Mixing Up the Licks: Round 3

Now let's check out how to make our 4 lick meat 'n' potatoes vocabulary work over another entirely different groove. First we'll take a listen to the groove that we'll be soloing over. Then we'll adapt the key and the rhythm and timing of the licks. The rhythmic aspects will be a lot trickier for this one, but becoming aware of these tools and tricks is an invaluable skill to have as rock guitar player.

I hope this tutorial has given you a solid understanding of how to go about developing, using and adapting your basic rock lead vocabulary to different situations. The licks from this tutorial are really fun and useful, but as I mentioned earlier, your go-to licks may eventually be different from these - and that's okay! As long as you make sure to take this approach to using them, so that you're not just reciting them one after another.

As always it's not how much you know, it's how creative you can be with whatever tools you have in your toolbox. In the rest of this chapter we'll throw in new spices, colors and sounds with our basic vocabulary, but these licks and this approach will serve as the foundation for all of it. Have fun with it!