A live performance from the late, great blues guitar maestro Freddie King has been unearthed and restored after 50 years, and will be released in its entirety for the very first time in a triple-vinyl special edition for Record Store Day.

Feeling Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Concerts (Elemental) promises to be a triumphant document of the Texas Cannonball in full force, holding 50,000 French blues fans in the palm of his hand. This was King in his late-career glory. He would die the following year, aged 42.

The Record Store Day release (18 April) will be followed by CD/digital versions on 24 April. The liner notes are written by the music journalist and historian Cary Baker, with ZZ Top frontman/guitarist Billie Gibbons also contributing alongside King’s daughter, Wanda.

“At this show in Nancy – just a year before his untimely departure – the Texas Cannonball poured it on in a big way,” writes Gibbons.

Wanda made her first live performances as a vocalist backing her father, and with Eric Clapton’s support helped get her father inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. On that night, King’s fellow Texans ZZ Top did the honors, inducting him posthumously.

King would tear off the blues standards – Stormy Monday Blues, Sweet Home Chicago, Got My Mojo Working – and jam Sen Sa Shun, Looking Good, and Boogie Chillun together in a medley. Having already established himself as a regal presence in blues, he was stepping out, embracing other styles.

His 1974 studio album, Burglar, welcomed the likes of Clapton and Bobby Tench to the studio, and saw him tour with Rush in support of the album. His performance at Nancy includes and takes its title from King’s cover of Dave Mason’s Feelin’ Alright. There is a rendition of Don Nix’s Going Down, which King recorded with Leon Russell for 1971 studio album Getting Ready…

The restoration was approved by the Freddie King Estate and undertaken with renowned archivist/producer Zev Feldman (the New Yorker calls him “the Indiana Jones of jazz”).

Working from the original ORTF recordings, the album was mixed by sound restoration guru Marc Doutrepont and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab.

Feldman describes king as a “defining figure in blues and rock guitar”.

“These recordings capture a moment when he was transcending audiences and influencing players around the world,” says Feldman. “It’s also been deeply meaningful to work with his daughter, Wanda King, as we set out not only to release this music, but to celebrate Freddie’s legacy and the impact he made. These performances present him at his very best – and they’re thrilling to hear.”

On that night on 25 October 1975, King was backed by Calep Emphrey on the drums, organist Alvin Hemphill, Mark Pollack on guitar, Lewis Stephens on piano, and Benny Turner on bass guitar.

For more information, head over to Elemental. And keep your eyes peeled with your local record store for the vinyl release. Rough Trade says the vinyl release is limited to just 5,000 units.

An absolutely essential element in blues guitar is the turnaround. It is a basic function of blues music that the turnaround happens at the end of the progression and flips it over back to the beginning of the form.

When playing a standard 12-bar blues, the turnaround occurs in the last two bars, 11 and 12, as the tonic chord (rooted in the key you’re in) moves to the V (five chord), which then resolves back to the tonic in bar 1 of the next 12-bar chorus.

When playing a single-note blues solo, players sometimes forget about where the turnaround is and how important it is to make reference to it melodically. Playing these turnarounds as part of your solos will tie everything together and ensure that it sounds like a blues song.

If a guitarist is just riffing away on minor pentatonic licks, it will make their playing sound “scale-y”; you don’t want to sound scale-y! You want to sound like a blues player, and incorporating the following essential blues turnarounds will ensure that you do.

Let’s stick with the key of E and look at a handful of essential blues turnarounds.

In Figure 1, I play the most basic one of all: while repeatedly picking a high E root note on the B string, notes on the A string descend chromatically: D, C#, C, B. In bars 3 and 4, the same turnaround is played an octave higher, starting at the 12th fret and wrapping up with a walk-up to the V chord, B7.

Figure 2 illustrates two more great turnarounds: in bars 1 and 2, I play notes that are 6ths apart on the G and high E strings and descend chromatically, from the 4th fret. In bars 3 and 4, I sound notes that are 6ths apart on the A and D strings and ascend chromatically, from the 2nd fret.

