Tag: Gibson Les Paul

Blues Lick Lesson #09 (C minor pentatonic)

Here is my 9th blues lick guitar lesson. In this video, I’ll teach you how to play slow, string skipping blues licks C minor. Recommended playing level: intermediate.  

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Jamtrack

I recorded a short backing track (Cm) for this lesson, you can find it below. If you want a LONG backing track in a similar style (in Am) you can find it in my jam track shop.

About this lesson

I’m proud to present to you my 9th blues lick guitar lesson. This blues phrase is played over a slow blues-rock jam track in C minor (12-8). In this lesson, I focus on atypical licks that either stay on 1 string or skip strings. The licks fit over a turnaround (last 2 bars of a 12 bar blues. chorus) and come from the C minor blues scale (or C minor pentatonic with the blue note). Variation 2 uses hybrid picking and is inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan‘s playing. So you’ll get a hybrid picking lesson for beginners in this video. Enjoy!

Concepts present in this blues lick lesson
  • skipping strings (vertical phrasing)
  • staying on 1 string (horizontal phrasing)
  • legato (hammer-on, pull-off)
  • hybrid picking
  • C minor pentatonic, blues scale – blue note
Gear

*-The guitar used is a Fender 1994 Stratocaster (stock pickups) Amp: Fractal AX8 preset

👉 Check out my gear page on Thomann: gear-thomann.guitar-inspiration.com

Blues Lick Lesson #08 (A minor pentatonic)

I’m proud to present to you my 8th blues lick guitar lesson. In this video, I’ll teach you how to play a slow but powerful blues-rock phrase in the key of A minor. Recommended playing level: intermediate.

Play Video
Concepts present in this blues lick lesson
  • alternate picking and legato (hammer-on, pull-off)
  • mixing metrics (playing duplets and quadruplets)
  • A minor pentatonic, pentatonic scale
  • blues bends, expressive blues bends
  • targeting notes like the 9th
Jam Track
Gear

*The guitar used is a Gibson Les Paul (with a Seymour Duncan JB4 pickup and a Duesenberg p90) into an ENGL Screamer 50 Amp, captured with the universal audio Ox. No Pedals Used 🙂

👉 Check out my gear page on Thomann: gear-thomann.guitar-inspiration.com

Blues Lick Lesson #06 (Major Pentatonic)

In blues lick lesson 06, you’ll learn how to play this tasty blues lick in E. This lick uses some interesting concepts, like the use of economy picking and right hand muting Recommended playing level: intermediate and up.

E major pentatonic

This is mostly an E major pentatonic blues lick that is used on the I-chord (first four bars of a 12-bar blues). In bar 2, I introduce the b3 (blue note) in a classic blues double stop. Bend the blue note a little bit for maximum effect. This double stop is heard a lot e.g. in the intro of older blues songs (even acoustic songs).

Blues Double Stop in E
Blues Double Stop in E
Concepts in this blues lick lesson

In blues lick lesson 06, you get the guitar tabs on screen, a detailed explanation of the picking technique and a variations for hybrid picking. Concepts that are present in this video

  • Right hand muting
  • Economy picking (mini downstroke sweeps)
  • Picking technique (alternate picking, hybrid picking), see PDF
  • E major pentatonic, E major blues and Using the flat 3d (blue note)
  • Grace notes, slides
Backing Track

E Blues shuffle backing track (115bpm) here.

Practice Tips

Practice this lick slowly first, then with the backing track on my channel. The feel of the blues lick is very important. You can transpose this lick to other keys as well. 

Gear

The guitar used is my a Gibson Les Paul Standard. The guitar has a full-bodied and very present sound in the bridge pickup. I like this sound a lot for medium overdriven lead tones in blues and blues rock. Everything is recorded through my pedalboard and the Fuchs Blackjack MkII.

👉 Check out my gear page on Thomann: gear-thomann.guitar-inspiration.com