In this free Lick of the Day, Whitesnake's Doug Aldrich demonstrates a Gary Moore-inspired super-chunk riff with a steady barrage of alternate-picked notes.

This free Lick of the Day by Doug Aldrich of Whitesnake is inspired by the late Gary Moore.

It begins with a steady, machine-gun barrage of alternate-picked, palm-muted 16th notes and ends with a wild two-step "over-bend" on the low E string, punctuated by a squealing pinch harmonic.

I play through this lick using strict alternate picking (down-up-down-up) to ensure my rhythms are dead-on accurate. The best way to practice this style of picking is simply to start out slow, paying close attention to your pick stroke's direction. You can use the picking prompts in the notation as a guide to make sure you're on the right track.

When performing the two-step bend on the low G note (low E string, third fret) in bar 4, I'm using both my index and middle fingers to pull the string in toward my palm. The extra finger muscle is all but required to perform this monster bend, as otherwise there's a good chance the string would slip out from under my middle finger.

For more info, check out Lick of the Day, a free download for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, available at the App Store.

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