Hey Blues Fans,
Why stretch your fingers if you don’t have to? Billy Gibbons doesn’t. ZZ Top plays a lot of songs in the key of G – Tush and Arrested for Driving While Blind come to mind. Many times, Reverend Billy G doesn’t play the typical shuffle pattern. Instead, he plays the top three strings of a G chord, C Chord and D Chord. For the G and C chords, he mutes the middle string. For example, he mutes the A string when playing the G, and mutes the D string when playing the C. There is no need to mute any strings when playing the D. The beauty of this style is that it’s easier to play plus you get a fuller sound. Sadly, this style only works in the key of G…perhaps that’s why so many ZZ Top songs are in G.

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Hey Blues Fans!
One of my favorite ZZ Top songs is Blue Jean Blues. This lesson shows three separate B minor blues licks in the style of Billy Gibbons. I’ve gotten requests to add tablature, so I placed the tab above each video. I hope this helps. FYI, the chords are Bm, Em and F#m. Have fun and feel free to leave a comment.

Lick 1

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Lick 2

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Lick 3

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Holy Smokeys! That title is an even bolder statement, and it’s only my opinion. However, I feel this is one of those licks that every great player uses over and over. You hear Jimmy Page play this a lot. Throughout the blues and rock guitar world, you hear the entire lick, or portions of  lick. A good example is the lead break in ZZ Top’s La Grange. The first descending notes of that lick are a segment of this lick, as well as an ascending segment in the middle.

YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS LICK! Hendrix, Page, Clapton, all the greats play this one. The lick itself isn’t, but it takes practice to build up the speed. Play this one over and over until you get it down.

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If you think this lesson was worth half the price of a burger, click the Whopper to donate 99 cents and lose weight at the same time.