I know I shouldn’t play favorites but I just love this lick… and I use it all the time.
I don’t know where I stole it from but I’m passing along the goodness that is this acoustic blues lick 🙂
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100 replies to "My Favorite Acoustic Lick"
Your greatest talent is teaching others what you do so well!
My favorite lick, too. And I stole it from you. Took it from the blues alone course.
Love your stuff, thank you.
Another awesome awesome lesson …
Love that RJ ending …
Any chance of posting that …
kpt
Thanks for the lesson Griff. As you say this works great with blues in the key of E…
Sounds great, its easy, and it’s fun. Thanks, Griff! Really enjoyed learning this.
fucking amazing riff.wow bro you rock out bro..holyshitttttt.
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY GRIFF. A LIL HUNG OVER?? LOL !
I REMBER YOU SHOWING THIS YEARS BACK.
I HAVE USED THIS, FROM SITTING ON THE PORCH PLAYING ,MY ACOUSTIC. GUITAR.
PEPE, LEAVE THE FOWL MOUTH ELSE WHERE. NOT ON THIS BLOG.
AGAIN, THAN YOU GRIFF.
*Foul* 🙂
I KEPT WONDERING WHY THIS IS YOUR FAVORITE LICK.PROBABLY BECAUSE ONE CAN DO SO MUCH WITH IT, USING IT IN A VARIETY OF SONGS
Griff,
Great riff. Reminds me of an old surfin’ tune that uses that lick from the high end to the low end of the old up right piano. It is called “Rumble”. (early 60’s or late 50’s) That would be an interesting exercise for guitar, say go from e at fret 15 to E-0. That’s my challenge for the pickin’ rumblers out there. Don’t forget #10 on the spring reverb.
fearless freddy
Nice riff.
Already, it brings up memories of when I first learned those lines.
I took a chance on the Playing on the Porch lesson because my playing was turning into a train wreck. And I was seriously hoping your lesson might give me a jump start.
Am highly impressed with MR. Hamlin’s teaching style, video and lesson books. Honestly, I can say that Mr. Griff is a much better guitar teacher than many I have encountered .
Many thanks.
Thanks for the lick, I love little things like that to add to my repertoire 😁
great lick…..please show us your favorite turn-around…..
It’s here: https://youtu.be/jA195C1KaIc
Thanks for posting this link for the turnaround, David!
Super useful stuff Griff. Thank you as always!
HELLO GRIFF I BEEN Waiting for that LICK. can you TAB the entire Rythme also into the response. its hard for me to work entirely on video Instruction with out TABs For the Intro. I know it should be easy I do Better When I read. David 1st year Guitar learning. Thank You For your Outstanding Demonstrations. love the E-Mails And All That you Do. D.
The first note of the lick starts on the “uh” of beat 1 (one and uh).
To put the lick in context with the rhythm, strike the open E string (low E) on the down beat (the ONE count of the one and uh), then just play the rest of the lick in time as shown in the tab.
In the 12 bar blues this lick will work over any chord. So first strike the bass note of the chord you are playing (E A or B) for the downbeat, then play the lick. You don’t have to limit playing this lick over the E chord. You can play over the A or B as well.
well said my man
Griff,
I rarely comment on forums but I’ve been following you for a long time and even bought your Blues package I Just want to say, what everyone else already says … your a great guitar instructor with a nice personality and a unique ability to make learning easy!
Thanks.
Kevin
Great lick! So many variation for this, Stevie Ray,ZZ Top, Brian Setzer, and every blues man before!!! Love it! Thanks for the inspiration and knowledge Griff
Neil Young uses this in “Down By The River”.
I am finally making music, might not sound like much to all of you, But
I am amazed. Thanks Griff for all the encouragement.I wanted to quit soooo
many times.
John Lee Hooker uses this, or something close, a lot. Check out Boom Boom Boom. He does it fast and in his style but it’s there. Griff has a Boom Boom video out there somewhere. Yep, box 1. Lot of music there.
Thanks Griff!
Nice surprise in the mailbox this morning on a cold Grey day in the north country. Blues seems to come natural on a day like this.
I’m adding this to my bag of tricks right now in my slow poke stumble around kind of way.
Much appreciated.
Dave in the Adirondacks
Nice sounding lick. I have Beginning Blues Guitar by Arlen Roth that has similar licks in it. Not sure if it is in print anymore. Unfortunately it did not have a CD with it as this edition was published in 1987.
So hearing and seeing this lick is just great.
