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Lesson 5 of 5

Low-string licks

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Not every Gibbons-style lead lives high on the neck. A lot of the attitude comes from short licks down on the low E, A and D strings, played with a fat tone and plenty of space. They sit between riff and solo, and they make a single guitar sound like a whole band.

Key: E. You use the E minor pentatonic in open position (E G A B D), plus two spice notes: B♭ on the A string at fret 1, the blue note, and G# reached by bending G (E string, fret 3) up a half step.

That half-step bend is a curl: pull the low E string down toward the floor with your ring finger, backed by the middle. The A string bend in the long phrase (fret 5, D up to E) is a full step, so pull it down too and check the target by fretting the 7th fret on the A string first.

Pick everything with downstrokes except where it feels rushed. Swing the eighths: long-short. Keep your picking-hand palm near the bridge so open strings stay tight and don't boom.

It should sound lazy and heavy, a touch behind the beat but never late.

The most common mistake is letting open strings ring into each other until the line turns to mud. Mute each one as the next note starts.

How to practice

Loop the curl lick until the bend is in tune, then add the climb, then the four-bar phrase.

Exercises

Curl and drop

70 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. low E string, fret 3, bend to fret 4, release to fret 3
    2. low E string, open
    3. A string, open
    4. A string, fret 2
    5. D string, fret 2
    6. low E string, open, vibrato

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Chromatic climb to E5

70 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. A string, open
    2. A string, fret 1
    3. A string, fret 2
    4. D string, open
    5. D string, fret 2
    6. D string, open
    7. A string, fret 2
    8. low E string, open
  2. Bar 2
    1. low E string, fret 3, hammer-on to fret 4
    2. low E string, open
    3. A string, fret 2
    4. A string, open
    5. low E string, open + A string, fret 2 + D string, fret 2, accented
    6. rest
    7. rest

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Four-bar low phrase

70 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. low E string, open
    2. low E string, open
    3. low E string, fret 3, bend to fret 4, release to fret 3
    4. low E string, open
    5. A string, fret 2
    6. A string, open
    7. A string, fret 2
  2. Bar 2
    1. D string, open
    2. D string, fret 2
    3. D string, open
    4. A string, fret 2
    5. A string, open
    6. low E string, fret 3
    7. low E string, open
    8. rest
  3. Bar 3
    1. A string, fret 5, bend to fret 7, vibrato
    2. A string, fret 5
    3. A string, fret 2
    4. low E string, fret 3
    5. low E string, open
    6. low E string, fret 3, bend to fret 4
    7. low E string, open
  4. Bar 4
    1. low E string, open + A string, fret 2 + D string, fret 2, accented
    2. rest
    3. low E string, muted + A string, muted + D string, muted
    4. rest
    5. low E string, open + A string, fret 2 + D string, fret 2, accented
    6. rest
    7. rest
    8. rest

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Checkpoint

Move on when you can do all of these.

  • The G to G# curl is in tune and in time at 110 bpm
  • The four-bar phrase at 110 bpm with a tight, short final stab