brosblues
Verified buyer
06/20/25
Like other Jeff Mac courses (of which I own many), this course is packed with useful licks and information presented lucidly by Jeff.
50 Blues-Rock Guitar Licks You MUST Know
Licks, riffs and rhythmic patterns in the style of Hendrix, Clapton, et al
Get this course and 1,000+ more with All Access
Try 14 days free. Cancel any time.
Jeff McErlain
Educator
Genres
About this course
Top educator and blues player extraordinaire, Jeff McErlain responds to standing ovations for his first 50 Blues licks course with another 50 killer licks you will certainly want to add to your blues-rock bag.
50 Blues-Rock Guitar Licks You MUST Know covers licks, riffs and rhythmic patterns in the style of Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Rev. Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Keith Richards, Eric Johnson, Joe Bonamassa, David Grissom, Robin Trower, Jeff Beck, Michael Schenker, Jake E Lee, Van Halen, and many of the other kings of the blues-rock six-string.
McErlain's new handpicked collection of moves will further guide your development of the tools, techniques and vocabulary you'll need to unleash soulful lines and take your blues guitar playing to the next level.
50 Blues-Rock Guitar Licks You MUST Know goes well beyond the same old tired minor pentatonic moves as Jeff covers over-bends, double stops, triple stops, complete rhythm patterns, modal vamps, sliding 6ths, head turning ripping licks, pedal point licks, hybrid picking, thumb over the neck licks, altered blues licks, chromatic licks, a really cool alternate tuning and much, much more. Jeff even shows you how to transform classic licks into a fresh, post-modern blues-rock vocabulary.
Add these 50 Blues-Rock Guitar Licks You MUST Know to McErlain's original 50 Blues Guitar Licks, and you'll possess enough blues firepower to raise the roof and deliver powerful, evocative solos within a broad range of styles from British to Chicago, Austin to Detroit, Memphis to the Mississippi Delta.
50 Blues-Rock Guitar Licks You MUST Know covers licks, riffs and rhythmic patterns in the style of Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Rev. Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Keith Richards, Eric Johnson, Joe Bonamassa, David Grissom, Robin Trower, Jeff Beck, Michael Schenker, Jake E Lee, Van Halen, and many of the other kings of the blues-rock six-string.
McErlain's new handpicked collection of moves will further guide your development of the tools, techniques and vocabulary you'll need to unleash soulful lines and take your blues guitar playing to the next level.
50 Blues-Rock Guitar Licks You MUST Know goes well beyond the same old tired minor pentatonic moves as Jeff covers over-bends, double stops, triple stops, complete rhythm patterns, modal vamps, sliding 6ths, head turning ripping licks, pedal point licks, hybrid picking, thumb over the neck licks, altered blues licks, chromatic licks, a really cool alternate tuning and much, much more. Jeff even shows you how to transform classic licks into a fresh, post-modern blues-rock vocabulary.
Add these 50 Blues-Rock Guitar Licks You MUST Know to McErlain's original 50 Blues Guitar Licks, and you'll possess enough blues firepower to raise the roof and deliver powerful, evocative solos within a broad range of styles from British to Chicago, Austin to Detroit, Memphis to the Mississippi Delta.
Jeff McErlain's Preferred Gear
Below is a list of Jeff McErlain's preferred gear including guitars, amps, pedals, accessories, and more. What you see in Jeff's lessons may or may not be this actual gear, but if you are trying to capture Jeff's sound and tone, the gear listed below is recommended by Jeff and it's a great place to start!
Guitars
- Gibson SG Guitar
- Gibson Les Paul Goldtop Guitar
- Fender Stratocaster Guitar
- Tuttle Carve Top Supreme Guitar
Amps
Pedals
- Fulltone Octafuzz OF-2 Fuzz / Octave Pedal
- Strymon Flint Tremolo and Reverb Pedal
- Xotic EP Booster Pedal
- Ibanez Tube Screamer Overdrive Pedal
- Fulltone OCD Distortion Pedal
- Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Pedal
- TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb Pedal
- MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay Pedal
- TC Electronic Flashback 2 Delay and Looper Pedal
- Fulltone Supa-Trem Tremolo Pedal
- Boss Super Chorus Pedal
- MXR Flanger Pedal
- MXR Phase 90 Phase Shifter Pedal
- MXR Dyan Comp Compressor Pedal
- Ernie Ball VP JR Volume Pedal
- Dunlop Original Cry Baby Wah Wah Pedal
- MXR M199 Tap Tempo Pedal
Accessories & More
What you'll learn
- Execute precise sliding techniques with the first finger across multiple positions
- Apply legato techniques to pentatonic phrases
- How to create intentional dissonance using half-step intervals
- Using the blue note (flat 5) against the natural 5 for tension
- Incorporating pinch harmonics for added texture
Release date: 03/29/2011 • 2h 57m runtime
Sample lessons
Teja's
Lick 15
Southern Comfort
Lick 20
Shake It!
