You're only going to be as good as your last guitar lick if you don't really take the time and learn music theory as it applies to the guitar. Guitar licks are great, don't get me wrong. That's how all guitar players start out playing. If all you want to do is show off a little bit at parties, then that's fine. But if you truely want to be good enough to improvise over just about anything and sound impressive in the process, you need to know where those riffs fit into the bigger picture. When you know that, you can create your own riffs as opposed to copying other people's ideas and stringing them together. I would recommend that you study jazz or classical music from a guitar teacher respected within the music community in your area. If you have a local school or university with a reputable music department, that would be a good place to start asking around for a good teacher. You may also want to check out "Just Jazz Guitar" magazine. There are lots of helpful tips in there and lots of articles discussing different aspect of theory. I believe that their website is http://www.justjazzguitar.com. Good luck and keep practicing.

[Edited by trebledamage on 11-18-2001 at 09:47 PM]