Tag: key of D

Melodic Guitar Solo (Pop Rock) in D

22/11/2020 Backing Track, Video Tab No Comments

I’ve been playing a lot on the Suhr guitar lately! Over the last weeks, I wrote a new, uplifting, melodic guitar solo in D.  Enjoy!  Update 26-11: I made a few (minor) additions to the tab!

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Melodic Guitar Solo in D major

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About Melodic Guitar Solo

I love playing solo’s in major keys, although it can be a bit of a challenge to keep things interesting. In my experience, it helps to play around with the major third and to search for chord suspensions (sus2 and sus4). I can’t pinpoint a clear artist influence for this melodic guitar solo, although some ‘Joe Satriani’ is going on (e.g., the legato flurries in bars 16 and 17). I aimed for a modern, spacious guitar sound, leaving room for your timed delays to ring through 😉

Gear Used
  • Suhr Modern Pro HH, Ernie Ball strings .010,  captured with Universal Audio Ox
  • Victory V40
  • pedals: Crazy Tube Circuits Black Magic mkII (lead tones)
  • D16 repeater (timed delays):
D16 repeater
D16 Repeater Plugin - get it at plugin boutique
Backing Track
More Melodic Solos

Blues Lick Lesson #03

17/05/2020 Lesson, Quick lick, Video Tab No Comments

This blues rock lick builds on the concepts of my blues lick lesson 01 and lesson 02 on my channel . Also, you’ll find a full blues rock solo with this lick in bar 14 AND a backing track to practice it on. Everything is connected here on the Guitar Inspiration channel, so subscribe to stay updated!

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Blues Lick Lesson #3

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About The Lick

This electric blues lick is heavily inspired by Texas Blues and the guitar solo and licks that Kenny Wayne Shepherd played on his 1998 hit song ‘Blue On Black‘. This lick starts with a pickup of 3 sixteenth notes, the first being a full tone bend on the 12th fret of the G-string. Usually, I play this bend with 3 fingers, but in fast licks like this one, I only use my middle finger. Don’t worry if it’s not a full tone exactly. A 3/4-bend is fine too.

Blues Rock Lick
Blues Rock Lick in the key of D
Sextuplets

Next, bar the 10th frets of the B and E-string with your index finger. Pick the first one with a downstroke and the second one with an upstroke. This upstroke is essential because it changes your picking direction.

In the next bar, bend the 13th fret of the B-string a full tone up. This is a long note, so you can band and hold the string with three fingers. Pick vigorously with a downstroke. Personally, I like to add the sound of the muted D and G-string for effect.

Next are two groups of sextuplets (my favorite tuplets!). Start with the 10th fret on the E-string with an upstroke, then the 13th fret on the B-string with a downstroke, and lastly, do a pull-off to the 10th fret on the B-string.

The next bend resembles the one we started with, and it boomerangs the lick back up to the 10th fret on the B-string and the E-string. The picking pattern is the same, but the rhythm differs because we’re playing sextuplets. Adding this boomerang technique to your blues and rock guitar licks is a real superpower. Using this concept, you can repeat these licks for as long as you like!

After a similar descent, with a pull-off from the 13th to the 10th fret on the B-string, play the 13th fret on the G-string with a downstroke. This is the blue note.

Next, pick the 12th fret on the G-string with an upstroke and do a pull-off to the 10th fret and a hammer-on (from nowhere) to the 12th fret on the D-string. Pay special attention to the flow of sextuplet rhythm.

Finally, do a hammer-on from the 10th to the 12th fret on the G-string. I like to land on a downstroke here.

Practice tips

Practice this blues lick with a metronome or on the backing track (that is not quantized by the way!). Cheers, Maarten.

More Guitar Inspiration

Blues Rock Solo (in D)

26/04/2020 Backing Track, Video Tab No Comments

After I posted the blues rock backing track last week, I started thinking about writing an original blues rock solo for the jam track. Watch the end result in the video, download the (free) tab or jam along with the backing track.

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Blues Rock Solo in D

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Inspiration For The Solo

The inspiration for the backing track comes from music by Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Blue On Black), Joe Bonamassa, and other guitarists. So for the solo, I found inspiration in how these guitarists use the blues scale in their playing.

The blues solo in the video is one of the longes I’ve played to date, and it’s a long build towards the final (accented) eight notes.

In the A-section, I leave a lot of space for the slide guitar in the background and the acoustic guitar riffs. I use slides, pull-offs, and hammer-ons to embellish basic blues licks. I wrote this part last, and – before I did – I revisited Guthrie Govan’s “Remember When”, the perfect blend of liquid guitar lines and mellow groove. 

In The B-section, I build up the energy with some Kenny Wayne Shepherd-style licks. Texas Blues licks always add style to a guitar solo. They sound best on a guitar with a single-coil pickup. I chose the 2nd position on the Suhr HH (split coil between the bridge and middle pickup).

In the C-section (chorus), I switch to the bridge video (clearly visible in the video) to play some modern blues licks where long notes balance out some and flashy licks in every fourth bar. It is in this upper range that the Suhr guitar shows its merits. Although this may look like a shred guitar (whatever that means); ,t has a smooth blues guitar voice that brings articulation, intonation, and feeling into every upper octave solo.

Tonewise, i added a fuzz into the guitar sound to bring out the pick attack. At the end of the solo, I push the fuzz-sound a little bit by adding an upper octave.

Featured Lick

This is a classic D minor Texas Blues lick. The bend on the 12th fret catapults the phrase back to the upper E-string. I especially like the feel of the descending sextuplet pattern that follows.

Texas Blues Lick
Texas Blues Lick (D)

Blues Rock Backing Track in D

18/04/2020 Backing Track, Video Tab No Comments

I made a new Blues Rock Backing Track in D, inspired by the music of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, , Joe Bonamassa, The Black Crowes  and more. Have fun with this swampy, driving blues rock jam track in the key of D. 

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Blues Rock Backing Track (Chord Chart)

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The main idea for this jam track originated when I revisited Kenny Wayne Shepherd‘s ‘Blue On Black’ and the excellent cover that was done by Five Finger Death Punch. I saw KWS live for the first time last year, and the experience really blew my mind (what great tone!). I truly feel grateful that I had a chance to see this band at Blues Peer 2019.

I like my backing tracks unquantized especially for blues. Even though the drum parts are programmed in Steven Slate 5.5, they are not fully placed on the grid, to keep the natural and human feeling. I believe this helps to learn how to improvise on your blues guitar. Check out my other blues backing track in E (shuffle) here. 

If you’re interested, you can download a HQ-WAV version from this ‘Blues Rock Backing Track’ in my Sellfy store below. That also helps to support my page & channel. Thanks! Maarten.