Emotional Groovy Licks

Hi GMC!

Welcome to my new lesson! In this one, I’ll share with you a solo that I’ve composed for a competition organized by Suhr Guitars. The original backing was recorded by Mateus Asato, but I’ve recorded and arranged a new version for this lesson.

I’ve decided to call this one “Emotional Groovy Licks” because I think that these phrases and licks really respond to those characteristics. You know, I had a really bad day, I wasn’t feeling really well and suddenly, at 23 pm. I’ve found Asato’s backing, and I decided to convert my feelings into a solo. I had some tears in my eyes while composing this one.. It usually takes me some time to compose solos that I love, but this one appeared all by once.

As you can imagine, I didn’t think too much on scales, or techniques while making this one, but we are at a guitar lessons site, so let’s talk about what I’m doing too.

First, these are the chords:

Chord Progression:
Verse: | G | D/F# | Bm D/F# |
Bridge: | Bm | A# | D | E | G | A | Bm | C#m |
Chorus: | G | % | D | % | Em F#m | Bsus2 |

The tune is in G major, but the bridge modulates to Bm. I basically combined G major, G major pentatonic, B minor and B minor pentatonic.

Technically I’ve combined many of the elements that I’ve been covering in my recent “licks” lessons like Hybrid Picking, double stops, alternate picking, fast pentatonic runs, bending, vibrato, staccato. I’ve tried to focus on melody and used very little shreddy passages to build tension during the bridge. As the backing is very groovy, I’ve tried to make my solo very rhythmic as well.

I hope that you enjoy it!


Sound:
I used Fractal Ax8's Suhr Badger 30, Cubase 9.5 to record audio and midi, Groove Agent for drums and Native Instruments Halion for bass guitar.

These are my settings:


Scales: