Blues Guitar Licks and Riffs

Have you always wanted to play bluesy licks like BB king and Eric Clapton? Many people have the misconception that these blues masters simply pick up the guitar and use the innate talent that they have to generate these wonderful sounds of music from their guitar.

This is not entirely true. If you do an interview with these gurus, they will reveal the fact that it is due to hard work and practicing that they make guitar playing on stage look like a breeze.

The good news is that you can create your own licks and riffs as well. But before that, you are required to have some prior knowledge on scales and music theroy. In this lesson, we have based it off the prior lesson in which you had learn the lead guitar blues scale. If you haven't read the lesson yet, be sure to back track before coming back to this lesson again.

Here are a few common licks out of this fingering.

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This lick is typical of a slow blues. It can be used as an intro or part of a solo.

The first thing to notice about this lick is a bend at the 7th fret, 3rd string. This type of bend is very common in pentatonic blues licks. If you are not used to bending here are some guidelines for this lick and those to follow.

This bend needs to raise the note one whole step. This is equal to 2 frets on the guitar. A good way to practice bends of this type is to listen to a target note and try to match it. In this case, play the note at the 9th fret on the 3rd string. This is your target note. Really get the sound in your ear.

Now put your 3rd finger on the 7th fret 3rd string and your 2nd finger on the 6th fret 3rd string. Use both fingers to push the string up until it matches the pitch of your target note. You will find that bending is much easier if you use two fingers to bend the note. Your thumb should be over the top of the neck for added stability. For more details on string bending guitar technique, click here...

It ends with a bend at the 8th fret on the second string. Use the same technique but this time your target is the note on the 10th fret, 2nd string.

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Example 19 is like the first lick that Jimmy Page play sin the Whole Lotta Love solo. This is blues scale use at its finest. This lick also contains consecutive pull offs. They are marked with the little arcs between the notes.

The idea of a pull off is to get two or more notes to sound by only picking the string one time. In this example you will be getting three notes to sound but you will only pick the string they are on once.

First, pick the note at the 8th fret, third string, then pull your little finger down towards the second string. I often tell people that a pull off should be called a pull down. If you pull your finger up off the string the second note (the one you are pulling off to) will not be loud enough or not heard at all. By pulling down towards the 2nd string your little finger will be snapping often 3rd string creating a strong pull off. Be sure to listen for this snapping sound as you pull off.

The note you pull off to should be as loud as the note you pick. I try to pull my little finger into the 2nd string and use the 2nd string to stop the downward motion of the pull off. By allowing the little finger to come to rest on the 2nd string also prevents any unwanted noise.

After that do the same motion by pulling off of the 7th fret with your third finger to the 5th fret, first finger. Using pull offs is a great way to increase your speed.

3rd string would be 4th finger, 3rd finger, 1st finger. Continue on until you complete the entire pentatonic scale.

The note in red is the tonic. This note determines what key the scale is in. The following chart shows the names of the notes along the 6th string. It should be memorized.

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Example 20 makes use of the entire blues scale from top to bottom with a couple of twists and turns thrown in. To really get command of a scale you have to do lots of experimenting. Try to come up with some licks of your own. Listen to your favorite guitarists and get ideas from them to play guitar.

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