50 Soul Guitar Licks You Must Know

Hi I’m Jay Williams. Welcome to 50 Soul Licks you MUST know. In the early sixties a new sound was created by a young generation of musicians. Happy dance music with major chords, an open sound and with deceptively simple guitar parts. Mostly young African Americans in southern cities like Memphis, Tennessee and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, started to mix the popular R&B style with Afro-American Gospel.This culminated in what became known as Southern Soul. House bands like Booker T. & the MG’s of Stax Records and the Hi Rhythm Section of Hi Records, were exponents of the soul sound featuring melancholic horns, organ and hard edged guitars. In the later sixties and early seventies, funk music, with it’s interlocking rhythms based on soul, became more and more popular. These styles were developed by James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone and The Meters, among others. In this 50 Soul Licks course we will take a closer look at the guitar-playing styles of Steve ‘The Colonel’ Cropper of Booker T. and the MG’s Mabon ‘Teenie’ Hodges of the Hi Rhythm Section. , Jimmy Johnson of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and Willie ‘Little Beaver’ Hale. We will also dig into the styles of pre funk guitarists Leo Nocentelli and Freddie Stone. A special kind of soul guitar featured the tremolo sound. These broad melancholic and romantic guitar parts, enflavoured with rich harmonies were very popular at late night dance parties and in the bedroom. This period of Soul also had a strong impact on contemporary music styles and on a lot of great guitarists such as the Black Crowes' Rick Robinson, Robert Cray, John Fogerty, Rory Gallagher, Prince, John Scofield and John Mayer to name but a few. Just listen to their cover versions of soul classics. We will provide tabs, backing tracks and extra information with all these 50 licks. I wish you lots of fun in studying the material and hope it will inspire you in your own style of playing.