Free Guitar Lessons

You want instantly to get an identifiable optimistic rock-n-roll tone? Sure you have heard the following guitar phrases in various rock guitar solos. Because of the frequent use by lots of players they were named “rock clichés”.

All of them are played in the first box of minor pentatonic and consist of short repetitive phrases - chops. We’ll play them in the key A if you don’t mind. Once you learned these phrases, please move them to other commonly played in rock music keys: E, G, D, etc.

In some clichés found interesting shifting effect by overlapping three-note motive to the four-beat time:

Because these phrases are played with distortion, try to play carefully and watch your playing with mediator, mute some string when it’s necessary.

So, let’s look into them in more details:

Cliché 1 - is one of the most frequently used rock licks, without exaggeration, it is used by almost all rock guitarists:

To properly play it grasp barre with your first finger on the 5th fret and do not remove it until bending the 2nd string on the 8th fret. Bending the 3d string is done by your 3d and 2d fingers.

Please note muting the bend: it is carried out by removing fingers from the 3d strings, moreover, while stroking the mediator on 1 and 2 strings, the first phalange of your thumb of the right hand touches the 3d string, thus, withdrawing the unwanted sound. 1 and 2 strings are not muted.

Cliché 2 is derived from the previous one:

Cliché 3 – is a very popular chop:

Here the three-finger method is used. The first finger isn’t shifted from the string and does not lessen the pressure it produces. Try to put it so that it touched the 1 and 3 strings not letting them to sound. As in the first cliche, the thumb of the right hand withdraws the unwanted sound of the 3 strings. The fourth finger of the right hand touches the first string to prevent it sounding.Cliche 4 – also the very common guitar phrase:

Cliche 5 in the phrase double-stops are used widely (intervals, in this case are the major thirds):

Please note that double-stops are taken with barre, not with different fingers, only when playing the 4th string the barre is withdrawn. Such bending is frequently used in the first box and other licks.

Cliché 6 - recurring phrase by the 16th notes:

Here the barre is not used because it only will grip your hand. For more confident performance master the sheaf of 16th triplets separately.

After you have mastered these phrases and transferred them to other keys, try changing the rhythm: play along with 8th and 16th triplets would greatly enhance your guitar playing.

These and similar ideas you can find in the next solos:

Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Tinkertrain
Nazareth - Right Between The Eyes
Motley Crue - Anarchy In U.K
Poison - Apples