Figures 3 and 4 offer a few more turnaround twists. Figure 3 is built from 10th intervals. A 10th is a 3rd (major or minor) plus an octave. The open low E note and the G# on the G string’s 1st fret ascend to F# and A, G and Bb, and G# and B.

Figure 4 presents two more turnaround options: in bars 1 and 2, 6ths descend on the A and D strings, followed by the V chord, B7. In bars 3 and 4, notes two that are octaves apart, on the low and high E strings, descend from the 4th fret to the open strings.

In Figure 5, I combine three types of turnarounds and bring them all together.

One great approach is to actually play the same turnaround all through a song. This is something that the great T-Bone Walker would do all of the time, as did Freddie King on his classic song, Hideaway.

Figure 6 illustrates a 12-bar example played along the lines of Hideaway. Starting with the pickup bar, there is a melody sounded on the top two strings that runs through the entire form.

In bars 11 and 12, Freddie’s essential turnaround is a very specific melodic line played on the top three strings. This signature lick serves to define the song; when I hear it, I’ll say, “That’s Hideaway!”

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Joe Bonamassa has recently recalled an era when B.B. King used to borrow his amp without any additional effects – and still sound bigger than Bonamassa himself.

“One of the things that I always noticed about the front guys, they always had a bigger sound,” says Bonamassa on the Jay Jay French Connection podcast.

“B.B. King, up until probably the last 15 years of his career, never travelled with an amp. You know, he had a twin back in the day for Live at the Regal. I can hear that. But in the '70s and '80s and early '90s, when I met him, like in '89 or '90, he didn't have an amp.”

“He would use my amp when we played with him because he just travelled with his guitar. So he would use my Twin Reverb and turn it all the way up. And he would sound like B.B. King. And it was a bigger sound than I got out of the Twin Reverb and I never understood that.”

Bonamassa credits B.B. King's fuller and distinct sound, to “manually manifesting the sound in his soul [and] in his mind through the guitar amp, so he would lighten up his attack. The amp would bloom, he would dig in.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Bonamassa also mentions how other blues guitar legends, like Albert King and Freddie King, did the same thing.

“And Albert King same thing you plug into whatever sound bigger than the band. Freddie King, same thing, Quad Reverb and you know, two finger picks, plug into whatever. It sounds like Freddie King, and it always sounded bigger than the band when it was like this.”

In a recent interview with Total Guitar, Bonamassa talked about what makes for a great blues guitarist, sharing it's “taking on influences that aren’t blues-based. It’s got to be something that’s a little bit off the main trail, you know?”

Bonamassa also recently showed his support for emerging jazz fusion guitarist Matteo Mancuso by inviting him up on stage in Berlin.

Bobby Tench has died aged 79, according to a source close to the guitarist and singer.

Tench was born in 1944 in London, coming of age in time to establish himself as a regular on the city’s ’60s club circuit.

His band, The Gass – formed alongside brothers Godfrey and Errol McLean – played the same handful of venues that nurtured much of the British blues and rock greats of the era and reportedly offered up guest spots to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Burdon (of The Animals). 

They later recorded the album Juju in 1970, which featured an appearance from another friend from the club scene, Peter Green, who played on the title track alongside the song Black Velvet.

Tench was an adept guitarist, a phenomenal vocalist and even turned his hand to bass when required – a versatility that helped him find homes in a multitude of star-studded settings across his career. 

Indeed, when Jeff Beck was charged with finding a new singer for the Jeff Beck Group after the departure of Rod Stewart and the subsequent label rejection for initial replacement Alex Ligertwood, the guitar hero turned to Tench.

The singer subsequently supplied vocals last minute for the somewhat dismissively titled Rough and Ready and its follow-up, 1972’s The Jeff Beck Group. His more progressive vocal work on Rough and Ready split critical opinion at the time.

There were also stints in the early-’70s- with Ginger Baker (1971’s Stratovarious) and as a guitarist on blues great Freddie King’s final two albums, Burglar and Larger Than Life, not to mention a pre-Wailers fame Junior Marvin. 

He then stepped back into the rock world, reuniting with his Jeff Beck Group associates Max Middleton, Clive Chaman and – briefly, in some sessions with Beck himself – in a new group dubbed Hummingbird. 

By 1975, he was playing in The Streetwalkers with former Family frontman Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney. 

“Roger Chapman, Charlie Whitney, and Bobby Tench have been one step away from the big time for so long now that it makes you wonder what the problem is,” observed Sounds journalist (and, later, noted publicist) Barbara Charone when she saw them performing in support of The Who in 1976 [via RocksBackPages, paywall]. 

“Everyone knows Family should have made it, that Chapman/Whitney should have made it, and that now Streetwalkers should make it. They certainly deserve to.”

Soon after, Van Morrison recruited Tench as lead guitarist and backing vocalist on his 1978 album, Wavelength, and later that year he also performed on Eric Burdon’s album Darkness, Darkness alongside Brian Robertson of Thin Lizzy. 

As with many of Tench’s connections, it proved to be a lasting relationship and Robertson later brought his friend in for a stint as vocalist with the Thin Lizzy Band, following Phil Lynott’s passing.

Come the turn of the decade, Tench was approached by Steve Marriott to join Humble Pie as a fellow guitarist and singer. They made two albums (On to Victory and Go for the Throat), with Marriot observing at the time to Trouser Press [paywall]: 

“Bobby and I aren't great guitarists, but we're good ones, and with the vocals we've got we don't want no flash guitar; Van Halen can cover that sphere.”

The line-up of Tench’s sessions and star associations continued, though he never found fame in his own right, his extensive resumé evidences the respect with which he was regarded in British rock circles. 

Most recently, Tench’s name was in the headlines again, in association with Mark Knopfler’s record-breaking 1959 Gibson Les Paul ’Burst auction – an instrument that sold for $876,000 and which Knopfler purchased from Tench in the mid-’90s.

Meanwhile, Joe Bonamassa has previously hailed Tench as a significant vocal influence – though he was no slouch on guitar, despite Marriot’s good-humored deprecations above – and took to Twitter to pay tribute to the departed musician. 

“Rest in peace Bobby,” wrote the blues rocker, who shared a clip of Tench’s performance of I Gotta Have a Song with the Jeff Beck Group. “One of the greatest singers to ever step behind the mic.”

We recently shared a previously unreleased Gary Moore instrumental, In My Dreams, from the forthcoming compilation album from the late electric guitar legend, How Blue Can You Get.

Now, a second track, a cover of Freddie King’s blues classic, I’m Tore Down, has been unveiled. You can check out Moore’s scorching live take above.

As previously reported, How Blue Can You Get will be released to mark 10 years since the Irish guitar icon and one-time owner of the Greeny Les Paul passed away at the age of 58.

The collection pulls together previously unheard and unreleased deep cuts and alternate versions, including unheard originals like In My Dreams and the “melancholic” Looking at Your Picture.

In addition to I'm Tore Down, there are also versions of Memphis Slim's Steppin' Out and Elmore James' Done Somebody Wrong, as well as a seven-minute, previously unreleased take on the title track, originally by B.B. King.

Among the guitarists who chimed in to pay tribute to Moore’s artistry upon the announcement of the new record was Toto’s Steve Lukather, who said:

“Gary Moore was a force. His intensity, as well as his dynamic sweet soft tones, had such deep feel. He was a master, and I got to watch him play and meet him. He was a very nice man as well. His loss is felt by all who loved him, but we are blessed; we can still hear him play on the records, DVDs, and all that will live forever. He was a one of a kind."

How Blue Can You Get is out April 30 via Provogue/Mascot Label Group and is available for preorder here.

Freddie King is among the triumvirate of the greatest and most influential electric blues guitarists ever, revered with equal respect alongside the legendary blues gods B.B. King and Albert King.

Together, they are often referred to as The Three Kings - all complete masters of their craft and essential subjects of study for any inspiring blues guitar enthusiast.

In this edition of In Deep, we'll examine a few of the trademark Freddie King-isms that have earned him his rightful place as the forefront of electric blues guitar.

Of the three Kings, Freddie had a hard-driving intensity that gave his guitar lines and solos a fiery spirit. And though he was blessed with what were arguably the most powerful vocal pipes of the three, he distinguished himself as a player and composer by penning the greatest blues guitar instrumentals in the genre’s history, such as the classic masterpieces Hideaway, The Stumble, Sen-Sa- Shun, San-Ho-Zay, Side Tracked, In the Open, and many others, all songs that have been covered brilliantly by such blues-rock heroes as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter, ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Freddie King was born as Frederick Christian on September 3, 1934.

Though his mother’s maiden name was King, in his early days as a performer he was thought to have changed his last name to King to align himself with B.B. King, then a rising star of blues guitar. His earliest records are credited to 'Freddy,' but by 1968 he changed the spelling to 'Freddie.' His recording career began in 1956, and by 1960 he had recorded the soon-to-be hit songs Have You Ever Loved a Woman?, Love Her with a Feeling and the instrumental smash Hideaway, covered brilliantly by Eric Clapton with John Mayall on the Blues Breakers album, recorded in 1966.

Early photos of King show him playing a mid-Fifties Gibson gold-top Les Paul with P-90 pickups, which he used along with a Gibson GA-40 amplifier. Shortly thereafter, he switched to his trademark Gibson ES-345 guitars, cranked to massive volume through Fender Quad Reverbs.

He picked with his fingers, using a plastic thumb pick along with a metal index-finger pick, and his string gauges were very unusual: the top three string gauges were .010, .011 and .012 - very light for the B and especially the G - while the wound strings were normal light-medium-gauge electric strings. King scored many early instrumental hits, the biggest being the aforementioned Hideaway, an easy-grooving 12-bar shuffle in E with a distinct, memorable melody.

FIGURE 1 illustrates a similar melody played within the 12-bar form. As melodic lines are played on the top two strings with abundant use of open notes - akin to the country blues of Lightnin’ Hopkins - a rhythm part is equally attended to, built from palm-muted two-note forms on the bottom two strings and balanced against the melodic development. In bar 2 of the example, a simple open- to-second-fret hammer-on is replaced with a rolling hammer-on, wherein the middle finger is hammered onto the first fret, instead of the second, followed by a slide up to the second fret. (This more intricate technique was later adopted and employed frequently by Stevie Ray Vaughan.)

Throughout this example, notice the subtle inclusion of single-note phrases that serve to connect the elements of the part while keeping it moving forward. Freddie revisited this melody for another of his classic instrumentals, The Stumble. FIGURE 2 illustrates a similar form, which begins with a melodic line close to that of Hideaway but is played over a different chord progression, starting on the IV(four) chord, A, in the key of E.

In this 16-bar form, a descending sliding double-stop lick, based on a sixth interval, is played on the G and high E strings, executed by picking the G string with the thumb and the high E string with either the index or middle finger. Pick each pair sharply and in a staccato manner (short and detached), and strive for absolute accuracy as you move quickly down the fretboard.

Freddie showcased a similar lick in Hideaway, with a band breakdown (the band lays out from playing the groove, supplying accented chordal stabs only).

FIGURE 3 offers a lick along these lines, initiated with a very cool and unusual E7add2 chord voicing. The band comes back in at bar 5, over A, and, in this example, further melodic development is performed on the top two strings. A great example of King’s relentlessly hard-driving style is a song called Boogie Funk, essentially a one-chord vamp played in A. The roots of this song can be found in the John Lee Hooker classic, Boogie Chillen. FIGURE 4 presents a repeating riff, built around an A5 chord, that features muted- string accents along with subtle half-step bends on the low E and A strings.

This is played with a triplet feel, so what is written as eighth notes is intended to be played as a quarter-note/eighth-note combo within a triplet bracket. I use a pick to play this part, alternating evenly between downstrokes and upstrokes, but Freddie would fingerpick such a part, so try using the thumb for the downstrokes and the index or middle finger (or both) for the upstrokes.

In FIGURE 5, I add a melodic figure to the form. After building intensity by riding on the I (one) chord, Freddie would switch briefly to the IV (four) chord and play a similar rhythmic lick.

FIGURE 6 offers a part along these lines, to be performed with the pick hand in the same manner as FIGURES 4 and 5. These examples just scratch the surface of Freddie King’s genius, so dig deep into his catalog to discover even more for yourself.

Guitar World presents the 10 coolest guitar instrumentals ever. In terms of the videos we selected, we tried to stick with the studio versions -- unless we found a particularly compelling live version that got the point across nicely.

10. “The Attitude Song” by Steve Vai (Flex-Able)

This signature track from shred’s mystical master strikes the perfect balance of astounding technique and compositional integrity.

9. “Eruption” by Van Halen (Van Halen)

It’s the track that got a million mooks tapping out arpeggios till their fingers fell off. Not one of them ever caught up with Eddie.

8. “Black Napkins” by Frank Zappa (Zoot Allures)

One of Zappa’s most technically daunting guitar instrumentals also contains moments of sheer six-string poetry.

7. “Led Boots” by Jeff Beck (Wired)

The Seventies were in a slump until Jeff Beck put the rock back into jazz-rock fusion with this leadoff track from what may well be his greatest album.

6. “3rd Stone From the Sun” by Jimi Hendrix Experience (Are You Experienced)

Soul music gets psychedelicized in this spacey and highly influential early Hendrix instrumental classic.

5. “Steppin' Out” by John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers(Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton)

An essential 12-bar Clapton workout from the legendary “Beano” album from 1966.

4. “The Stumble” by Freddie King

This scorching six-string shuffle has been assayed by greats like Peter Green and countless bar bands, but nothing beats Freddie King’s original.

3. “Miserlou” by Dick Dale

The King of Surf Guitar brought his Middle Eastern family background to the sunny beaches of Southern California to create this reverb-drenched maelstrom of monstrous tone and minor-scale mystery.

2. “Rumble” by Link Wray

One of the original badass guitar instrumentals, “Rumble” has it all: throbbing tremolo, dynamics, drama and the anguished cry of slashed speaker cones.

1. “Rebel Rouser” by Duane Eddy

You can’t have a bar fight in a redneck saloon without this archetypal twang masterpiece rocking along on the jukebox.

On June 9, 2015—in celebration of what would've been Les Paul's 100th birthday—a truly impressive cast of six-string personalities gathered in New York City to pay tribute to the late guitarist, songwriter and inventor.

In fact, the guitar community threw one hell of a party right in Times Square, not far from the Iridium, the club where Les Paul regularly performed during the last years of his life.

The full day of star-studded events and programs kicked off what was billed as a year-long celebration of the guitarist's life and music.

Among the events was an all-star show featuring Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Neal Schon, Joe Bonamassa, Warren Haynes, Steve Miller, G.E. Smith, Johnny A, Lou Pallo, the Les Paul Trio and many more.

You can check out a performance of Freddie King's "I'm Tore Down"—by pretty much the whole gang—below, complete with Miller on vocals. The song, which was written by Sonny Thompson, got a huge boost in the mid-Nineties when Eric Clapton covered it on his From the Cradle album.

As anyone with YouTube access can attest, Eric Gales is a truly explosive guitarist—the kind whose playing makes scores of other guitarists wonder what the hell they've been doing with their lives.

Ergo, new music from Gales is always a welcome event.

Which is why we're happy to present the exclusive premiere of "Boogie Man," a new lyric video that finds Gales teaming up with Gary Clark Jr. The track is from Gales' new album, Middle of the Road, which will be released February 24 via Provogue/Mascot Label Group.

"'Boogie Man' is an amazing track that I think all will enjoy," Gales told Guitar World. "Gary adds an extra spice that just takes it over the top. Boom!"“I’m a fan of Freddie King anyway and I like that song," Gales told recently Blues Magazine. "I just enjoyed the original version, and I just put a little twist on it and music wise. ... Basically, the Boogie Man is about, so watch out cos there’s a bad guy on the way, and you know, I’m coming!"

The album's title, Middle of the Road, is the running theme throughout the record. “It’s about being fully focussed and centred in the middle of the road," Gales adds. "If you’re on the wrong side and in the gravel, you’re not too good and if you’re on the median strip that’s not too good either, so being in the middle of the road is the best place to be.”

Middle of the Road is available for preorder here.

For more about Gales and the new album, check out the Middle of the Road trailer below and visit ericgalesband.com.

Eric Gales Tour Dates:
2/12 Mumbai, India Mahindra Blues Festival w/ Supersonic Blues Machine
2/23 Leesburg, VA Tally Ho Theatre w/ Davy Knowles
2/24 Beacon, NY Towne Crier
2/25 Lancaster, PA Lancaster Roots & Blues
3/11 Chicago, IL Legends
3/12 Minneapolis, MN Dakota
3/17 Clearlake, IA Surf Ballroom
3/18 Sioux City, IA Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
3/24 Auburn Hills, MI Callahan’s
3/25 South Bend, IN Vegetable Buddies
4/13 Byron Bay, AU Byron Bay Blues Festival
5/05 Dallas, TX Dallas Guitar Show
5/20 Durham, NC International Guitar Summit
5/20 Greensboro, NC Carolina Blues Festival
7/08 Nescopek, PA Briggs Farm Blues Festival

Exactly why legendary blues guitarists Albert King, B.B. King and Freddie King never got together to make a blues-themed Christmas album called We Three Kings is one of the great mysteries of the universe.

I figure it would've been an obvious move.

However, one thing that isn't so obvious is this: Who among the three axe-wielding Kings — Albert, B.B. or Freddie (no relation, by the way) — should be considered the king of Kings?

Was it the late Albert King, whose famous "Albert King bend" was the cornerstone of Stevie Ray Vaughan's slow-blues technique? Was it the late Freddie King (who was born on this date in 1934), whose early-'60s instrumentals inspired Eric Clapton to grab a Les Paul and morph into "God" for a year-plus? Or is it B.B. King, who can say more with one note than (fill in the blank) can say with 90 notes?

Cast your vote below!

P.S.: My vote goes to Freddie, based on one album — Let's Hide Away and Dance Away — alone. But that's just me ...

Damian Fanelli is the online managing editor at Guitar World.

Nineteen hundred and seventy-two is one of those rare years -- like, say, 1967, 1969, 1971 and 1991 -- that saw the release of several seminal rock and modern-blues albums.

As we wrote last year in our 1971 roundup, "Even for a year that falls squarely in the heart of the 'classic rock' era, it was a particularly classic year."

It was the year of Exile On Main St., Thick As a Brick and Close To the Edge, albums that are so renowned that we don't have to name the bands that created them (But, just in case, it was The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull and Yes). Tull actually outdid themselves that year, also releasing Living In the Past.

[[ Ziggy Stardust co-producer Ken Scott discusses creating the album with David Bowie and Mick Ronson. ]]

On the heavier side of things, while Led Zeppelin took the year off from vinyl, Deep Purple released what is perhaps the Deep Purple album, Machine Head, plus the live classic Made in Japan. Black Sabbath followed up 1971's Master of Reality with Vol. 4 -- and Scorpions, Wishbone Ash and Uriah Heep chimed in as well.

In the world of blues, all three ax-wielding Kings released albums -- Texas Cannonball by Freddie King, Guess Who by B.B. King and I'll Play the Blues For You by Albert King -- not to mention Eat A Peach by The Allman Brothers Band, Rio Grande Mud by ZZ Top, and Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive by John Lee Hooker.

