Rock Lead 13 - My Favourite Lick!

This is a little bonus lesson. Although this lick is really hard to nail, I couldn’t make my first ever proper lead guitar course without showing you guys my favourite lick!

This is similar to a lick that Joe Perry of Aerosmith uses in a few songs, most notably in ‘Dude Looks Like A Lady’. It is based on the Minor Pentatonic in position 1 and it combines a bend with hammer ons, flicks offs - but it is really fast! However, it is only 5 notes... So lets give it a go!!

This lick has only 5 notes. However, it’s really fiddly and tricky as it combines a string bend with a flick off (combining core techniques such as this is tough, but with patience and good technique you WILL get it!

But, that’s not the hard bit...This lick only comes to life when it is repeated to the correct rhythm and timing, which we call cycling.

You’ll find this lick and variations on it played higher up the neck in the solo of ‘Dude Looks Like A Lady’ by Aerosmith. There, it’s played an octave up, plus he varies further from the original the more it is repeated. Listen to the to get the vibe, then follow my video tutorial. THEN, most importantly, tap your foot to the beat while playing the TAB above in it’s entirety.

Truth is, to get started with improvising, you don’t need to worry about timing so long as you’re playing notes that work. But timing becomes EVERYTHING if you want to get to an intermediate and advanced level in lead guitar. This is why I focus so much on rhythm guitar with beginners. I encourage playing along to records and backing tracks from lesson 1. Hopefully then, the instinct of rhythm is more natural, so when we come to learn solos, playing in time and to a rhythm is more natural.

If you haven’t played along to any songs yet, you really need to go back and do that! My Electric Guitar Starter Course and my Improver Guitar course both have a play along backing track for EVERY tutorial, so either of those would be great courses to improve your rhythm and timing for rock guitar!