Every blues guitarist has a bag of licks — short melodic phrases they return to again and again. But a lick is only as good as the musical judgement behind its deployment. This lesson looks at what turns a collection of memorised lines into a genuine musical vocabulary.
What you’ll get out of this lesson: You’ll understand how to build a vocabulary of lines and licks, why the same lick can sound brilliant in one context and flat in another, and how to start internalising phrases so they respond to what the music is doing rather than just repeating on autopilot.
Lines vs Licks: What’s the Difference?
A “lick” is typically a short, self-contained phrase — two to four bars at most — that has a recognisable shape and usually resolves cleanly. A “line” tends to be slightly longer and more flowing, often connecting across bar lines in a way that feels continuous. Both are essential. Licks give your playing punctuation and personality; lines give it momentum and shape. The best players use both, often switching between them to create variety in the density and texture of their soloing.
How to Build Your Vocabulary
The most reliable way to build a genuine lick vocabulary is to learn phrases from the music you love, rather than from books of exercises. Listen to a recording, isolate a phrase you want to learn, transcribe it (or work it out by ear), and then learn it in multiple positions on the neck and in multiple keys. A phrase you can only play in one position in one key is a novelty; a phrase you can play anywhere is a tool.
Deployment: When to Play What
Knowing a lick is only half the challenge. The other half is knowing when not to play it. The best moments for a strong lick are at the start of a new section of the solo, when you want to re-establish energy, or in direct response to something the music does (a chord change, a rhythmic hit, a dynamic shift). Playing a memorised lick on autopilot — regardless of what the music is doing — is what makes solos sound like a collection of fragments rather than a coherent statement.
Taking it further: Take one lick you already know and practise it at three different tempos: slow, medium, and fast. Notice how the phrase’s character changes with tempo. Then try starting the same lick on a different beat of the bar and see how that repositioning changes where it lands harmonically and rhythmically.
Your homework: Choose one short blues lick this week — ideally one you’ve heard in a recording you love. Learn it note for note, then transpose it to two other positions on the neck. By the end of the week, practise using it in a solo over a backing track, but only play it once every four bars — forcing yourself to leave space around it.