Beginner Blues Guitar Soloing: Finding Your Voice in the Blues
Blues guitar soloing isn’t just about playing the right notes, it’s about how you play them. That’s what makes blues one of the most expressive and enduring styles in guitar music. If you’ve ever been drawn to the raw emotion of B.B. King’s vibrato, the biting attack of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s bends, or the smooth phrasing of Eric Clapton’s licks, you’re already on the right track. But where do you start?
If you’re a beginner, learning to solo in the blues can feel overwhelming at first. There are scales to memorize, techniques to master, and a long tradition of legendary players who make it all sound effortless. But the good news? Blues soloing has a clear structure, and once you get familiar with it, you’ll start to find your own sound.
Key Takeaways Before You Start
Blues soloing is the backbone of many other genres, from rock to jazz.
The pentatonic scale is your best friend: learn it inside out.
Expressive techniques like bending, vibrato, and slides make the difference.
Learning from classic solos is crucial to developing your style.
Gear choices matter, but how you play is always more important than what you play.
Where It All Began: A Quick Look at Blues Guitar Evolution
Blues didn’t start with shredding solos or fancy effects, it began in the early 20th century with acoustic Delta Blues players, using nothing but their fingers, slide techniques, and raw emotion. Without amplification, the early blues pioneers relied on phrasing and dynamics to create expression. It wasn’t until the 1950s Chicago Blues era, with players like Buddy Guy and the Kings (B.B., Freddy, and Albert), that the electric guitar became a true solo instrument.
By the time the British blues explosion of the 1960s hit, players like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page took these American blues foundations and injected more power, distortion, and aggression. This, in turn, inspired Texas blues giants like Stevie Ray Vaughan, and later, modern blues-rock revivalists like Joe Bonamassa and Marcus King.
So why does this history matter? Because when you’re soloing in the blues, you’re stepping into a tradition. You’re speaking a musical language that has evolved over decades. The good news is that every great blues player started with the same vocabulary, the pentatonic scale and a handful of key techniques.
The Fundamentals of Beginner Blues Guitar Soloing
Step One: Mastering the Pentatonic Scale
If there’s one thing every blues guitarist knows inside out, it’s the minor pentatonic scale. This five-note pattern is the foundation of blues soloing and gives you access to countless licks used by legends. Start by learning it in at least two positions on the fretboard. Eventually, you’ll want to connect all five, but don’t rush it.
A common beginner mistake? Playing the scale too mechanically. Blues isn’t about running up and down scales, it’s about making them sing. That’s where phrasing comes in.
Step Two: Adding Expression Through Technique
A blues solo is nothing without expression. Here’s where things get interesting:
Bending: A signature move in blues, bending allows you to reach in-between notes, mimicking the human voice. A half-step or whole-step bend is common, but make sure you’re hitting the right pitch. Many beginners bend out of tune.
Vibrato: This is where your personality shines. Whether you prefer the slow, wide vibrato of B.B. King or the more aggressive shake of Stevie Ray Vaughan, it’s what gives your playing life.
Slides & Pull-offs: These techniques keep your playing fluid, helping you transition smoothly between notes.
Step Three: Learning from the Greats
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The best way to develop your phrasing is to learn solos from legendary players. Some must-learn blues solos include:
“The Thrill Is Gone” – B.B. King (A masterclass in vibrato and space)
“Cocaine” (Eric Clapton’s version) (Blues-rock phrasing with a punch)
“Hoochie Coochie Man” – Muddy Waters (Raw, powerful, and packed with blues feel)
A smart approach is to loop short sections of these solos and listen carefully to every nuance. If a note sounds great, ask yourself why. Is it because of a subtle bend? A specific rhythmic placement? These details matter.
Finding Your Sound: Gear, Tone, and Common Pitfalls
Choosing the Right Guitar and Amp Settings
While blues tone isn’t just about gear, your guitar and amp settings can help shape your sound. Here’s what you need to know:
Guitar: A Stratocaster (single-coil pickups) will give you a bright, snappy sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan, while a Les Paul (humbuckers) offers a thicker, warmer tone.
Amp Settings: Keep the mids pushed up, avoid scooping them (which is common in metal but kills a blues tone). A touch of overdrive helps, but don’t overdo it. Blues solos should sound natural, not overly compressed.
