How To Play Fast Blues Guitar Licks To Give Your Solos A Badass Sound

Blues has been an instrumental part of rock and metal guitar. You know this because (like most guitar players) you probably already learned to play things like double stops and pentatonic/blues scales.

 

Now it’s time to learn creative ways to play fast blues guitar licks that give you a badass sound and make people stop to listen to you play.

Use these quick tips to become a better blues guitarist right away:

Tip #1: Study The Style Of Famous Guitarists

 

You can’t go wrong with listening to some of your favorite guitarists and studying the way they create their own signature style. For example:

 

Kirk Hammett is a huge influence to the rock and metal guitar world. Learning his bluesy signature style gives your playing a diverse sound that blends in perfectly with any blues, rock or metal song.

 

One of his signature phrasing approaches is to use rapid-fire pull-offs together with bending using a pentatonic scale. This sounds awesome whether you play it fast or slow:

Guitar Arpeggio With Bends

While playing this blues guitar lick, make sure to bend the 14th fret all the way to match the pitch of the 16th fret on the G string.

 

Practice improvising for a couple of minutes using this simple three-note phrase. See how many variations you can think of by simply changing the note rhythms, the way you lay the bend or using picked notes instead of pull-offs.

 

Here is another cool variation that goes great in any fast blues guitar solo:

Guitar Arpeggio With Bends And Vibrato

Play the pre-bend on the 14th fret by bending up to the match the pitch of the 16th fret, then striking the string and releasing it back down. After doing this, pull-off onto the 12th fret and continue the lick.

 

Tip #2: Use Double Stops & Phrasing To Make Your Blues Guitar Licks Sound Intense

 

Playing killer blues guitar licks isn’t just about the notes you use, but HOW you use them. You already know that double stops and pentatonic scales give you that bluesy sound… Now it’s time to combine them together in a way that adds intensity and power to your soloing.

 

Practice each section in the tab below separately at first.

Once you are comfortable with each section, combine them all together doing the following:

  1. Play the blue section slow and soulfully (interpret this however you want)
  2.  
  3. Play the orange section faster, as if you are building up to something.
  4.  
  5. Play the red section the fastest of all as if you are releasing tension. Then play the final three notes slow again. Note the pre-bend on the 7th fret that pulls-off onto the 5th
  6.  

Using this approach trains you to play with a sense of phrasing structure. You start slow, then build TONS of intensity with tension and release it. This style of phrasing is great and can be used in any musical style.

 

Practice this phrasing style on your own by improvising with your own blues guitar licks.

Tip #3: Step Outside Of Your Comfort Zone Using New Scales

 

Combining different scales together gives your blues guitar playing a more unique sound while opening the door for more creative playing. Generally speaking, there are at least 5 common scales that can be used together to give your soloing a unique and bluesy sound:

 

  • Minor Pentatonic (A C D E G)
  • Blues (A C D D#/Eb E G)
  • Natural Minor (A B C D E F G)
  • Dorian (A B C D E F# G)

Mixolydian (A B C# D E F# G)

Most of these scales share the same notes in common with the minor pentatonic scale, then add a few extra notes (adding more creative options to your palette).

 

Blues guitar solos are commonly played over either minor or dominant chords below them.

 

Because of the way our ears have come to accept the “blues sound”, playing either major or minor scales over these chords generally sounds good as long as it is done with a blues style of playing.

 

This means you can use any of the scales above to create a sound that is both bluesy and creative (rather than ONLY using the pentatonic scale over and over).

 

Here is a lick that uses notes from every scale mentioned above:

Fast Guitar Lick Exercise

Improvise short blues guitar licks on your own using these scales in isolation and interchangeably. Before you know it, playing in a blues guitar style feels effortless and sounds incredibly creative.

 

Now that you’ve learned how to play killer blues guitar licks, learn how to create guitar licks and phrases that add fire to any music you play over. Make your guitar playing feel expressive and emotional by studying this free guitar soloing eBook.