Loading ...No.1 Most Important Guitar Lick
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.
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.
I learned this lick YEARS ago but was never told it’s application or where it was used. It was presented to me as more of an exercise to get your fingers moving, but because of that, I never worked on my speed. Played at a slower speed, it doesn’t sound very musical. Playing it fast sounds amazing and impressive. Thanks for this!
Awsome – from Ireland – thank you so much!
This is great! Easy to understand and lots of variety, and really useful licks you actually DO hear in many records. Thanks from Tami in Japan x
I have for some reason found it difficult to play using a pick. i have been playing with my thumb. will this hinder my guitar playing ability?
admin Reply:
April 8th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Well, if you play with ONLY your thumb, it will limit what you can do. But hey, some of the great blues players only used their thumb. If you look at some of the more modern blues greats, like Robben Ford and Joe Bonamassa, you’ll see that they play mostly with their fingers and only use a pick when playing very fast passages. My brother studied at Berklee and always used a pick, but now he never uses one and he’s pretty damn good. Me personally, I like to use a lot of hybrid picking. It’s not something I consciously tried to learn, I just started to do it and now it’s natural for me. I can play with just fingers as well.
I just registered. Wow, these are some great lessons. Many thanks for putting the site. I have since learned many great blues licks, and it was very interesting to learn this one.
I’ve been playing rythum guitar going on 40 years now and just really started to get the itch for blues and the solo’s for it. I have checked many sites and must say, quite honestly, that this is by far one of the best, both musically and academically (is that even a word). It takes many hours, I’m sure, to do this undertaken just for the love of music.
Keep up the great work, you are a mentor for all.
Well worth many donations.
admin Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Glad you’re getting something from the site. The world’s a better place with more blues players in it.
i thought the “Best Lick” would be some really fast metal or guns n roses type lick. I’m so glad it’s not, I’ve never been taught this one before and it looks really useful. Thanks a lot man, I will definetly be putting time into learning this one!
admin Reply:
October 13th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
This lick, or segments of it, are used in so many songs. That’s why it’s very useful to learn.
I actually liked the #2 best lick more, because that one was new for me ^^
I’m practicing it and it sounds awesome! I really want to thank you for sharing all your tips & tricks & licks and make us better players and have even more fun doing the thing we love: playing guitar!
Thanks man, peace!
Vantage
admin Reply:
August 8th, 2009 at 8:19 am
The reason I ranked the other lick #1 is more because of the technique than the lick itself. Listen to ZZ Top’s La Grange, or countless Jimmy Page licks. If a beginner guitar player can learn that lick, forward and backwards, it makes it easier to learn a lot of other blues and rock licks.
this is a cool lesson but i actually did already know this lick. and i actually learned it from a solo in a slayer song. just goes to show how much modern metal is still rooted in blues.
also known as a 3 set pentatonic scale?
admin Reply:
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Well, it’s definitely the minor pentatonic scale, and it’s all in triplets, so I guess you could call it a 3 Set Pentatonic, though I’ve never heard that term.
can’t view the lick/video, but I can access all the other lesson? Help
admin Reply:
February 4th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
T-hippie,
You need to be a registered user to see the videos. Registration is free.
Great lessons – easy to learn from
Thank you so much.
great vids, keep it up im learning heaps.
online translator german?
haha
admin Reply:
January 10th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
@mg50, I lived in Munich for a few years and managed to pick up a few words. Mein Frau speaks perfect German, as well.
hi,
i`m a great blues fan and (hobby)- guitarplayer from germany.
your lesson`s are very helpfull and best i could find all around the i-net
thank you very much
best regards
tom
admin Reply:
December 30th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Hallo Tom,
Danke für die Anmerkung. Ich wohnte in München für vier Jahre. Meine ersten YouTube Videos notiert auf Dachauerstr.