Very similar to a couple of the easy licks from the Playing on the Porch section in BGU. When I 1st got that course I skipped ahead to learn those licks because I could not play the barre chords that were in chapter 1. Still play those when I do not know what else to play
Hughie Thomasson of the Outlaws had this lick and many variations of it masterd. Every time you saw him play it would remind you how much more you to practice.This is a great lick, thanks for reminding us of it.
Hey Griff,
Just a cool Lick.
Happy New Year 2016.
Michael-Sydney Australia
Hey Griff,
Great to se this again in Dec 2016. I have just purchased a new Epiphone EJ 200SCE Acoustic Electric Guitar and this lick just fits the tone I can get…
Merry Christmas & Happy New BGU Year 2017 and to all BGUers.
Michael-Sydney-Australia 9 December 2016..
Do I detect a slight bend and release on the first note when you start the lick?
Thanks Griff,
Anytime I see you get you’re Taylor out I can’t wait to get my Cole Clark out and give it a try. Wish you would do more I get so wrapped up with BGU I forget that my long term goal is ABGU which is in the mail. At 65 it may take a little longer but the love is still there!
Thanks for what you do would love to meet ya sometime it might be fun
Greetings of the season,Griff from Canada.Thanks for the lovely Rifs,Len.
Your thumb should be behind the neck you will have better reach and control. Less talk more music.
This is Blues, not classical. Try doing more playing, less complaining.
That’s the like in pride and joy. He also uses it in Mary had a little lamb
I’m almost through ABGU, great course. In that course you get the Robert Johnson turnaround plus about 6 others. Also a bunch of licks that fit most any key. I’m far ahead of where I ever dreamed I could be on guitar. Hardly ever take out my electric these days.
Thanks Griff
For yet another interesting and inspiring lesson
Every video and lesson I go through improves my playing and
Understanding
Thanks, something exciting to work on.
I play a 1972 Guild D35 and have started using Martin M170 80/20 Acoustic Guitar Strings, Extra Light. I love the strings and wonder what other blog members are using on their acoustic guitars.
John: I use Elixer mediums on my Taylors and Martin 12-string.
I use Elixer light gauge on my Taylor.
I use Martin SP lights. Absolutely love them.
I have an Epiphone DR-100 and use DAdarrio 10-gauge strings which are Extra Light
Hello Griff,
Season’s greetings from the UK. Great teaching with patience, thank you will learn this well.
Pete
Oooh! I love it…thank you
I like I, thank You
Thanks,your reply helped,I can move on.
Thanks Griff for the cool acoustic lick. Simple yet very effective. Once in a while I will hook up one of my stomp boxes to my acoustic either my 12 string or my 6 string and come up with some pretty cool sounds and this works real well. It changes it up some, I’m sure that you have tried this and if not, well lets just say that I would love to see what you would do with this. Just something different. Thanks for your many lessons, I have picked up so much from you. I got a late start in life learning to play the guitar so I am hungry for knowledge and you make it easy the way that you explain things and I can do it at my own pace. (A.K.A.)Preacher!
Hi Griff,
Hope you had a good thanks giving, not something we have in the UK (yet).
Trick or treat made its way over here some years ago (have it back any time you want), and Black Friday arrived recently but still waiting for thanks giving.
Anyway, this lick may not be complicated or fancy but its one of those things its handy to have in your locker to be brought out when you need it.
For me at 53, I can’t ever see myself playing in public but its great to have a little mess about with it. I don’t have an acoustic guitar but it should sound just as good on electric. Excuse me, just off to give it a try.
Cheers
Hello Griff, I just wanted to say thanks again for another great tidbit, always a pleasure to get them. Hope you had a safe and happy holiday. We all really appreciate all the help and advice we get from you. My best to you and yours. Jeff
Thanks Griff ! a Blues Standard that stands the test of time. It’s got to be the Root of a thousand songs…I like to play this one and just make up words about the people/situation I find myself in. It’s fun to add some ‘adult words’ and let everyone around you join in. If anyone cant sing and play at the same time, you can just use the ‘feel’ of the song and ‘sing’ the lyrics like the notes in time. It really helps your timing as well ! People love to improvise lyrics when playing at parties around the fire or whatever.Just keep the ‘feel’ going and let the Blues do the rest. This is a Basic that all of us must learn and almost anybody recognizes ! Merry Christmas to you and yours! Thanks -Johnny NH
Ahem.. Not much of a “lick” really – it’s just the pentatonic scale in essence with a single slide to the b . I guess it’s all in the timing and context. Which I suppose is the point really.
