When diving into the world of guitar licks, it’s natural to wonder where to start. Should you tackle complex, flashy riffs right away, or begin with something simpler? Many guitarists, just like you, have pondered whether Easy Guitar Licks are truly worthwhile. This guide addresses that very question, offering a progressive journey through 15 guitar licks, starting from the absolute beginner level and gradually advancing to challenge even more experienced players.
The beauty of guitar licks lies not just in their complexity, but in their musicality and how effectively you can use them. As we explore these examples, ranging from incredibly easy guitar licks to more intricate patterns, remember this crucial point:
Easy Guitar Licks: Simplicity is Not Inferiority
It’s a common misconception that easy guitar licks are somehow less valuable than complex ones. In reality, mastering easy licks is foundational. Initially, the simpler licks presented here might seem less impressive because they intentionally omit advanced guitar phrasing techniques like string bending and vibrato. This is to ensure accessibility, even if you’re completely new to these techniques.
However, as you progress and begin to incorporate techniques, you’ll realize that what truly makes a guitar lick captivating isn’t its inherent difficulty, but rather how skillfully you apply phrasing techniques. Think of blues legends like B.B. King, who could move audiences with a single note, imbued with masterful vibrato and feeling. The magic wasn’t in note complexity, but in expressive phrasing.
Therefore, regardless of your current skill level – even if you consider yourself an intermediate guitar player – embracing these easy guitar licks is highly beneficial. Learning to play a B.B. King song note-for-note is one thing, but capturing his nuanced phrasing is a lifelong pursuit.
For your guitar practice, this means that even the most straightforward, easy guitar licks offer immense potential for growth. Focus on perfecting phrasing techniques – string bending, vibrato, legato (hammer-ons and pull-offs) – along with precise timing and accents. These elements are what will truly elevate your playing and make even simple licks sound extraordinary.
Let’s embark on this journey, starting with the first set of incredibly easy guitar licks designed to build your foundation.
Guitar Lick 1: Simple Beginnings
This first lick is designed to be as straightforward as possible, focusing on basic fretting and picking. It’s a perfect starting point for anyone new to guitar licks and emphasizes clean, fundamental playing.
Tabs created by Guitar ProStill taking it easy for now.
Guitar Lick 2: Expanding Your Range
Easy guitar lick using more notes for beginner guitarists
Building on the first lick, this second example of easy guitar licks introduces a few more notes. It’s still very approachable but encourages you to move your fingers across a slightly wider range of the fretboard, getting you comfortable with basic melodic movement.
Guitar Lick 3: Introducing Vibrato
Now, we begin to incorporate expressive techniques. This lick introduces vibrato, one of the most fundamental and expressive guitar techniques. The squiggly line in the notation indicates where vibrato should be applied. While this lick remains easy in terms of notes, mastering vibrato is a skill that develops over time and adds significant character to your playing.
Guitar Lick 4: Mastering Vibrato
Easy guitar lick example focusing on vibrato technique for guitar
This lick continues to reinforce the vibrato technique. Repetition is key to developing muscle memory and a feel for vibrato. Focus on applying vibrato smoothly and consistently to enhance the sustain and emotional impact of the notes in these easy guitar licks.
Guitar Lick 5: First String Bend
We now introduce string bending, another cornerstone of expressive electric guitar playing. Like vibrato, string bending requires practice to perfect. The most crucial aspect is accuracy – bending to the intended pitch. The notation “full bend” with an arrow indicates bending the note up a whole step (two frets). This lick provides a foundational exercise in incorporating bends into easy guitar licks.
Guitar Lick 6: Bend and Release
Easy guitar lick incorporating bend and release guitar technique
This lick explores a variation on string bending: the bend and release. The first bend in this lick is not sustained at the higher pitch, but rather bent up and then released back to the original note. This technique adds another layer of expression and dynamic variation to your easy guitar licks vocabulary.
Guitar Lick 7: Combining Bends and Vibrato
This lick starts to combine techniques, featuring both upward bends and bend-and-release techniques, culminating in vibrato on the final note. Combining techniques is essential for creating more nuanced and expressive guitar phrases, even within the context of easy guitar licks.
Guitar Lick 8: Hammer-ons and Pull-offs
Easy guitar lick introducing hammer-on and pull-off techniques on guitar
Here, we introduce legato techniques: hammer-ons and pull-offs. Hammer-ons (first bar) and pull-offs (second bar) create smooth, connected notes without picking each one. These techniques are crucial for fluid and fast playing and add a different rhythmic feel to your easy guitar licks.
Guitar Lick 9: Incorporating Slides
This lick brings in the slide technique. Slides are not just a phrasing technique in themselves, but also a valuable tool for connecting different scale patterns across the fretboard. This lick subtly demonstrates how slides can facilitate smoother transitions in your playing and open up melodic possibilities beyond fixed positions.
Guitar Lick 10: Semiquaver Rhythms
Easy guitar lick example introducing semiquaver rhythms for guitarists
To add rhythmic complexity, this lick introduces semiquavers (sixteenth notes). While previous licks focused on simpler rhythms, semiquavers bring a richer, more intricate rhythmic texture. This lick starts with a legato semiquaver pattern, pushing you to refine your timing and dexterity within easy guitar licks.
Guitar Lick 11: Exploring Semiquavers
This lick further explores the possibilities of semiquavers. As you can hear, semiquavers open up many rhythmic options and can make your guitar licks sound more sophisticated and dynamic, even when using relatively simple melodic ideas.
Guitar Lick 12: The Power of Silence (Rests)
Easy guitar lick demonstrating the use of rests in guitar music
This lick highlights the importance of rests – silence in music. Rests are just as crucial as notes themselves in creating musicality and phrasing. Silence provides space, emphasizes rhythms, and adds dramatic pauses, enhancing the impact of your easy guitar licks.
Guitar Lick 13: Stepping Up the Complexity
The next two licks increase in difficulty, serving as a bridge to more advanced playing. You can challenge yourself with these now or revisit them as your skills progress. This lick introduces more intricate note patterns and faster passages, pushing the boundaries of what we consider “easy guitar licks.”
Guitar Lick 14: Advanced Lick Challenge
More complex guitar lick for advanced players challenging easy guitar licks
This lick represents a significant step up in complexity. It combines several techniques and faster rhythms, demanding greater dexterity and control. While it moves beyond the realm of purely “easy guitar licks,” it demonstrates how the foundational techniques learned in the earlier examples can be expanded upon to create more elaborate phrases.
Guitar Lick 15: The Final Challenge
This final lick is the most challenging of the set. It incorporates advanced techniques, faster tempos, and more complex melodic ideas. It’s designed to push your skills and provide a taste of the possibilities that open up as you master guitar techniques and musical phrasing, moving beyond beginner-level easy guitar licks.
Conclusion: Practice and Phrasing are Key
These 15 guitar licks, progressing from basic to advanced levels, are designed to expand your musical vocabulary and guitar skills. Don’t be discouraged if the last few licks feel challenging; they are intended to provide a goal to strive towards. Remember, the primary focus should always be on musicality and phrasing, not just complexity.
Continue to refine your phrasing techniques and dedicate time to creating your own guitar licks. This practice is crucial for mastering improvisation and even composing your first guitar solo. By focusing on the fundamentals and gradually incorporating more advanced techniques, you’ll unlock your full potential as a guitarist.
Explore further resources and lessons on guitarplayers.net to continue your musical journey and delve deeper into techniques and musical concepts.
