The old phrase ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ is one I think of often when practicing my guitar soloing and improvisation. By putting some kind of limit on our soloing practice, such as ‘you can’t use the D string’ or ‘you can only use double-stops’ (2 notes at the same time), we force ourselves to think differently. We have to be creative and find new ways to travel through familiar licks and scales. When we then return to normal soloing, the new pathways and ideas that we’ve acquired add variety and depth to our playing.

That is what gave me the idea for this ‘One Lick Challenge’. Below is a single Rock/Blues lick that is reworked 6 times using a different approach each time. There’s plenty more ways you could vary this lick, so please consider this blog a ‘part 1’ and an encouragement to take on the ‘challenge’ – how many ways can you rework this lick?

Listen to the audio below carefully, as some changes are subtle (eg. the change to swing rhythm in example 3). Notes for each example are also listed right at the bottom. Please do experiment and see what ideas you can come up with. Also, play with a backing track if possible – any A minor backing track will work. Technically, example 5 leaves the key of A minor slightly (to A Dorian), but an A minor backing track will still work well. Playing along to a track can help inspire ideas and add to the enjoyment.

Have fun and look out for part 2!

Example 1: A fairly standard/basic Rock lick (with a hint of Mark Knopfler’s influence!)

Example 2: ‘Rhythmic displacement’ – when I repeat the lick I start it a 1/2 beat later (I also speed up the middle section of the lick to compensate). Delaying parts of licks like this is a great way to play with listener’s expectations. It keeps your rhythms from feeling too predictable and adds a funky, syncopated feel.

Example 3: Here, the lick is played with swing rhythm. A pretty simple approach but it still can have a significant effect on the feel of a lick. Swing rhythm is often a good fit for Blues and Jazz, although it can fit very well in all genres.

Example 4: The notes here are almost the same, but we are playing the 4th note of the lick in a new way. Instead of playing the note ‘E’ on the 5th fret of the B string, we are using a grace note slide from the 7th to the 9th fret of the G string. This 9th fret note is also ‘E’ so the lick is basically the same. Playing the same lick with a subtle change like this though, through adding techniques, varying dynamics etc., is an example of how you don’t need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ with every new thing you improvise. Subtle changes like this still add interest and can make your playing sound more detailed and professional.

Example 5: Another subtle change – the starting note here has shifted down a fret.

Changing the first note of a lick like this can be a great way of hinting at underlying chord changes. In this instance, we’re using the 4th fret of the D string which is the note F sharp. Therefore, it would work well over chords containing this note – for example – D Major).

It often works well without matching notes in the chords though too. Also, I recommend changing the starting note several times whilst keeping the rest of it the same to explore how the different intervals affect the feel of the lick.

Example 6: This is an example of sequencing, which means the idea is shifted somewhere else. In this instance, the pattern and intervals (distances between the notes) are all the same and are just moved down a string. Sequencing is one of my favourite tricks and you can get so much mileage out of it! I recommend exploring all the other ways you can shift the lick. Also, don’t be afraid to tweak notes a little when moving the lick if you think it works better.

Example 7: Changing the notes – this is basically a combination of previous approaches and a reworking of the notes within the lick. Arguably, this is a new lick now, but hopefully it’s obvious that I’m building on the original lick here and developing it, rather than creating something brand new. This lick is an example of how you can balance familiarity and originality – you can play around with a basic lick for a long time just by tweaking it, rearranging it, changing rhythms, changing notes etc. and still keep a common thread running through your ideas.

If you’d like to dive deeper into improvisation methods please check out my ‘Jam Along With Tom’ course here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Jam-Along-With-Tom-Step-by-step-beginners-guitar-improvisation-course-12349405

Tom Hunt is an Ipswich based music tutor providing guitar, music production and bass lessons. He also offers specialised music tuition for Deaf students using audio visualisers, BSL, sign song and adapted notation. Contact: tom@tomhunt.co.uk

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