Thank you Griff at this Thanksgiving time for all I’ve learned about music and my favorite instrument the Guitar due to you … God bless you and all your loved ones !!!
Thank you Griff. As always, i truly enjoy your work and have a lot of fun trying to get close to the same sound.
Hi Griff, really enjoying your course and your e mails.If I only had the tabs to this lick and not the video how would I know to slide from the 2nd fret 3rd string when sliding to the 4th fret?Also fom the 4th back to the 2nd? Probably a silly question but I’m only learning.I think your B G U course is unreal and I am getting so much from it . Thank you. jeff
Jeff,
I will be interested to see how Griff responds to your question, but as a former editor for Guitar Player magazine and the author of a couple of music books, I can only say that I sympathize. Here, frets 2 and 3 are pretty much the only choices for the beginning of the slide, but imagine if you had a slide to the 6th fret — the starting fret might be 2, 3, 4, or 5. What then?
In general, I think that a lot of guitar techniques, bends and multiple voicings in particular, are difficult to notate properly. Sometimes the software won’t let you do it, and other times the transcriber simply doesn’t get into the mind of the audience enough to see the possible confusion.
To address your question more directly, you would NOT know whether the slide began on the second or the third fret of string 3 on the way up without the video. Also, you would not know if the downward slide from fret 4 to fret 2 was performed without striking the string, using the ring-through from the third beat. Some players might do it one way, others might do it another. When the player in the video does it both ways or even not at all, as sometimes happens, the confusion truly reaches epic proportions.
Griff seems to be very much aware of what he’s communicating, which is one reason I signed up for the “Blues Unleashed” course. When I’ve run across problems of this sort where there is incomplete or fuzzy information, I try to glean everything I can from the video and try all the different ways possible until I find one that sounds right or acceptable. Then I go on and don’t get too concerned with “doing it right.”
Pop music, and especially the blues, isn’t like classical music, and it’s perfectly OK to deviate from the script. Most blues and jazz players I’ve known take pride in never playing anything the same way twice, so I wouldn’t worry too much about an ambiguous situation as long as you can get something passable going. A year later, you might look at the same score and think, “Oh, that’s obvious.” But meanwhile, I wouldn’t let a perceived lack of accuracy stop you from practicing or trying out a bunch of different ways.
Hope this helps.
Dave, well put ! Blues as you know, is a feel thing, with basics needed to get started. Jeff has probably already figured it out. I agree with you, and as an old guitar teacher once said to me “Don’t stop playing! if you make a mistake, just bungle on through, most won’t really notice and the others won’t care!” and he was right. The videos really help me because my ear tells me I missed something, and I look at the Tab and listen again til I get it. Jam on ! there are no rules here! Just basics we must know, let your ear, heart and audience dictate the rest !
Thanks Griff Happy ThanksGiveing
Thanks Griff – Makes great sense but I found me changing a few notes on the way after a while – so many options available!~
Hi
Thanks for that lick
switching it to open g think i got it
Good vid Griff, happy thanksgiving, take a little more water with the “jack D”
Hi Griff, Graeme here in my man cave as usual ( need to break out one day) Thanks for another great lick and how to apply it.
Happy Thanksgiving to you & your family
Thanks for the COOL lick, Griff! Love the lick & love the shirt! “HAPPY THANKSGIVING” to you & your family!
Thanks for your teaching,griff great riff.
Thank you. I got my guitar out and gave it a try – sounded great. I can make my way around the fret board ok, but never got to the point where I felt I was ready to start collecting other peoples riffs. It’s official – this is my first Riff. Your e-mails brighten my day.
here I was at work today , thinking of a bit of 12 bar blues, and then I come home , open the old email …and there is a blues lick being slid into an old slow blues riff . Now thats good karma =)
Thanks Griff !
Hey Griff: Always enjoy the videos.I have a request..I ordered your Blues Guitar Unleashed course about 3 years ago and because of that..you would send cool things to my e-mail account. My problem is..I have been shut out of that account for more than a year so I don’t know if you still send stuff or not. The old e-mail account was dchaney@frontier.com…If you still send out stuff please send to e-mail attached to this request. Thanks
thanks griff, be lookin for a great black Friday special.
Thanks for all your help….
Dale
Another fantastic lesson. I have improved so much since I got your BGU course. I got thru the 1st 10-11 lessons pretty quick, and thought I had it made, wow was I wrong. I’m at lesson 23 now, and getting closer to completion. Thank you for keeping the Blues alive, and Happy Thanksgiving to you & your family.
