Read Guitar Buying Guides & Reviews
Learn Guitar With Lessons And Tecniques
Listen To Guitar Effects






101 Must Know Blues Licks - 45 pages paperback and 1 audio CD

As a musician, you know that some of the songs you play
are learned note for note, chord for chord, precisely as written. That's just the way it's done in order to do a correct or proper rendition of that particular song. And in the Blues genre, things are a little more feel-based, and a little less strict. Sure, to do a classic Blues tune you're going to hit it note for note in a lot of or most places in order to do that song correctly. On the other hand, a lot of Blues playing and Blues soloing is based on the player slipping in appropriate phrases or guitar licks as they see fit. These licks are like a musical conversation the guitar player is having with the audience. The phrasing, embellishments like slides and bends, and basically the whole energy and emotion the player puts into the Blues guitar lick is what communicates, and what makes us like the music.

Anyway, if you like to play the Blues, one of the best things you can do to improve your playing and make it more interesting, is to add licks to your personal repertoire of Blues guitar licks. The more licks you know, the more interesting and fun to listen to your playing will become. You'll find yourself becoming a more versatile Blues guitar player when you can pull from your arsenal of licks, that special perfect guitar solo phrase that will fit into what the band is playing just perfectly. One of the ways to build up your personal vocabulary of guitar licks is with this book of 101 Must Know Blues Guitar Licks. 101 Licks is a lot of music - imagine knowing all of these licks really well in all the keys. With your own personal variations to give them an individual flavor, you'll be equipped to jam with the band for hours.


A Variety Of Blues Types
The 101 Blues licks of this book and CD set are organized by the specific type of blues that they belong to: There are main section in the book for:




Each of the main sections of the book has or begins with a few paragraphs of introduction. Here you learn a little about this particular style of Blues music and the major player names who made it famous. Also, many times you receive the guitar and amp model to use and even the amp settings for getting the authentic tone for the Blues licks. The author gives you some valuable tips for how to learn the licks in the book. And a lot of the guitar lick learning suggestions could be applied to any lick you come across, whether it's from another learning material, or form a song you like, or a friend's guitar playing. They suggest that you learn to play the lick all over the guitar neck. And in all the different keys. If you find it a bit overwhelming to put the licks into all keys, start out with just a handful of popular Blues keys. Also, practice putting many licks into an single key. In other words, find two or three licks from the book that are all in different keys, and practice combining all these licks into a single key. This simulates what you would go through to arrange the licks to be played in a single song or a song's guitar solo.


Then, once you're comfortable with a collection of licks you've assembled, and put into a single key, now take that collection and transpose it to other keys. Each of the 101 Blues licks in this book has a ton of information included with it. I don't know where I've ever seen a more complete presentation of guitar licks. Of course, you get the lick music itself, in tablature form and standard notation. There is the CD track number, then the musical scale that the lick is based on. You'll see an indication of the tempo the lick is to be played at. The chord shapes the lick would be played over are also included. The author also includes markings that tell you which part of the I IV V Blues progression the lick covers and when. This is a great help to reach your goal of transposing these licks and being able to play them in any key you want to.


As you'd expect, all the standard guitar notation for bends, slides, hammer on, pull off, etc are used in the licks. The notation is explained on a reference page at the back of the book. Signature licks and box shapes are identified where they appear in a lick. You'll know when you're playing a classic shape from B.B. King, Albert King, etc. Towards the back of the book, after they've presented to 101 Blues licks, there is a helpful list of Blues artists and their recordings that exemplify great Blues playing and must-know Blues licks. You can use the list for further study, to learn more licks, and also just enjoy listening to the really great list of music that it is.