Neck Pickup: Many blues players prefer the neck pickup for solos, as it gives a rounder, more vocal tone.
Common Beginner Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
When starting out with blues soloing, it’s easy to fall into some traps. Here are a few to watch for:
Overplaying: Many beginners try to cram too many notes into their solos. Blues is about phrasing and space. Listen to how B.B. King often lets notes breathe.
Ignoring Dynamics: Every note doesn’t need to be played at the same intensity. Experiment with softer and louder passages to make your playing more expressive.
Lack of Bending Control: If your bends are even slightly out of tune, your solo will sound off. Check yourself by bending to match a fretted note.
Start Playing Blues Solos Today
The best way to learn beginner blues guitar soloing is to dive in. Start with the pentatonic scale, listen to legendary players, and practice bending and vibrato until your notes start to sing. Most importantly, don’t just play the notes, listen to what you’re saying with them. Blues soloing isn’t just about technique; it’s about telling your own story, one note at a time.
How to Play Blues Music on Guitar: A Beginner’s Essential Guide
Why Blues Matters (and How You Can Master It)
Learning how to play Blues music on guitar isn’t just about mastering chords and rhythms; it’s about connecting deeply with a rich musical heritage. The blues isn’t merely a style, it’s the cornerstone of nearly every modern music genre you enjoy today, from rock and jazz to soul and even heavy metal. Yet many beginners find themselves quickly overwhelmed, uncertain how to capture that authentic blues feel.
If this sounds familiar, don’t worry: every guitarist, even legends like Eric Clapton or Stevie Ray Vaughan, started exactly where you are right now. Let’s unravel the blues step by step, taking the mystery out of what makes this music timeless.
Where Did the Blues Really Come From?
The blues originated among workers in the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta shortly after slavery ended. Early blues artists like Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson traveled from town to town, sharing their soulful, acoustic guitar style. Their simple yet emotive songs laid the groundwork for generations of musicians.
As industrialization shifted workers northward in search of better opportunities, the blues naturally moved with them. Chicago became a significant musical hotspot in the late 1940s, giving birth to electric blues. Musicians like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf electrified the traditional acoustic blues, creating the distinctive Chicago Blues sound characterized by amplified guitars, harmonicas, and raw emotion.
Interestingly, this very American art form found fresh life overseas during the British blues boom in the 1960s. Artists like Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck reinterpreted American blues classics, ironically inspiring American musicians to revisit their own roots. The cycle of musical influence turned full circle, sparking entire new genres like psychedelic rock and heavy metal.
Getting Down to Basics: Chords, Structure, and Rhythm
When learning how to play Blues music on guitar, beginners should first focus on understanding the fundamental structure. Most blues songs follow a clear, repeating pattern known as the 12-bar blues. This structure revolves around three essential chords: the root (I), the fourth (IV), and the fifth (V). To give you a practical example, think of classic songs like The Thrill Is Gone by B.B. King or Hoochie Coochie Man by Muddy Waters, which are perfect demonstrations of this chord progression.
A common mistake beginners make is rushing through chord changes without mastering the rhythm. Blues rhythm has a distinct triplet feel, where beats are divided into groups of three rather than the typical two or four. This subtle rhythmic distinction creates the “shuffle” feel characteristic of authentic blues music.
Tip for Beginners: Spend time practicing rhythmic patterns slowly, counting “one-trip-let, two-trip-let” aloud. Don’t be afraid of simplicity at first, solid rhythm foundations will carry you further than complicated solos.
Essential Techniques Every Blues Guitarist Should Know
Beyond chords and rhythm, certain techniques define the blues guitar style. String bending is perhaps the most recognizable; it allows guitarists to express emotion in ways similar to the human voice. When practicing bends, beginners often struggle with pitch accuracy, so always double-check by matching your bends to a fretted target note.
Other essential blues techniques include:
Hammer-ons and pull-offs: These give your playing smoothness, helping you move between notes without excessive picking.
Slides and vibrato: These add emotional depth and character to your playing.
Palm muting and ghost notes: Crucial for developing dynamic rhythm playing, preventing monotonous or overly loud strumming.
Using a capo: This tool shifts the guitar’s open strings to different keys, offering creative flexibility helpful if you’re struggling to play certain chord shapes.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Beginners frequently overuse complex techniques too soon, causing frustration and inconsistency. Remember, simplicity can be your friend. Great blues often revolves around minimal notes played with intention. Take it slow, master basic techniques first, and gradually introduce complexity.
Ready to Start Playing the Blues?
Exploring how to play Blues music on guitar takes patience and consistent practice, but understanding these basics puts you firmly on the right path. Now it’s your turn: grab your guitar, revisit a few classics, and immerse yourself in one of the richest musical traditions around.
If you’re a beginner blues player then there’s no doubt that you’ll need to start building up your collection of awesome licks. Think of licks as the vocabulary you need to start piecing together full blues sentences (phrases) to use in your soloing. The more great licks you can absorb into your playing, the more chance you have of pinning together a great solo!
In this blog we’re here to show you 5 licks to get you started, all based around the major and minor pentatonics in the key of C Blues. With each lick we’ll do a brief explanation of what’s going on, and also provide the scale shapes to help!
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The lesson
Now, with that all said and done, let’s get back to the lesson shall we! Here is the video for you to watch to check out the 5 licks and the detailed discussion behind each one. You can find the backing tracks right here too.
The solo & tab
So let’s start by working through the tab! This is all in the key of C blues, and is working with the C major pentatonic and C minor pentatonic scales (which we’ll talk about in more detail in a second). If you would like to download the GP file for this blues track, you can do so here. Otherwise here is the main tab for you:
As for the scales that we are using, it’s all about the major and minor crossover in the blues. This means that thanks to the dominant 7th chords, that include both the minor 7th and major 3rd, we are able to use both the major and minor pentatonic over the top. This is the basic rule, but I can understand if that explanation feels a bit wishy washy initially! If you’d like a more detailed explanation, check out this blog post.
At this level, I would suggest gaining experience playing the licks, listening to the licks absorbing the licks over trying to get too deep with the theory. As you learn to play with these sounds more, the theory will become easier to absorb. So, with that in mind, here are the scale shapes:
You wouldn’t necessarily learn the final crossover scale as a whole thing of course! It’s just a visualisation of it all together. You’ll see in the video that I explain what is happening within each lick to achieve a crossover at points, and when you do and don’t need to do it! It can be pretty subtle most of the time. Do check out the video for more on this!
The rhythm part
If you want a 360 degree view of this track we’re learning, you might also be interested in learning the rhythm part. This is the part that is happening underneath the main solo, and provides a great example of how you might like to play through a 12 bar blues. Let’s first start by detailing the chord changes. These are: C7 | F7 | C7 | C7 | F7 | F7 | C7 | C7 | G7 | F7 | C7 | G7. So it’s a standard 12 bar blues structure! We are, however, using 9th chords for the 4 and 5 chord, so this ends up looking like this: C7 | F9 | C7 | C7 | F9 | F9 | C7 | C7 | G9 | F9 | C7 | G9. The 9th chord is simply an extension of the dominant 7th, adding the 9th degree of the sale to the top of the chord. For more information on the theory behind chord construction, check this out.
Let’s take a look at this chord part via the tab. Remember that you can download the Guitar Pro version here as well if you would like to see it in action! Here is the tab:
The turnaround
Finally, if you’re loving the turnaround at the end of this track we have a great detailed post about blues turnarounds right here. This turnaround and many more are covered in that blog post and accompanying video, as we don’t really discuss that part of it in this video!
Guitar Club
Hopefully you loved this post and learnt a lot from it! Just a quick reminder then that we have partnered together with the amazing team here at Guitar Pro to bring all GP customers a 1 month access for zero cost. You don’t even need your credit card! Click here to sign up with just your email, get your pathway, and start learning!
Looking to spice up your playing with some serious blues power?
These 15 blues licks are the perfect way to elevate your skills and give your solos that authentic, soulful feel. Whether you’re jamming alone or trading licks with other musicians, these killer phrases will add fire and emotion to your playing. Plus, we’ve got you covered with free Guitar Pro tabs to help you learn them fast and easily!
Grab your guitar, dive in, and start grooving with these must-learn blues licks that every guitarist needs in their arsenal!