With that in mind, below is our list of 50 classic albums celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2012. Remember: Life begins at 40!

Today's Lick of the Day by Keith Wyatt at the Musicians Institute is a tribute to blues great Freddie King.

A 12-bar blues progression consists of three four-bar phrases that correspond to the three-line AAB lyric structure. A consistent challenge for soloists is what to play over the final four bars, when the chords move quickly toward the turnaround and the conclusion of the chorus. There are as many solutions as there are players, but among the most influential architects of blues phrasing is Freddie King.

Today's lick is an example of a King-style approach to the final four bars that artfully outlines the harmony while moving along the length of the neck. Begin with the B7 arpeggio in seventh position (based initially off of a B chord shape), then move rapidly through fifth and third positions before sliding down the third string to open position and concluding with a classic open-string turnaround.

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

We all know a great lick when we hear one—Jimmy Page’s solo breaks in “Whole Lotta Love” and Mark Knopfler’s blistering triads in “Sultans of Swing,” for example. Moments like these grab your attention and aurally brand your ears forever. Or, sometimes it acts more subliminally: You suddenly find yourself playing a certain lick over and over again, wondering, Where have I heard this before?

Through the years, these licks have evolved into a vocabulary for the guitar. And like great writers who are always able to find the right word to make a point, great guitarists always have that essential lick at their disposal to express, in the moment, what they’re feeling. And whereas the best writers are able to string those words together to form remarkable prose, the best guitarists link their licks to form living, breathing, musical statements.

We called upon our mighty stable of instructional writers to assemble these 101 Amazing Guitar Licks, spanning over eight decades and ranging from rock, metal, and blues to jazz, country and bluegrass. Regardless of what style music you play, it will do your ears and your chops good to go through each of these licks. Learn them, master them, and keep them on file for the next time you’re looking for just the right way to say what’s in your soul.

BLUES

FIGURE 62
Origin: Freddie King used this type of lick in “You Can’t Trust Your Neighbor” on Texas Cannonball, but it originated from one of Son House’s slide licks.
Theory: Attacking blues-scale chromaticism from a new angle, King bends the 4th (Db) up to the 5th (Eb), and then gradually descends back through b5th to the 4th by releasing the bend.
Playing Tip: Bend and vibrato the string violently in increasingly smaller increments.

Check back tomorrow for Figure 63!

We all know a great lick when we hear one—Jimmy Page’s solo breaks in “Whole Lotta Love” and Mark Knopfler’s blistering triads in “Sultans of Swing,” for example. Moments like these grab your attention and aurally brand your ears forever. Or, sometimes it acts more subliminally: You suddenly find yourself playing a certain lick over and over again, wondering, Where have I heard this before?

Through the years, these licks have evolved into a vocabulary for the guitar. And like great writers who are always able to find the right word to make a point, great guitarists always have that essential lick at their disposal to express, in the moment, what they’re feeling. And whereas the best writers are able to string those words together to form remarkable prose, the best guitarists link their licks to form living, breathing, musical statements.

We called upon our mighty stable of instructional writers to assemble these 101 Amazing Guitar Licks, spanning over eight decades and ranging from rock, metal, and blues to jazz, country and bluegrass. Regardless of what style music you play, it will do your ears and your chops good to go through each of these licks. Learn them, master them, and keep them on file for the next time you’re looking for just the right way to say what’s in your soul.

BLUES

FIGURE 61

Origin: Yet another Delta slide–based lick, this time courtesy of the “Texas Cannonball,” Freddie King, à la “Low Down in Lodi.”
Theory: With the D minor pentatonic scale as a foundation, King hits the true blue note by bending the b3rd (F) up a quarter step, not once but twice!
Playing Tip: That true blue note is a delicate target, so bend with a discerning ear.

Check back tomorrow for Figure 62!