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These rockabilly guitar licks are from Jason Loughlin’s 50 Rockabilly Licks You MUST Knowcourse which equips you with the tools you need to play in the style of Cliff Gallop, Paul Burlison, Grady Martin, James Burton, and many of the other giants of Rockabilly. Loughlin’s handpicked collection of Rockabilly licks will further guide your mastery of the vocabulary and techniques required to solo and swing with the best of them.

Rockabilly Lick #11: The Candyman Can

Download the tab & notation for this rockabilly guitar lick.

This one comes from the tune Sugarfoot Boogie. Hank Garland is one of the most unsung heroes of the electric guitar and someone who greatly influences my playing. Great rockabilly guitarist, jazz guitarist, country guitarist, played on a lot of Elvis stuff, and Patsy Cline stuff. Despite the fact Gibson named a guitar after him not many guitarists know who he is. Anyway, this is a bit more sophisticated boogie line.

Rockabilly Lick #28: Happy Trails

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You can’t ignore the influence of western swing on rockabilly. Most of the rockabilly guitarists that we’ve been looking at would have been listening to western swing growing up. This was the popular music leading up to rockabilly. So much of the rockabilly language has roots in western swing. This is a pretty classic lap steel lick that’s going to end with some harmonics and a Bigsby dive that will closely imitate the sliding of a bar on a lap steel.

Rockabilly Lick #35: Slide Cat Slide

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This is a Hank Garland lick. What can I say about this one other than it’s just really cool? We’re setting up each note of the melody with a big ol’ slide. The melody on top is actually really simple, which is perfect because it leaves us plenty of space for these dramatic slides. In the example I keep my sliding in key but if you want to be reckless with this one you can.

Rockabilly Lick #40: One For Paul

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This is a Les Paul lick through the ears of Danny Gatton. Danny Gatton transcribed this one as a kid, not being aware of the fact that Les Paul was multi-tracking. He ended up with something that was very unique and all his own – something we recognize as a classic Danny Gatton lick. It’s really impressive sounding and not that hard to get down.

Rockabilly Lick #41: Wholey Moley

Download the tab & notation for this rockabilly guitar lick.

what it sounds like, it’s a 7-note scale that’s separated by whole steps. This lick uses chromatic passing tones to connect notes of the whole tone scale.

Dig these strumming patterns? Download Jason Loughlin’s 50 Rockabilly Licks You MUST Know for much more including tab, notation, and jam tracks!