Beginner Guitar Licks

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Do you dream of getting started with solo guitar? Has the instruction you have found so far been too difficult for you? Here is the place to start!

The basic building block for solos are licks, in other words short passages of notes. When put together - this licks create a solo. The better the licks you know, the better your solos are going to sound!

In this lesson we are going to look at some very easy licks, still they will sound cool. In fact, these licks are used by pro guitarists all over world, even though they are easy. The level of difficulty has nothing to do with quality of sound...

Guitar techniques you got to know:

Here is the deal: learn the licks in this video lesson - and pick up essential solo guitar techniques. Some of the techniques required to understand/learn the advanced lessons on GMC are: alternate picking, hammer-ons and Pull-offs (= legato), bending.

Quit dreaming and start playing those licks today.

Alternate picking simply means you constantly play down - up -down - up - (OR up - down - up - down ) with the pick. As opposed to playing mainly with downstrokes. Make sure to follow this rule strictly - as this is the number one beginner mistake! Some people need to work hard on repairing this mistake - still if you consciously think about it as a beginner, it doesn't require that much of an effort.

Why bother picking up and down when doing only downstrokes is easier? Answer: alternate picking allows for demonic speeds.

Hammer-ons and Pull-offs are a great tool to get a softer sound than with alternate picking. Most importantly, it is a relatively easy way to achieve speed. (Tapping beats it, though). It envolves producing notes with the left hand without using the pick.

Bending is probably the number one thing which differs the electric guitar from other instruments. I bet my strat your favorite solo would be nothing without the bends in it.

Practicing guidelines

If you are a beginner, all of these licks will be more or less difficult for you. If you follow these guidelines you will spare your energy and thereby [hopefully] avoid being frustrated over slow progress.

1. Do not attempt to play the entire lick directly (this is only valid if the lick comprises of many different notes). Instead practice that one thing which feels the most uncomfortable, when you have got it proceed to the next. Eventually putting the whole licks together.

2. If you are a complete beginner, succeeding with these licks does not necessarily mean you have to play them exactly like me. Anything you can come up with - which you think sounds good - is good .

3. If you have got the notes of the lick down - but still can't get the right effect, there are many possible explanations. However, it is most likely that you haven't got the right timing or phrasing - to get this right, listen to the lick over and over and over and over again (we don't have the server space required to write this enough times ).

4. When you feel ready, play the licks over a backing - you practicing is [almost] wasted time if you don't get to here. If this is working for you you are ready to jam with the lick.

Good luck!

	Beginner licks backing (80 bpm - A minor pentatonic)

	Backing track slow

	TAB

Lesson Questions, Feedback & Comments

dendavid	10th November 2006
Member	hi all gmc'ers,kris very nice licks,they sound very cool with the pinched harmonics and the muting nice video

psychoguitarist_619	10th November 2006
Member	Neat licks!! the 4th lick was AWESOME!!

26dpj	11th November 2006
Member	brilliant lesson. Sounds great and is excellent to improvise around. Hours of fun!!!! thank god for headphones!!

Climate	16th January 2007
Member	Thanks - never thought I'd have trouble with this stuff, since I'm quite good at some more advanced stuff, but this is really helping me out, thanks a lot

Kristofer Dahl	16th January 2007
GMC Founder & Rocker	Climate: Great!

radarlove1984	19th January 2007
Member	I love the backing track on this. For me, learning to play that was just as useful as the licks themselves. Great lesson, thanks!

Kristofer Dahl	19th January 2007
GMC Founder & Rocker	radarlove: Yes it's fantastic what new input can do to your motivation!

Guitar1969	27th January 2007
Member	In the Beginner Licks lesson, Kris presents a double stop lick(#4), which appears to be in the Am pentatonic scale. This may also be discussed in another lesson(Are there any others on Double Stiops), but what is confusing me is one of the notes on one of the double stops falls outside the Am pentatonic box,(Specifically G string - 8th fret, which he plays along with the B String 8th Fret). My question is how to know to use what notes when doing double stop, and are double stops always 2 notes on the same fret(For example on the 8th fret above), or can the notes be on different frets of 2 strings as well.

Kristofer Dahl	28th January 2007
GMC Founder & Rocker	Guitar1969: Well this is an interesting topic one could speak a lot about, but shortly... Scales are there as guidelines and starting points - there are many ways to break out of a scale and make it sound really cool...and this is one of them!

akilpatrick	3rd April 2007
Member	I've been working on this one and it's all going well except for the bend. My finger keeps getting stuck under the other strings and when I try to remove it, extra noises get made. Kris makes it look so simple.... What's the trick to releasing the bend so that it's quiet?

Kristofer Dahl	10th April 2007
GMC Founder & Rocker	A solution to this could be to try and angle your left hand differently - experiment with your thumb's placement!

Pin	14th May 2007
Member	Had the same problem as akilpatrick, took some practice but managed to lift my finger just the minimum enough to mute it right away. Btw... it was easier on my luthier tweaked fernandes . Low action makes it all easier (at least here)

sillyman	7th June 2007
Member	hey kris the lick u showed us with the pinched harmonics how do you count that cuz i noticed u seemed to hold the bend for two counts?

Semmelknoedel	11th June 2007
Member	Hi Kris! I've a question. When you play the second lick in the video it seems to me, that you use the a, d and g String. The Tab tells me to use the d, b and g string. Whats right?

Ped	14th June 2007
Member

Ped	14th June 2007
Member	you illuminated me master

jcleary21	16th June 2007
Member	Hi Kris, These lesssons are wonderful. I am really learning a lot. Thanks! Since I am new to the guitar I was wondering what you use to get the distortion in these lessons? Thanks!

Guitar34	21st June 2007
Member	hi kris, nice licks! thanks

dark	14th August 2007
Member	Hey Kris, why do you emphasize alternative picking this much? is economic picking this much worse?

Random Guy	31st October 2007
Member	Hey GMC gurus, I'm a beginning guitarist and I seem to be having trouble with a couple of the things shown in this video. First, in lick 1, my pull off is super quiet, I can't hear it. How do I fix that? Second, I can't get the screams with your thumb thing to happen. Lil' help?

Guitarzan	28th December 2007
Member	Kris, I just joined two days ago, and must say how impressed I am with the quality of instruction on your site. Wonderful variety, eclectic group of teachers, and a real fun atmosphere. Thanks for the "beginners stuff"......that's what I need right now.

Martin la guitarra	24th February 2008
Member	ye i also have hard time making those notes scream like you random guy, im quite confused :S

JimmyPage87	6th April 2008
Member	Thanks! great video