’s using the C minor pentatonic scale in shape 1 played around the 8th fret.
Notice the tasty bend that kicks the lick off and the quick descending scale pattern that follows. The lick then moves down into the sliding scale shape for some tasty blues slides! Check out ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’ to hear this lick and plenty more awesome Billy Gibbons quick licks!
This powerful lick is typical of the Gary Moore guitar style. The lick shows Gary using the sliding C# minor pentatonic scale at the 9th fret. Like many Gary’s licks, this one is basically a blues lick. It’s similar to the kind of thing Albert King might have played. No surprise really…Albert was a big influence on Gary Moore.
Once you can play this lick borrow the bits that make it up and see how you can recycle them to get some Gary Moore style licks of your own.
Enjoy these Gary Moore guitar licks and see you next time!
This Gary Moore lick shows him playing in the key of E using shape 1 E blues scale at the 12th fret. This blues scale based playing is typical of Gary Moore’s guitar style with his blues influences from players like Clapton and Peter Green.
This lick is found at the end of his ‘Walking BY Myself’ solo and is a powerful turnaround lick to borrow and use in your own solos. Of course you should take what you see in this and other Gary Moore guitar licks and use it to create similar guitar licks of your own.
Enjoy these Gary Moore guitar licks and see you next time!
This Gary Moore lick shows Gary playing in the key of E using shape 4 E blues scale at the 7th fret. After some tasty B string bends Gary launches into a repeating picking lick using the chromatic passage from the blues scale on the D string. Use alternate picking for this and a healthy dose of palm muting for a fat and chunky sound. This is a trick you’ll hear in many Gary Moore style licks and on many of Gary’s greatest solos like ‘Out In the Fields’ and ‘White Knuckles’.
Make sure to check out all the cool shape 4 moves used in this lick . You can use them to come up with some Gary Moore style licks of your own!
Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of the most iconic blues guitar players ever! In this lesson we’re going to look at one of the key elements of the ‘SRV sound’: open string scales and licks!
Watch this guitar lesson to discover
So jump on in and get that ‘Texas twang’ in your blues solos!
Stevie Ray Vaughan Style Open String Blues Licks
Learn how to create amazing blues guitar solos with the open string blues scale and play open string blues licks in the style of players like SRV, Hendrix, Clapton, Freddie King and others.
I’ll show you how to play E blues scale using the open strings and many cool ways you can use this scale in your guitar solos, using strings bending, slides and more. So let’s get into it!
Here’s a breakdown of what you will learn in this video:
0:46 Let’s take a look at how we play the E scale using the open strings. This scale shape is great for making up lots of ‘twangy’ open string licks…a favorite of players like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and others.
0:58 Open String Licks – Lick #1
This is a classic open string lick that Stevie Ray Vaughan used a lot in his solos. This one sounds great used as a blues turnaround over a 12 bar blues in the key of E.
2:57 This part of the lick uses a cool double stop sliding move. Notice how it’s outside our sliding shape slightly. We’ll talk about this here and how to use this little trick in your solos.
4:42 Carrying on the lick
Notice how you can hammer the B flat note and make it sound more fluid and smooth.
5:17 Closing the lick with a strumming on the B7 chord and an open E bass note. This B7 leads us back to the start of the 12 bar blues in E.
5:57 Let’s hear the whole phrase…
6:16 Open string lick #2.
Here we are using a cool string bend on the G string and a double stop slide. These are both great resources to use in your own solos.
7:06 Where does this other slide comes from?
This will make a difference to your solos! Playing the same note with 2 different strings instead of just playing open E string, makes it more intense and powerful.
8:32 Let’s hear the whole lick now.
8:39 Summary of lesson and some more tips with demonstrations.