These licks were composed by one of the members of the Guitar Pro team. Each Guitar Pro can be downloaded above. They all include an audio track, making it perfect for practice along with a backing track! You can also download a zip file with the 15 Guitar Pro files here. Enjoy!
Lick 1
This plan is played on a C7 chord, which is the first degree in C major. It is based on the C major pentatonic scale with a resolution on the fundamental C of the C7 chord. We advise you to play the plan slowly, gradually increasing the tempo.
Lick 2
This plan is played over an F7 chord corresponding to the fourth degree of the key of C major. It is built on the notes of the F7 chord with a resolution on the note C, which is the fifth of F7. Pay attention to the phrasing, as the first notes are piquant.
Lick 3
This plan is played on a G7 chord corresponding to the fifth degree of the key of C major. This is a cycled plan using a one-tone bend. I recommend bending with fingers one, two and three and using the fourth finger to play the note D on the E string.
Lick 4
This plan is played on a chord of Bb7, which is the first degree in Bb major. It is built on the pentatonic scale of Bb major. To give effect to the last note of the plan, we bend it by a quarter-tone.
Lick 5
This plan is played over a chord of Eb7 corresponding to the fourth degree of the key of Bb major. The first part of the plan uses the Bb minor pentatonic scale, while the second is based on the Bb major pentatonic scale.
Lick 6
This plan is played on an F7 chord corresponding to the fifth degree of the key of Bb major. It uses a series of sixth intervals, frequently used in the blues.
Lick 7
This plan is played over a B7 chord, which is the first degree in the key of B major. It is based on the pentatonic scale of B minor, with a resolution on the seventh of the B7 chord, A. The third of the B7 chord, the note D#, will add relief to the plan.
Lick 8
This plan is played over an E7 chord corresponding to the fourth degree of the key of B major. It is built on the notes of the E7 chord with resolution on the third and root of the chord. To give effect to the double notes G and D, you bend them by a quarter tone.
Lick 9
This plan is played over an F#7 chord corresponding to the fifth degree of the key of B major. It is built on the notes of the F#7 chord, F# A# C# E.
Lick 10
This plan is played over a chord of E7, which is the first degree in the key of E major. It is played on the E minor pentatonic scale. Pay attention to the change of position between the notes in the twelfth fret and the bend in the seventeenth fret.
Lick 11
This plan is played over an A7 chord corresponding to the fourth degree of the key of E major. It is built on the notes of the A7 chord, A C# E G.
Lick 12
This plan is played over a B7 chord corresponding to the fifth degree of the key of E major. It is built on the notes of the B7 chord, B D# F# A.
Lick 13
This plan is played over a chord of A7, which is the first degree in the key of A major. Make sure that the bend of a tone and a half in the twelfth fret of the E string is in tune. It is played on the A minor pentatonic scale.
Lick 14
This plan is played over a D7 chord corresponding to the fourth degree of the key of A major. It is built on the notes of the D7 chord, D F# A C. It is resolved on the seventh of the chord.
Lick 15
This plan is played over an E7 chord corresponding to the fifth degree of the key of A major. It is built on the notes of the E7 chord, E G# B D. To play the fast passage smoothly, I recommend starting slowly and gradually increasing the tempo.
We hope you liked these cool licks and that they will inspire you to compose your own, feel free to comment below!
We’re also happy to share with you Kingfish’s interview at the 2024 Main Square Festival:
If you don’t have the opportunity to play with other musicians, I suggest you bring the band directly to your home! The idea of this virtual jam proposed on my YouTube channel is very simple since it is about creating a musical dialogue between you and me. Indeed, you’ll find in this song some parts without any solo during which you’ll be able to improvise your own solo.
But before you jump into the lion’s den, here are some tips and ideas that might be useful.
Grab your guitar, let’s go!
Understanding the 12-measure grid
We are in the key of G. The harmonic progression is quite simple and is based on 3 chords (degree I = G7 / degree IV = C7 / degree V = D7) arranged according to a pre-established order. We speak of a grid. We start with G7 and then, in bar 2, we find the chord of the IVth degree in order to bring a light harmonic movement: it is what we call a “quick change”.
As this variation is not imposed, we could also have stayed four measures on the G7 chord. The rest of the grid follows a very classical pattern in the alternation of degrees: two measures of IV (C7), two measures of I (G7) and then the sequence V-IV-I-I (D7-C7-G7-G7).
