Six Strings
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Course

Intermediate · step 4 · Not started

Your first licks

A lick is a short ready-made phrase you drop into a solo, like an expression in a language. With five licks under your fingers, you stop improvising note by note: you start talking. Goal: string your licks together over a backing track.

Time
15 minutes
Before you start
The bend
You’ll be able to
String licks together in an improvisation

What’s a lick?

Guitarists don’t build their solos one note at a time: they draw on a vocabulary of short phrases, called licks, which they vary and string together. Learning a few is the fastest way to improvise solos that sound like music.

The five licks in this lesson all fit in position 1 of the A minor pentatonic, between the 5th and 8th frets, and all end on an A. They were written for this site: play them, change them, use them in your own songs.

ACDEGACDEEGAC

High E at the top, just like in tab; the numbers under the neck are fret numbers.

Vibrato, to end a phrase

All these licks end on a held note with vibrato: the pitch wavers slightly, like a singer’s voice on a long note. To do it, push the string ever so slightly, release, and repeat, turning your wrist rather than moving your finger. The full details are on the Vibrato page.

e|-----------|
B|------5-8~-|
G|-7-7~------|
D|-----------|
A|-----------|
E|-----------|

1. The descent

The simplest and most useful one: walk down the scale from the high E string and land on the A on the D string, with vibrato. It’s the most natural way to end a phrase.

e|-8-5------------|
B|-----8-5--------|
G|---------7-5----|
D|-------------7~-|
A|----------------|
E|----------------|

2. Legato

Hammer-ons going up the G, B and high E strings, then pull-offs coming back down: one pick attack per string, and the notes flow.

e|---------5h8-8p5----------|
B|-----5h8---------8p5------|
G|-5h7-----------------7----|
D|-----------------------7~-|
A|--------------------------|
E|--------------------------|

3. Bend and release

A whole-step bend on the G string, 7th fret, released, then C and A. A blues-rock classic: the note rises, falls back, and the phrase settles.

e|------------|
B|------------|
G|-7b9r7-5----|
D|---------7~-|
A|------------|
E|------------|

4. The cry

Bend the B string at the 8th fret up to A, then play the same A straight on the high E string. The same note twice, bent then straight: that’s the “crying” sound of rock solos.

e|------5------8-5~-|
B|-8b10---8b10------|
G|------------------|
D|------------------|
A|------------------|
E|------------------|

5. Slide up

A slide from the 7th to the 9th fret on the G string takes you out of position 1, and you finish on the A on the B string, 10th fret. An easy way to build tension.

e|-------------|
B|-------8-10~-|
G|-5-7/9-------|
D|-------------|
A|-------------|
E|-------------|

How to learn them

  • One lick at a time, slowly. Every note should ring clean before you speed up.
  • Sing it. If you can hum it, you’ll play it with the right phrasing.
  • Change the rhythm. The same lick in long notes, then in fast notes, says something different.
  • Mix them up. The end of one lick can become the start of another.

Improvise with your licks

Start the backing track under the neck. Play a lick, leave a bar of silence, then play another: silence is part of a solo.

EGACDEGAACDEGACDEDEGACDEGAGACDEGACDCDEGACDEEGACDEGA
EGACDEACDEGADEGACDGACDEGCDEGAEGACDE

High E at the top, just like in tab.Neck seen from the front, headstock at the top: low E on the left, just like a chord diagram.

Play the scale notes over it. Open in the Studio

You’ve got it when…