Play These Awesome Rock Lead Guitar Licks From The Pentatonic Scale
Emotion To Any Guitar Lick
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In this rock lead guitar article...
...I’ll show you how to play awesome blues guitar licks from the pentatonic scale.
These blues guitar licks will make you sound pro.
Plus: they give you a ton of ideas for your guitar solos.
And even if you don’t really care about rock lead guitar...
(... and instead want to play heavy metal, progressive rock or neoclassical shred guitar solos)...
You can use the blues guitar licks I show you to add variety to your lead guitar solos in any style.
Bottom line?
No matter what electric guitar style you play...
... you can use these guitar licks from the pentatonic scale to spice up your guitar playing and impress everyone who hears you play.
Emotion To Any Guitar Lick
EMAIL TO GET ACCESS
By submitting your info, you agree to send it to Tom Hess Music Corporation who will process and use it according to their privacy policy.
To begin...
Watch this rock lead guitar video and practice these guitar licks from the pentatonic scale I show you:
Want even more cool rock lead guitar concepts that’ll make your guitar solos sound better?
Here are 5 more tips that help you build upon the blues guitar licks from the pentatonic scale you’ve just learned:
Rock Lead Guitar Tip #1: Learn All 5 Boxes Of The Pentatonic Scale
One reason why most rock lead guitar players struggle to create their own cool guitar licks from the pentatonic scale (and use them to play guitar solos) is because they only know the pentatonic scale in a single position.
(Take a wild guess which of the five pentatonic boxes most rock lead guitar players get their blues guitar licks from.)
This is one reason why I showed examples of blues guitar licks taken from the 3rd pentatonic box – knowing that they are likely to be new to many guitar players.
Create Awesome Rock Guitar LicksLearn how to make any guitar lick you play sound absolutely amazing.
How To Quickly Build Guitar SpeedLearn the secrets to building guitar speed by watching this free video.
How To Fix Sloppy Guitar PlayingUse this muting technique to clean up your guitar playing right away.
(Hint: this should be a reminder for you to practice ALL the shapes of this classic rock lead guitar scale.)
Here are some ways to practice the 5 boxes of the pentatonic scale (so you can use it to play better guitar solos):
- choose 1 guitar shape to focus on (ideally one you haven’t yet mastered) and – after you can play it consistently up and down - create guitar licks using it.
This will not only make it easy to practice one scale shape for awhile without getting bored, but will also help you create new blues guitar licks (and ideas for your rock lead guitar solos) you’d never have created any other way.
(For proof, see the blues guitar licks video at the top of this page. I specifically created guitar licks from the pentatonic scale using the 3rd box of the scale... and the result was: rock lead guitar licks that sound different from most blues guitar licks you typically hear in blues guitar solos.)
- transpose blues guitar licks you already know to unfamiliar shapes of the scale. That is another way to keep your brain engaged for longer as you are creating guitar licks from the pentatonic scale (in its unfamiliar shapes).
- practice sequencing any of the blues guitar licks in your rock lead guitar arsenal through all 5 shapes of the pentatonic scale.
This is a great test of how well you really know the patterns of any rock lead guitar scale you are practicing.
Watch this video to see what this step of the process looks like using the 3-note-per-string shapes of the major scale:
Rock Lead Guitar Tip #2: Master Vibrato And String Bends
This is the single fastest way to level up your rock lead guitar playing and make your blues guitar licks sound way better.
Why are string bends and vibrato lumped together into one tip when it comes to creating guitar licks from the pentatonic scale?
Simple:
Guitar vibrato is nothing more than a series of rhythmic string bends applied to various notes of your guitar licks from the pentatonic scale.
Therefore, when you get better at string bends – you also can’t help but get a bit better at vibrato (and vice versa).
Besides: you often have to combine the 2 techniques (guitar vibrato and string bends) when playing blues guitar licks and rock lead guitar solos. The results is what’s known as bent-note vibrato.
Here is how to practice both regular vibrato and bent-note vibrato:
As you practice vibrato and string bends, watch out for the following mistakes (they make your rock lead guitar solos sound bad):
- out-of-tune string bends – this can often happen when you bend strings too fast (when playing guitar licks from the pentatonic scale). To fix this, play the note you intend to bend up to (as a regular, unbent note) before you do a string bend. This way you’ll get the note’s sound into your ear. Then begin to bend the string slowly (so your ear can follow the change in pitch and instruct your hand to stop as you reach the target pitch.
Keep doing this over and over until you are able to consistently bend strings in tune.
- out-of-tune vibrato – this often happens when your vibrato doesn't return the string to the actual note you are applying vibrato to. This makes your blues guitar licks sound out of tune (sharp) and – no matter how cool your rock lead guitar ideas are – your guitar licks from the pentatonic scales won’t sound very pro.