Because of its internal structure, easily divided into groups of two or four bars, the blues is an ideal playground for practicing the famous “question and answer” concept.
The first round
But before we go deep into that, let me first start with a full grid.
The inspiration for this song is Come When I Call by John Mayer. A quick look at the score and you’ll see the natural breakdown of this 12-bar grid. Indeed, each group of four bars can be divided into 2: 2 bars of rhythm and 2 bars of solo phrasing.
We speak about antecedent and consequent. The rhythmic part supports the groove of the piece and beats 2 and 4 (also called “weak beats”). As for the lead phrases, they are based on the famous minor penta position (here in G, 3rd fret) or its extension.
Jam: the 5 licks explained
Now everyone has 4 bars to play and this dialogue last during 3 full grids.
Lick n° 1 (Bars 1-4)
In blues or rock music, repeating notes in licks is cool and sounds well. Here we are in 10th position. This type of phrase can of course be extended as long as you like. Nevertheless, be careful to negotiate the exit.
Lick n° 2 (bars 9-12)
One of my favorite lick ideas is to focus harmonically on the V-IV sequence (D7-C7). You will notice the perfect symmetry between the first 2 bars, and also the use of chromaticism to bring an almost jazzy side. The final phrase is based on the famous minor penta position. Pay attention to the effects and techniques that make the blues so special.
Lick n° 3 (bars 5-8)
For this lick, I got inspired by BB King. The famous bluesman was accustomed to licks with the tonic located on the 2nd string and blocked with the index finger: it is called “BB Box“. To give life to this kind of phrase, the bends are essential. This is followed by a transverse flight to the tonic note G, on the high E string at the 15th fret.
Lick n° 4 (bars 1-4)
The position used is the same as in the first lick. But this time there are more effects and movements. You can find that kind of lick in Eric Clapton‘s playing.
Lick n° 5 (bars 9-12)
Here is the beginning of a lick borrowed from the Delta Blues and which follows the V-IV sequence. Note that the beginning is built on the chord triad before introducing a descending chromaticism and various enrichments. The end is a good illustration of the transversal use of the minor penta.
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Some guitarists will tell you the blues is easy to play, which is both kind of true and incredibly false. Technically, you don’t need to be a lightning-speed shredder to play those sweet pentatonic bends. Harmonically, most blues chord progressions are more or less identical and pretty basic. But the blues is an idiom, a language that requires a thorough study to be played properly. It’s not just about playing random notes from the scale over a 12-bar blues: it takes time and passion. We have created those 20 licks with passion, so now it’s your turn to put the time in!
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The blues has a very rich history, one that has defined the musical evolution of the 20th century. Rock directly came from the blues (to the point that the line between those two genres is blurry at best), but hip-hop and R’n’B (rhythm n’ blues, right?) also come from that tradition. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a popular genre of music that emerged during the last 100 years that does not owe anything to the blues.
Even though there are countless blues currents and trends, three of them tend to stand out as milestones in the development of the style. Delta Blues started out in the Mississippi Delta (hence the name) in the early 1900s, starting with legends like Charley Patton and Son House. Delta Blues artists would usually sing and play at the same time without any other musicians to back them up, rarely playing solos as we envision them today, and often singing on simple one-chord structures. Monsters like Leadbelly, Blind Willie Johnson and Robert Johnson have defined the shape of blues and rock to come, including writing a lot of future standards, but as guitar players, they had a very complex style that has not really been imitated.
Chicago Blues on the other hand is the era that defined a lot of blues rules and conventions that we take for granted nowadays. African-American artists moved from rural Mississippi to the industrial North, and especially Chicago, looking for a better life, including a proper job and no institutional segregation.
Muddy Waters was one of the pioneers of Chicago Blues on the Chess Label in the early 1950s, and his electric style backed by bass, drums and piano has become a gold standard of sorts.
The brits pickup up on those Chess singles, and they created their own version of the blues, a stiffer, more aggressive take on the genre with an emphasis on guitar solos. All the guitar greats of the sixties have cut their teeth as part of the British Blues Boom, including Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
As time went on, the blues started to mix with rock to the point that those two have become very close, and many artists have been walking that fine line between the two. Any guitar hero worth his salt knows the blues, and they all have learnt their craft by stealing riffs from Clapton’s early work, from DuaneAllman to Van Halen. Now is the time to start your own blues education with the help of those twenty licks inspired by ten blues legends. Each guitarist has inspired two different phrases, an easier one and another one that will require a little more work.
