This lick will provide a really versatile and great-sounding addition to your rock vocabulary. It’s a fast descending pattern played using a combination of picked and slurred notes. When played at a slow to mid tempo it would sound at home in a blues or classic rock-style solo; increase speed and it has more of a modern rock or metal vibe. I use this idea, and variations on it, all the time when I’m soloing.
I’ve written the lick out below. It looks more complicated than it actually is. All the notes are taken from pattern 1 of the D minor pentatonic scale, and it’s really just a slight variation on the common group of 4 note descending sequence. Once you’ve learned the first bar, the rest of the lick just repeats the basic idea, only moving further down the scale. Pay particular attention to the picking indications if you want to up to top speed. I tend to play this one using a bit of palm muting, which adds a bit of extra definition to the notes, particularly if you’re using loads of distortion. This lick also works really well when applied to the other positions of the minor pentatonic scale, so if you’re a more advanced player you might want to give that a try too.