How do you fix this?
Watch this video that shows you what to do:
- string noise (on string bends or vibrato) – this often happens when the lower (in-pitch) strings ring out when you are sustaining a bent note (or a vibrato note) in your guitar licks from the pentatonic scale.
String noise is often caused either: by excess muscle tension (that pulls the picking hand away of the strings during a string bend) or simple lack of awareness of how to clean up sloppy playing.
What are the best ways to mute string noise when playing rock lead guitar?
Answer: by using your picking hand’s thumb to rest on the lower strings, using your fretting hand’s index finger to mute the higher in pitch strings and using the unused fingers of your picking hand to add another layer of string muting to the higher strings as you play blues guitar licks.
- unbalanced rock lead guitar vibrato – a great vibrato achieves a perfect balance between: its speed, its width and its ability to stay in sync with the tempo of the song you are playing over.
Here are some general guidelines for making your vibrato balanced when you play guitar licks from the pentatonic scale:
1. The faster the vibrato – the wider it ought to be to achieve the best sound in your blues guitar licks and rock lead guitar solos. If the vibrato is too fast and narrow – it makes your playing sound out of control.
2. The slower the vibrato – the narrower it should be. If the vibrato is too slow and wide – it sounds like a series of rock lead guitar bends – not vibrato.
3. The pulse of the vibrato should be done in steady note values (e.g., triplets or 16th notes). This video on guitar vibrato synchronization shows how.
Rock Lead Guitar Tip #3: Use Advanced Double Stops
Most blues & rock lead guitar players think of double stops as “unison bends”. This is where you strum 2 notes and bend one of them until it reaches a unison with the first note.
However, there is a lot more to double stops (especially when it comes to playing guitar licks from the pentatonic scale).
Here are some of my most favorite double stop ideas to insert into your blue guitar licks:
Question: “But Tom Hess, what if I don’t have a floating bridge like you do in the above video? How can use these double stop ideas when playing guitar licks from the pentatonic scale in my guitar solos?”
Answer: “You can use these double stops in your guitar licks from the pentatonic scale (or any other scale) whether you have a floating bridge or not. Simply practice doing double stop vibrato with your fingers and they will still sound great.
Rock Lead Guitar Tip #4: Pinch Harmonics
When you want to add fire to important notes in guitar licks from the pentatonic scale, pinch harmonics are your friend.
How do you do pinch harmonics?
Here are the steps:
1. Play the note (any note in your blues guitar licks) simply by striking it with the pick.
2. Briefly touch the string you just picked pick your thumb. This initiates the pinch harmonic on the note.
3. Immediately move the thumb off the string to allow the pinch harmonic to ring out (this adds a lot of fire to your blues guitar licks).
4. Add heavy (wide and fast) vibrato to make the note scream.
Here is a video demonstration of these steps in action (and a way to troubleshoot common mistakes when adding pinch harmonics to guitar licks from the pentatonic scale):
Question: “Tom Hess, my pinch harmonics sound weak and they lose sustain quickly! What should I do?”
Answer: Work on your vibrato and make it wider. Vibrato will not only add more fire to the pinch harmonic (or any note you play in your guitar licks from the pentatonic scale), but also will dramatically increase your rock lead guitar sustain.
Watch this video on how to increase your guitar sustain using vibrato to see what I mean.
That said, when it comes to the pinch harmonics themselves, make sure you are using the bridge pick-up (not the neck pick-up). Using more gain can also make your pinch harmonics a lot stronger.
Rock Lead Guitar Tip #5: Practice Creating Variations From Your Blues Guitar Licks
After you create a few guitar licks from the pentatonic scale, the next step is to refine them to make them sound great.
How do you do that?
You refine guitar licks from the pentatonic scale by creating variations from them. Fortunately, this is quite simple to do.
Here is how:
First, play one of the guitar licks for the pentatonic scale from the earlier steps in this article.
Then, play it once more, but add one of the guitar phrasing ornaments commonly used in blues guitar licks. On top of string bends, vibrato, double stops and pinch harmonics (that we explored in this rock lead guitar article), you can also add:
- slide variations (such as ascending slides, descending slides, backslides and super slides).
- rhythm variations (for example – using rubato in your blues guitar licks).
- legato (articulate the notes using hammer ons and pull offs instead of picking all the notes).
... then, repeat your rock lead guitar lick again and this time create a new variation (by adding a different ornament and/or adding it to a different note in the guitar lick itself).
Here is what this sounds like:
You now know some awesome rock lead guitar soloing concepts and can play new rock guitar licks from the pentatonic scale. The next step is to master the rest of your guitar playing, so you can fully reach all of your guitar playing goals, even if you are stuck right now and are having some self-doubts about your potential.
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