50 Licks of the legends
Welcome to this giant feature that celebrates issue 300 of Guitar Techniques magazine. I first became a contributor back in issue 137 and couldn’t in my wildest dreams have foreseen enjoying being part of over 150 issues covering many of my favourite guitarists, music styles and tracks of all time.
For this special feature we have selected 10 contrasting styles of music, in fact the styles we know you like to see in GT. We’ve then created representative licks of five guitarists that have contributed to the evolution of that style; or perhaps indeed encapsulate it.
This collection of licks is in no way a definitive list or a ‘top 50’ so to speak. Instead it’s more of broad celebration of 300 issues of delivering tips and techniques that you can enjoy perfecting, twisting and tweaking, to use in your own music making.
The 10 styles we are covering here are staples of the music that’s been created, primarily but not exclusively, by musicians from America and the UK. They are: Blues, Rock And Roll, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Metal, Instrumental Rock, Progressive Rock, Country, Jazz and Funk.
“IT WOULD OF COURSE BE A COLOSSAL UNDERTAKING TO LEARN ALL 50 LICKS VERBATIM, BUT WHY NOT SHOOT FOR THE SKY AND GO FOR IT?”
Each of the 10 styles has a track containing five, four-bar licks that are based on a famous guitarist’s style or technique trick-bag. There is a one or two-bar gap between each lick to allow you to change pickups and effects between each idea. The backing track has all of the notated lead guitar performances removed so you can play along.
It would of course be a colossal undertaking to learn all 50 licks verbatim, but why not shoot for the sky and
