TheCel1
Verified buyer
09/22/26
Great Course. Licks good explizites and easy to understand
30 Beginner Blues Guitar Licks You MUST Know
Get started playing blues guitar with these must-know licks!
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About this course
Learning blues licks is the first step towards learning how to solo and improvise over blues progressions and songs. Every blues player learns pretty much the same beginning vocabulary of blues licks and then, with time and practice, transforms them into their own distinctive blues sound.
Corey Congilio hand-picked these 30 Beginner Blues Licks You MUST Know to ensure that they were easy to learn and very versatile. Each of these 30 blues licks can be played over ALL of the chords in any blues song — you can pull them out anywhere, at anytime while you’re soloing! These 30 licks are also ‘moveable’ so that you can move them up and down the fretboard and play the blues in any key.
”Over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of beginning blues students. What I’ve found is they could hear the lick, and learn the notes easily enough but it was the basic guitar techniques that hindered them most. That’s why I’ll not only show the licks, I’ll also show you how to execute the techniques that will truly give your licks personality and authenticity. All of these 30 licks incorporate one or more of these techniques, and I'll guide you step-by-step through the process of making them come to life!”
You’ll not only expand your vocabulary for soloing and improvisation, you’ll also build solid foundations in essential blues guitar techniques such as whole step bends, using slides and legato lines, double stops for harmonic reinforcements, alternate picking for economy of motion, hammers-ons and pull-offs, and plenty of expressive ways to use vibrato.
All of the licks are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop and/or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, Corey generously includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own.
Grab your guitar and let’s play the blues with Corey Congilio!
Corey Congilio hand-picked these 30 Beginner Blues Licks You MUST Know to ensure that they were easy to learn and very versatile. Each of these 30 blues licks can be played over ALL of the chords in any blues song — you can pull them out anywhere, at anytime while you’re soloing! These 30 licks are also ‘moveable’ so that you can move them up and down the fretboard and play the blues in any key.
”Over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of beginning blues students. What I’ve found is they could hear the lick, and learn the notes easily enough but it was the basic guitar techniques that hindered them most. That’s why I’ll not only show the licks, I’ll also show you how to execute the techniques that will truly give your licks personality and authenticity. All of these 30 licks incorporate one or more of these techniques, and I'll guide you step-by-step through the process of making them come to life!”
You’ll not only expand your vocabulary for soloing and improvisation, you’ll also build solid foundations in essential blues guitar techniques such as whole step bends, using slides and legato lines, double stops for harmonic reinforcements, alternate picking for economy of motion, hammers-ons and pull-offs, and plenty of expressive ways to use vibrato.
"I wish this course had existed when I was first learning to play, I'd be a better player today [...] One cool riff after another, never intimidating, always useful and adaptable. I'll return to this again and again for inspiration. [...] I cannot reccomend this course more strongly." - Tom Rasmussen, TrueFire StudentCorey demonstrates all of the licks over rhythm tracks and then breaks them down note-by-note showing you the techniques you’ll need to get a grip on to play them correctly.
All of the licks are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop and/or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, Corey generously includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own.
Grab your guitar and let’s play the blues with Corey Congilio!
"This is a very well chosen selection of the basic "must know" blues licks and Corey takes the time to show you how to execute the techniques needed for each one. If you want to master some of the most commonly heard and useful licks used in playing blues lead guitar parts, this is the course for you!" - Ron Holcomb, TrueFire Student
Corey Congilio's Preferred Gear
Below is a list of Corey Congilio's preferred gear including guitars, amps, pedals, accessories, and more. What you see in Corey's lessons may or may not be this actual gear, but if you are trying to capture Corey's sound and tone, the gear listed below is recommended by Corey and it's a great place to start!
