Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
David Gilmour
Guitar Lessons & Tutorials How to play guitar like David Gilmour: Bluesy diads, slides, quarter-tone blues curls and more
George Harrison
Guitar Lessons & Tutorials How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
Eric Clapton
Artists The Grammy-winning hit that Eric Clapton wrote to order, with a little help from Foreigner’s Mick Jones
Woman playing on a digital piano with headphones on
Music Theory And Songwriting Technically capable, but struggle to make your tunes sound musical? 5 simple music theory hacks to make your tracks stand out
sly stone
Artists A music professor breaks down the theory behind Sly & The Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Bonnie Raitt
Artists “That feel is something you can’t teach": Bonnie Raitt on how she developed her slide guitar style
Clapton in 1970
Artists "There had to be some sort of telepathy going on”: The genius of Eric Clapton's controversial masterpiece, Layla
  1. Tutorials
  2. Guitar Lessons & Tutorials

Quick licks: easy #4

News
By Guitar Techniques ( Guitar Techniques ) published 8 August 2011

A Robert Johnson-style blues ending and classic R&B basics

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Easy lick 1: fingerstyle acoustic blues

Easy lick 1: fingerstyle acoustic blues

This is a Robert Johnson-style blues ending. Make sure you use the thumb of your picking hand to strike the low notes and mute them with your palm at the bridge to make them jump out a bit. Pay attention to the feel and swing to make this one 'sing'. The Mississippi Delta will thank you for it!

Page 1 of 2
Page 1 of 2
Easy lick 2: R&B guitar foundations

Easy lick 2: R&B guitar foundations

These staple licks emanate from the R&B, Motown and Gospel guitar tradition. Think Dobie Gray's Drift Away. The trick is to nail the slides and hammer-ons/pull-off s to make it sound authentic. The chords outlined are supplied above and notice the use of 4ths and 6th intervals derived from the major pentatonic scale of the chord of the moment. Use a Fender Twin type clean tone to put it all together.

Page 2 of 2
Page 2 of 2
Guitar Techniques
The worlds best high-quality guitar tuition from the UKs foremost teachers and players image
The worlds best high-quality guitar tuition from the UKs foremost teachers and players
Subscribe and save today!
More Info
Read more
David Gilmour
How to play guitar like David Gilmour: Bluesy diads, slides, quarter-tone blues curls and more
George Harrison
How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
Eric Clapton
The Grammy-winning hit that Eric Clapton wrote to order, with a little help from Foreigner’s Mick Jones
Woman playing on a digital piano with headphones on
Technically capable, but struggle to make your tunes sound musical? 5 simple music theory hacks to make your tracks stand out
sly stone
A music professor breaks down the theory behind Sly & The Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Bonnie Raitt
“That feel is something you can’t teach": Bonnie Raitt on how she developed her slide guitar style
Latest in Guitar Lessons & Tutorials
Close up of a person holding an acoustic guitar bathed sunlight
Ignite your inner guitar god for just 27 cents a day with TrueFire’s July 4th sale - save 60% on online lessons
MusicNomad fret tuition
Can you fix your guitar's frets yourself? We try three innovative approaches from MusicNomad to investigate how they might conquer a major cause of fret buzz
George Harrison
How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
MusicNomad guitar fret cleaning
"You owe your guitar the chance to be its best": How to clean and polish your guitar frets a better way
Jimmy Page
Play like Jimmy Page! Exclusive video lesson
Music Theory
How learning and understanding chord symbols can prove a major benefit for sharing your musical ideas
Latest in News
Joe Armon-Jones
Ezra Collective’s Joe Armon-Jones on the imagined musical apocalypse that inspired All The Quiet
Melbourne Instruments Roto-Control
Melbourne Instruments' Roto-Control gets Bitwig Studio integration following 2.0 firmware update
Waves 4th of July
Waves just made building a pro-level plugin chain a lot cheaper - grab 2 for $59.99 or 4 for $99.99
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: Celebrate the 4th of July in style with hundreds slashed off gear from Gibson, Fender, Alesis, Roland, Yamaha, Boss and more
Paul McCartney at the piano at Live Aid
Bob Geldof on how Paul McCartney’s Live Aid performance was almost a disaster
ai band
Who is behind The Velvet Sundown, the AI-generated band that blew up the internet?

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...