How to Play Licks In-Between Chords: 10 Examples with Tab

  • One of the hallmarks of Jimi Hendrix’s style was his technique of playing licks in-between chords. Many of his songs—from “The Wind Cries Mary” to “Little Wing” to “Bold As Love”—feature his supreme lead fills punctuating the space between his chords.
  • If you’re primarily a rhythm guitarist, you may feel out of your depth when it comes to blending rhythm and lead work. But this video lesson from Paul Davids should have you using the technique with confidence in no time at all. Paul presents 10 examples, complete with TAB.

“This is not difficult,” Paul says. “I’m pretty sure everyone can play like this, because the theory behind it is so stunningly easy.

“For this video, I’m just talking about major and minor chords. But even when encountering more difficult chords with lots of extensions, you can most of the time derive them back to the good old major and minor chords.”

Paul provides the TAB right in the video. To download the TAB and support his efforts, visit his Patreon page.

And be sure to visit Paul’s YouTube channel for more excellent tutorials like this.

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Christopher Scapelliti

Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar WorldGuitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.