TWENTY ROCK LICKS
Breakthrough blues-rock lead guitar to take your playing to the next level
Guitars and backing Jon Bishop
Welcome to our celebration of rock lead guitar! The aim of this huge lesson is to provide you with some core concepts and techniques which will help you build your soloing vocabulary as we take a look at the styles of some of rock’s legends. From Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour to John Mayer and Joe Bonamassa, hopefully there’s something for everyone!
When creating licks and guitar solos the major and minor pentatonic scales are a popular starting point for many guitarists, and several of our examples use these as their basis. As you work through the licks, try to identify commonly used shapes. As you get a feel for these well used scales, see if you can come up with licks of your own using these ideas as a starting point. Changing a note here or there, altering the rhythm, using picking instead of legato, or bends rather than straight notes, can colour them in a completely different manner – and it’ll take your playing to the next level.