They are as close to a cliché dictionary of the genre, filled with great ideas that you can use as starting points to develop your own take. You have probably heard of the 12-bar I-IV-V structure by now (and if not you should definitely look into it), and the second lick for every artist works over the end of that structure when the backing tracks go from V to IV then back to the I. The first lick has a single static chord in the background, which makes it usable in a variety of situations.
Since blues is at its core an oral-based tradition, all the nuances and fine expressive points of those licks cannot be fully covered by a simple GP file (not for lack of trying though!).
Each lick comes with an audio track that will complement the GP transcription and help you hear what the results should sound like.
Of course, the blues is a deeply personal affair, it is a style that’s been helping musicians express their deepest frustrations, regrets and traumas. No two blues players sound alike because every single one of them has a different story to tell, and playing the blues is all about telling your own story in your own words, and with your own notes. Those twenty licks are great starting points to help you create your personal bag of licks by pinpointing those phrases and notes that truly resonate with what you have to say.
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Hail to the King. It’s only logical that the first two licks from that blues lesson should be inspired by B.B. King, since he has defined what a great blues solo should sound like. The man basically invented the way we bend the strings today. Though he started out on the acoustic in Mississippi, he became famous as a Memphis electric blues artist. His playing takes full advantage of the expressive possibilities of our instrument and sounds as close to the human voice as possible.
Lick 1 and 2 have the passionate bends that everyone stole from B.B. as well as his trademark mixture of minor and major pentatonic scales, here in the key of D.
Lick 1 is relatively straightforward while lick 2 has a jazzy chromatic run, which makes sense since B.B. King was a crossover artist, meaning he took the blues in more pop and jazz directions with hits like “Thrill Is Gone” and “Hummingbird”, and of course his legendary 1965 live album At The Regal.
Lick 1 in the style of BB King:
Lick 2 in the style of BB King:
Licks 3 and 4: Billy Gibbons
For those who are new to the world of blues guitar, Billy Gibbons is someone you should get to know. He created the trio ZZ Top in 1969 and has constantly been touring the world ever since, getting hits in the charts and becoming a legend in the process. Even though he never really went away from his band of super-greasy laid-back Texas blues, he made it more current by mixing it with the fads of the day, like synths in the 80s and autotune in the 2000s.
Lick 3 in the style of Billy Gibbons:
Lick 4 in the style of Billy Gibbons:
Lick 3 is a repetitive sliding pattern in E minor pentatonic that has become associated with Gibbons, while lick 4 is also in E pentatonic but the first bend brings the minor third towards a major sound, creating some classic harmonic ambiguity typical of the blues.
Licks 5 and 6: Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters is the ultimate Chicago great, an amazing singer that managed to stay relevant until the end of his career in the eighties (with a little help from his alumni Johnny Winter) and a crude guitar player that had some brilliant ideas, a tone to die for and just the right amount of out-of-tune notes to keep the listener on its toes. His razor-sharp slide-playing is especially enjoyable.
Lick 5 in the style of Muddy Waters:
Lick 6 in the style of Muddy Waters:
Lick 5 are some classic minor pentatonic runs in G, while Lick 6 has some of that sliding around (without the bottleneck).
Licks 7 eand 8: Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy is slightly younger than Muddy Waters, and he was the newer gunslinger in Chicago in the late fifties, with a howling voice and a wiry trebly lead playing on a Stratocaster, which deeply influenced a Seattle cat named Jimi Hendrix. He is currently aged 86 and continues to play on stage and inspire blues aficionados worldwide.
Lick 7 in the style of Buddy Guy:
Lick 8 in the style of Buddy Guy:
Lick 7 has that aggressive sting that makes Buddy’s playing so recognizable. It is over a static D chord, and bar 3 starts with a major-over-minor pentatonic lick that Jimmy Page used a lot, while Lick 8 includes a few scorching bends.
