This classic blues lick can be found in T-Bone Walker's solo at
1:30, during the first six bars of the second 12-bar chorus, moving through the I-IV-I
chord progression. The whole phrase is in G minor pentatonic and is played in the standard
blues-box position at the 3rd fret. The repeating bend riff, the pull-off lick
and the thematic descending line are three main points to explore......
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The idea of
locking in with the pulse of the song on one note, and bending that note in a repeating,
steady quarter-note rhythm, is a fixture of rock and modern blues style. It reduces the
feel of the phrase to its most fundamental component: pure rhythm. This is what we find in
bars 1 through 3.
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In bar 4, we
hear a pull-off lick which was a favorite motif in Jimi Hendrix's style and is now a
standard cliche for all guitar players. Most rock and blues guitarists use this motif as
an all-important nucleus idea, often to be repeated in ostinato form--as Hendrix did in
his "Spanish Castle Magic" solo (bars 7 and 8). Compare the melodies
and see for yourself!
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The descending lick in
bars 5 and 6 is a classic horn line applied to guitar, and again locks in soldly with the
quarter-note pulse of the song's groove. |
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Play Interactive Notation |
To
be Continued.... |
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