It’s truly remarkable how discovering a new guitar lick or riff can spark creativity and lead to songwriting or instrumental pieces. When you feel stuck in a rut, exploring fresh guitar patterns can revitalize your playing and ignite your musical inspiration. This lesson provides a collection of Americana-inspired guitar licks, drawing from folk, country, and bluegrass traditions. You can use these examples as focused exercises to improve your technique or as starting points for composing your next song or arrangement. This “Guitar Lick Weekly” approach aims to consistently inject new ideas into your playing.
Explore more from Acoustic Guitar’s popular Weekly Workout series here.
These essential guitar licks are organized by songwriting-friendly keys, which are also ideal for instrumental work. Most of these examples are versatile and sound great whether you prefer fingerpicking or flatpicking. In the accompanying video, you’ll see demonstrations of various picking and strumming patterns for each lick – think of these variations as musical ear candy to enhance your playing.
The more comfortable you become with each guitar lick weekly, the easier it will be to personalize them and create your own variations. You’ll find that you can combine several of these licks to create longer practice sessions. As you integrate them into your playing, these patterns will naturally become part of your musical vocabulary.
Week One: Exploring G and C Chord Guitar Licks
Let’s begin this week with simplicity. In Example 1, maintain your third finger on the low G string throughout. This note, combined with the open D and B strings, forms a fundamental G chord. On the third beat of each measure, add your first and second fingers to the second-string C and fourth-string E, respectively, creating a C chord with a G bass note (C/G). You can also incorporate a hammer-on to the C/G chord, as shown in Example 2. Once you’re familiar with the finger movements, experiment with these guitar licks by letting the strings ring freely or dampening them with your picking hand’s palm for a rock-and-roll vibe.
Example 3 expands on the previous two figures. In the first measure, after forming the C shape, shift it up two frets on the “and” of beat four. Try experimenting with different syncopations while sliding these double-stops (two-note chords) on the second and fourth strings. Example 4 is similar but uses double stops on the second and third strings. The subtle difference is musically rich—in the second half of the first measure, notice how the upper notes A and C, combined with the G bass, create a colorful Gsus2/4 chord.
Taking a different direction, Example 5 focuses on a bluesy bass line that complements the G chord effectively. Use your first and second fingers for each hammer-on, striving for smooth transitions between notes. Having a diverse range of bass line ideas provides you with interesting options when playing covers or original songs.
Beginners’ Tip #1: For all examples in this weekly guitar lick series, sustain each chord shape as long as possible, allowing the notes to resonate together for a fuller sound.
Week Two: Guitar Licks Traveling Between D and G Chords
This week, we’ll explore various ways to transition between D and G chords, essential movements in countless songs. Example 6 features a simple descending bass line—D–C–B–A–G—creating a D–Csus2–G/B–A7sus4–G chord progression. Approaching the G chord with a hammer-on from the F# on the low E string adds a touch of bluegrass flavor. Playing this lick as written with a thumbpick and fingers produces a mellow tone, while a flatpicking version allows for more right-hand dynamism. Be sure to watch the video to see different performance variations.
Moving in the opposite direction, Example 7 uses an ascending bass line, D–E–F–F#–G, which is primarily chromatic. When playing this lick, whether fingerpicking or strumming, emphasize the colorful bass pattern and experiment with different rhythmic variations. Example 8 offers another approach to Example 7. Notice how the established bass line is disrupted by an open A on beat three of the first measure, changing the chord to A7sus4. In the third measure, slide into a unison (open G string and G at the fifth fret of the D string played simultaneously) on beat one. This lick concludes with a single-note fill that lands on the root note of the G chord on the downbeat of the final measure.
Beginners’ Tip #2: Practice each of these guitar licks both fingerstyle (or with a thumbpick and fingers) and with a flatpick to develop versatility in your playing.
Week Three: Guitar Licks Getting From Am to G
Staying in the key of G this week, we’ll explore different ways to move from Am to G chords, a common and expressive progression. The first progression (Example 9) utilizes a simple, mostly descending bass line (A–G–F#–G), resulting in an Am–C/G–D/F#–G chord progression. This lick works beautifully whether fingerpicked or flatpicked. Again, refer to the video for slight variations that add interest to this progression.
Example 10 is similar to Example 9 and is inspired by a song incorporating this movement. Note the hammer-on in the second measure, briefly touching on the flatted seventh (C) of the D chord for added color. Also, observe how the last measure uses the same double-stop idea from Example 3, creating a cohesive musical theme throughout these weekly guitar licks.
This week’s final guitar lick, Example 11, is less harmonically complex and demonstrates a different approach to maintain musical interest. In the first three measures, strum the top four strings of an open Am chord, embellishing it with hammer-ons to the lower notes from the open third and fourth strings. It concludes with a G chord in the final measure, but for greater mileage, try inserting a D chord between the Am and G for a classic progression.
Beginners’ Tip #3: Experiment with new harmonies by lifting a finger from a chord shape and replacing the fretted note with an open string, opening up new sonic possibilities.
Week Four: Exploring Guitar Licks in the Key of C Major
This week we transition to the key of C major, another essential key for guitarists. Example 12 takes a straightforward I–IV–V (C–F–G) progression and enriches it with jazzy chords like Fmaj7/G and G9. Don’t be intimidated by these names; they are easy to fret and add sophisticated colors to a familiar chord progression. For efficient transitions, keep your fourth finger anchored on the third-fret G for the C and Fadd9 chords throughout this guitar lick weekly exercise.
In Example 13, we revisit the descending bass line idea introduced in earlier examples to move between the C and F chords. For the Fsus2 chord, the low F is fretted by wrapping the thumb around the neck, and the open G string is played instead of using the A at the second fret of the D string. This voicing gives the chord its unique harmonic flavor. Experiment with different resolutions to this progression, such as adding a C chord at the end, or C followed by G, to explore various musical endings.
Beginners’ Tip #4: Incorporating sophisticated jazz chords, like those in Example 12, is a fantastic way to enhance your music regardless of your primary musical style and expand your harmonic vocabulary within this guitar lick weekly practice.
Guitar music notation and tablature for Cathy Fink
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2021 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine, providing reliable and expert guitar instruction each week.