Thanks you make it fun!
Great riff. You can hear it on the Buddy Holly tune “That Will be the Day”
Great lick thanks for sharing your time and talent, happy Thanksgiving. Hope to graduate one day from BGU University.
A very nice fill,thanks for passing it along,Griff,have a nice holiday to you & yours—
Hi Griff
What a cool piece is that the sort of thing that’s on the acoustic cource?
Thanks ian
Please tab the R.J. turnaround. PEACE to you and your family.
No Thanksgiving in Australia,,BUT enjoy your day there .Luuuv the licks,,,,Thxs Griff
Hi Griff, Can you get on to your helpdeck,I’ve been trying to get my money back ,no such luck……
Don’t have my guitar with me right now, but I bet this lick could be mixed up a bit as well. Say, do the slide part first followed by the notes on E and B strings (I’m visualizing 2x)followed by the notes on the D and A strings.
Thanks Grifff for such a great lick, happy Turkey Day to you and yours… Thanks for giving us something to work on over the weekend…
Ah nudder kick-ass cool lick Tater !
Thank you for all you do Brah.
A.B.
Yeah, love that ‘ol country blues lick. Have a great Thanksgiving Griff and all!
Thanks to you. Can you post that Robert Johnson turnaround soon? Thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving Griff to you and your family!
I was around 15 the first time I heard that lick and I have never tired of it! In case you’re wondering I’ll be 70 in January.
Thanks my friend for helping those of us who play guitar – play a little better.
Old School and Still Rockin’…Gary
Thanks Griff! You are one of the best in this area and we are thankful for your efforts. Have a great Thanksgiving, sir!
Funny, this is one of my favorite ELECTRIC licks!
Thanks for giving so much, Griff!
Thank you, Griff, for your unbounded enthusiasm for music and especially the Blues.
We will be travelling to visit family most of this long Holiday weekend.My 88 year old mother still has her guitar from when she was young and the family played together. Maybe I’ll get a chance to practice this when we get to her house!
Thanks so much,
Tom
Griff thanks a lot nice hope you and your family a happy thanksgiving love your playing keep it up sounds great again thanks
Griff Hamlin is someone I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family….
As for the lick I have heard it a thousand times or some semblance of it and it never loses its place in blues repetoire. In fact I like open strings so much, due to hearing that lead so many years ago, that no matter where I am on the guitar, or what key I always look to throw open string sounds into that lead even if it’s a quick 16th note. Sometimes I will spend hours just fooling around with leads and seeing where I can throw in a quick open string sound, because it sounds that good. Thanks for the video, always great stuff. Paul
I like it very much, well explained and easy to understand no wasted energy. Keep it smooth and simple thanks for the lesson and keep the rocking alive.
62yrs old and starting my journey on guitar tks to you
Thanks Griff and happy thanksgiving for tomorrow. Hope you and your family have a great day. We don’t have it here in in England but that’s no excuse not to celebrate. Cheers.
Maybe you were hungry when you did this . I am not myself when I am hungry . Snickers time( kidding) . Alana Miles type lic? black velvet ?Any way its a cool lic I will use it plus all the other stuff . I like that turn around part. Go gobbler . B-)
maybe You stole it from Ann Heart . crazy on you . The lic is not the same but i know that sliding part is real close to how she did it. revisit 2019 10
Thanks a lot Griff.
As always an awesome gift from you.
Have a good day.
Hi ! Just typed in my husband’s email to see the 4 note video — but we are leaving town for thanks & he won’t be able to view it in a few hours. He has not been able to play guitar lately & I think your easy blues method might allow him to play some at home.
Thanks,
Mary Z Cox
Thanks and have a good holiday…later.
cowboy
Thanks Pal I needed that, I have used it many times before like you, However its been left in the case too long, Getting Back to Basic forms is very nice, sometimes we out think ourselves, With complicated Licks and sophisticated Instruments and latest in effects, then you end up chasing your tail, I have recently,relocated my studio to a separate Building, have most anything and more Than a Guitar player wants or needs, I had my studio in house for many years, so when i went to play,noodle,or practice, I had so much equip. and so many choices, It became a distraction, I did not see it, So after relocating all that, and Just leaving a small amp, 1 elect guitar and an old Acoustic in House, now when I sit down and grab a guitar, as per watching this video, I have no distractions, no decisions to make on equip. etc You can’t buy your way you have to play and spend the time Sorry for the ramble,
To cool that’s great stuff thanks I really like that