Licks 9 dan 10: Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter was the new generation of American blues players in the late sixties, influenced both by the Chicago pioneers by also by the British Blues Boom and psychedelic bands from the West Coast. He was famous for his sharp slide sound – courtesy of a Gibson Firebird – and for his virtuosic playing that brought blues into the seventies, the era of the guitar hero.
Lick 9 in the style of Johnny Winter:
Lick 10 in the style of Johnny Winter:
Lick 9 has some serious speed going on in B flat, with the help of repetitive patterns featuring legato playing with some bends thrown in for good measure, while lick 10 has some sixths borrowed from the country idiom.
Licks 11 and 12: John Lee Hooker
Even though the “boogie man” was born in Mississippi, he became a professional musician in Detroit, a town that’s not usually associated with the blues. His best work is made of solo songs in which he displays his deep African roots and haunting groove, masterpieces like “Boogie Chillun” and “Crawling King Snake”.
Lick 11 in the style of John Lee Hooker:
Lick 12 in the style of John Lee Hooker:
Both licks are in the key of E. Lick 11 ends with two notes sliding down, which has become a signature move for many blues soloists, and lick 12 has a typical turnaround melody that nicely concludes a 12-bar blues.
Licks 13 and 14: Stevie Ray Vaughan
In the eighties, back when blues was deeply unfashionable, Stevie Ray Vaughan appeared out of Texas as a sideman for David Bowie. He then developed his own solo career, blending the sharp attack of Albert King with the melodic sense of Jimi Hendrix. He brought the Strat and the blues back into fashion and most guitarists are still lusting after his enormous tone.
Lick 13 in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan:
Lick 14 in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan:
Lick 13 puts some double stops to good use, and it should be played heavy-handedly. Lick 14, also in the key of A, shows a more virtuosic side of SRV’s work, with a nice legato lick moving from major to minor being transposed to fit the chords in the backing track.
Licks 15 and 16: Eric Clapton
Clapton is the ultimate British bluesman, the one who made a whole generation want to play Les Paul and defined the sound of a Marshall pushed to the limit, whether with John Mayall or in the original power trio Cream. His later hits lean more to the pop side of the force, but he can still play a 12-bar jam like no one else.
Lick 15 in the style of Eric Clapton:
Lick 16 in the style of Eric Clapton:
Lick 15 alternates between major and minor in C, while lick 16 shows a faster side of Clapton’s playing, including a great lick with double stops and hammer-ons that you need to steal.
Licks 17 and 18: Gary Moore
Gary Moore was a fan of Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green in the late sixties, so he bought his Les Paul. But the Irish native didn’t become a blues idol right away: first, he played hard rock and heavy metal before releasing his most successful album, Still Got The Blues in 1990. He could play very technical licks but at the same time had a very dramatic vibrato that could make grown men weep.
Lick 17 in the style of Gary Moore:
Lick 18 in the style of Gary Moore:
Lick 17 starts with an arpeggiated chord around the minor 7th and major 3rd straight out of the Hendrix playbook, don’t be shy with your left-hand vibrato! Unusual notes can also be found in lick 18, notably a sixth on the A which underlines the chord structure in the key of D.
Licks 19 and 20: Joe Bonamassa
Joe Bonamassa was already playing gigs opening for B.B. King when he was only 11 years old. Since then, the Utica, New York native has gone on to establish a very productive solo career, with an album every year and a growing audience of blues enthusiasts and guitar geeks.
Lick 19 in the style of Joe Bonamassa:
Lick 20 in the style of Joe Bonamassa:
Both licks are in the key of B (a very enjoyable key on Gibson-style guitars) and lick 19 includes a bend that starts off with a simple half-step bend and then goes to one step and a half, a very powerful move indeed. Lick 20 has the fastest run of the whole lesson, mixing legato with slide. That Eric Johnson-inspired lick is guaranteed to surprise and stun the audience if you can pull it off!
As usual, those twenty licks should be worked out slowly if you want to get them to sound as clean as they should. Feel free to move them to different keys and integrate some of those notes as part of your own improvisations. Have fun!
Hey guys! Dan here from Your Guitar Academy with a really cool blues lesson for you today. We love working with the wonderful guys at Guitar Pro, and our aim with this lesson is to help you navigate a slow blues solo with a range of theory, techniques, and even a pinch of soul! We’re talking major and minor crossover, 7th arpeggios and moving with the chords.