Lick 26
EVH Move
Lick 36
What's included
52 lessons • 50 charts • 50 Jam Tracks
50 Blues-Rock Licks You MUST Know
When I think about guitar heroes the first person that comes to mind is Jimmy Page. You can picture him, Sunburst Les Paul strung around his kneecaps, dragon suit, wall of Marshall amps behind him. (Actually, that's the screen saver on my computer!) The king of blues-rock and the reason I picked up the guitar. That image personifies the genre. I have studied jazz and classical guitar but I always go back to blues rock, I love how players like Page, Gibbons, Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, Van Halen, and others melded the root feeling of the blues and supercharged it. It always gets me going and to me, that's what guitar is all about! In this course I pick out some of my favorite blues infused rock licks, tricks, and progressions that have served me well for many years. The licks are not in any particular order so feel free to pick and choose. I also bring in some of my favorite ideas from Michael Schenker, David Grissom, Eric Johnson, Joe Bonamassa, and others. So stop reading this and let's get into some playing!
Schenker
Here is a great lick that extends some tried and true pentatonic licks into something a little different. One of my favorite guitar players is Michael Schenker. The original guitarist in the Scorpions and UFO, Schenker is a master of phrasing and control. He like Angus Young has a great ability to take what may appear to be a basic lick and make it sound fresh. Classic Schenker tracks are Lights Out, Rock Bottom, Only You can Rock Me. I highly recommend the Strangers In The Night CD by UFO. Michael is on fire!
Grissom's Grip
I have had the opportunity to both play and teach with David Grissom, man that guy can play. He is one of those players who just grabs you and shows you who's boss. His mix of blues, country, jazz, and rock makes for a truly unique player. This lick utilizes the open E string as a drone adding some very cool overtones, and an added dimension to the lick. So plug in that humbucker and crank that Marshall and dig in.
Pull-Off Show-Off
Whenever I play this lick on a gig or clinic, people often ask me what the heck it was, so here it is. This lick is really just an E minor blues scale broken up across the open strings. Why does it work? Well all your open strings are contained in an E minor pentatonic scale, so let's use them. Guitar great Robben Ford plays a lick very similar to this in his version of the Howlin' Wolf classic Spoonful. This one should get you thinking about those open strings.
Bend It Like Beck
Ok, Jeff Beck admits that this lick really came from keyboardist Jan Hammer. It is a classic lick that takes you right back to the Wired album, that's right, I said it - Album. It's pretty tricky but well worth it because it is such a head-turner. I remember the first time I heard it, I was a teen, I was flummoxed and I had to know what it was. Fortunately my close friend and spectacular guitarist Chris Amelar already knew this secret and was happy to share it. Jan Hammer's style of keyboard playing is very guitaristic, right down to his use of the keytar!
Hybrid He Do That?
Sorry for the bad play on words. Hybrid picking is just a fancy way of saying that we are using both our pick and fingers on this lick. I highly recommend that you spend some time on this technique as it is extremely helpful. It also opens up many new licks that would have been extremely difficult with just a pick. The technique is most closely associated with country players and chickin' pickin'. This cool lick gets you started and sounds awesome on a G7 chord.
Bend 'em While Ya Got 'em
Here is one right out of Jeff Beck's live version of Freeway Jam from the Jeff Beck with The Jan Hammer Group album. Beck is great on this album, get it! The lick is basically a repeated quick bend but it is not so easy to get. One of the biggest problems is string noise so really check your muting on both the left and right hands. We will revisit this technique a few times in this course.
+ 45 more lessons
Reviews
13 results
Donn J.
10/13/24
Great course for adding variety to your blues-rock playing
Jeff is one of the best teachers on TrueFire. What makes Jeff's courses so interesting is the background information he provides on where the licks originated and where to insert them in your playing. You may already be familiar with some of the licks but I bet you'll be surprised how many new ones you'll add to your arsenal.
Paul H.
10/04/22
Excellent variety of awesome licks
Lots of these licks are very creative and totally devoid of cliche. If you want to spice up your playing, check out this course!
tomac
Verified buyer
12/30/21
Super licks library
rempelrt
Verified buyer
01/28/21
Great course Jeff is a really great teacher.
Stop searching. Start improving with All Access.
Try 14 days free. Cancel any time.
