Hinds’ Nifty Sevens

This lick was inspired by Allen Hinds’ solo in “Oscar’s Swagger,” off his great Monkeys and Slides album. It’s an easy, symmetrical pattern, but the key is to arch your pinky so the last two notes in each phrase ring together. With some distortion, that will create an awesome, poke-you-in-the-eye effect in an otherwise pretty legato line. Hinds’ take on this sound occurs at 3:09 into the song. Swagger is right!

Sweeping Away That Boring Legato Sound

GP’s favorite prodigal son Jude Gold delivered this knowledge. “The easiest way to add zip to an ascending three-notes-per-string scale is to pick only the first note on each string, and hammer the two that follow. The problem with this highly legato strategy, though, is that it results in a predictable and repetitive sound. Southern California guitar sensei Jean-Marc Belkadi has noticed a clever way to liven things up without slowing you down: Play every third picked note as the first note in an upward sweep of the pick that drops you back down three strings. When you finally reach the highest string (bar 2, middle of beat two), descend back down the scale as shown.”

Slippin’ ’n’ Slidin’

This morsel came from musiconpaper.com’s Hemme Luttjeboer, who says, “Here’s a sweet melodic idea to help stretch a Dm7 chord by sliding up the neck, adding a few 9ths and 11ths along the way. The initial sus2 shape gives way to a familiar grip that slides up a fret. Slide back down again and target F (E#) on the second string (the minor 3rd of Dm7 or the #5 of A). The lick climaxes with a tension-producing Aaug#9 arpeggio with a root harmonic on the fourth string that creates a tasty cluster sound.”