Guitars
Amps
Pedals
- J. Rockett Tim Pierce Signature Overdrive Pedal
- DOD Carcosa Analog Fuzz Pedal
- Dunlop DVP4 Volume (X) Mini Pedal
- Universal Audio UAFX Golden Reverberator Pedal
- Universal Audio UAFX Starlight Echo Station Delay Pedal
- Universal Audio UAFX Astra Modulation Machine Pedal
- Korg Pitchblack Custom Pedal Tuner
Accessories & More
What you'll learn
- Use pull-offs and hammer-ons effectively
- Apply pentatonic scale in creative ways
- Create melodic licks across different octaves
- Create melodic lead guitar lines
- Use double stops in soloing
Release date: 02/01/2016 • 2h 04m runtime
Sample lessons
Gotta B
Lick 5
King Style
Lick 10
Riley Style
Lick 15
A Little Grace
Lick 18
What's included
32 lessons • 30 charts • 30 Jam Tracks
Hi, I'm Corey Congilio and welcome to 30 Beginner Blues Licks You Must Know! I've had multitudes of beginning blues students that have always had trouble getting started with developing a blues soloing vocabulary. What often hindered them the most wasn't the ability to hear licks, but the basic guitar techniques needed to execute them properly. So often students haven't had proper instruction with regards to bending, hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and vibrato. These techniques truly give your licks personality, and without them one can really find they're playing lacks the authenticity that they seek. All of these licks incorporate one or more of these techniques, and I'll guide you step by step through the process of making them come to life.
You may have already developed an understanding of the I-IV-V chord progression that makes up many traditional blues songs, which will be the backdrop for our examples here. I'll play in many different keys that will give us some great sounds and areas of the guitar to explore, with all of the licks being composed using the pentatonic scale. I highly recommend knowing ALL of your pentatonic scale patterns and the I-IV-V progression before attempting any of these licks -- understanding where your licks come from is most important. With that being stated...let's jump in and play some great blues licks!
You may have already developed an understanding of the I-IV-V chord progression that makes up many traditional blues songs, which will be the backdrop for our examples here. I'll play in many different keys that will give us some great sounds and areas of the guitar to explore, with all of the licks being composed using the pentatonic scale. I highly recommend knowing ALL of your pentatonic scale patterns and the I-IV-V progression before attempting any of these licks -- understanding where your licks come from is most important. With that being stated...let's jump in and play some great blues licks!
"First Pull" is found within the G Minor pentatonic scale and is our first pull-off example. Pull-offs should be clean and seamless. Here we'll be pulling off on the fourth string, which should sound warm and rich. We'll see pull-offs throughout this course, so let's start make sure we get this technique down first.
Bends are extremely important in all guitar playing, focusing on whole step bends in this course. When using whole step bends, we push (or pull) the string in one direction from one fret to achieve a note one whole step or two frets higher. At first, bends are like weight lifting for your fingers, it's going to be painful and your fingers will be sore. You must endure the pain to achieve bending pleasure! Don't give up.
If you have to, use a light string gauge to make the bending easier. There's no harm in using light "weights" at first. Your fingers and callouses will get stronger, I promise. Now get to bending!
If you have to, use a light string gauge to make the bending easier. There's no harm in using light "weights" at first. Your fingers and callouses will get stronger, I promise. Now get to bending!
This first double-stop lick is a staple of blues guitar soloing, which are two notes played at the same time. In my opinion, double-stops create a "tough" sound - the combination of the two notes ringing together is really what you're after. I hint at the sliding technique in this example as well, but we'll get to that later. You've heard all of your favorite blues players play double stops...now it's your turn!
When I was starting my blues guitar playing journey, the key of E always intrigued me because I could really utilize open strings. I thought that "Open Mind" could indeed open your mind to some open string licks. You're going to use the heck out of open strings when you're in the key of E, so why not start here!
We can't just play in the key of G, A, and E! You need to learn how to play in all keys! We'll be using alternate picking in this lick, which is extremely important, as you'll get mileage out of this picking style for the rest of your guitar playing life. I suggest practicing your scales with alternate picking too. What you do in your scale practice WILL translate into your real world playing. Enjoy this lick in B and work on that alternate picking!
When we're starting out, it can be difficult to figure out where to begin or end our licks. I'm a big fan of targeting the root note when we're just beginning our soloing journeys. Targeting the root note helps to train our ear and puts (as I like to put it) a period at the end of the sentence. You'll get this lick with ease I'm sure, but pay attention to your root notes throughout the course.
+ 25 more lessons
Reviews
43 results
Sotiris
02/07/26
A must go through course to solidify vocabulary
I have been playing the blues for a few months now and this course really helped me and gave me ideas to get out of my "scale runs" when i wanna solo. Its really good for beginners and intermediate players who wanna refresh their knowledge and vocabulary.
Alma
09/18/25
It's been great and necessary
Thanks for every lesson, they really bring the basis of soloin blues under our fingers ! Great job !
dondomko
Verified buyer
09/18/25
BigHelp
Excellent presentation and explanation!
wilsonsmiles54
Verified buyer
09/16/25
Any course will get you where you want to go. . . . but the time is way short for all you get
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