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Blues Lick Across the Neck – Key of E

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June 11, 2022 by Klaus Crow

Blues licks across the neck gives you the freedom to play in wider area on the fretboard and gives you the feeling you are really soloing. It’s also one great lick that can be divided into smaller blues licks that can lead to new fresh ideas for your improvisation.

Video Lesson

Blues Lick Across the Neck – Key of E

This lick is in the key of E and is without bend ups. It uses up and down slides and a single pull off and the end. It’s a lick that can be played by both beginners and intermediate guitar players. Beginners can learn to play it at a slower pace and use it to develop their dexterity and build their chops, where intermediate students can get it more up to speed.

It’s a really nice straight forward blues lick to have some fun and add to your blues lick vocabulary.

Below are the tabs, and above the video lesson.

Enjoy!

Tabs

Talk to you in the comments! 🤗🔥

Cool Nifty 12 Bar Blues Riff

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January 10, 2025 by Klaus Crow

Are you looking to spice up your guitar practice with a cool and nifty 12-bar blues riff? Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned player, the 12-bar blues is a fundamental structure that offers endless opportunities for creativity.

In this post, we’ll break down a simple yet impressive blues riff with hammer-ons and plucking the strings that’s easy to learn and guaranteed to add flair to your playing. Plus, don’t miss the included video lesson and the accompanied Tabs to help you master it step by step!

What’s in a Name

A while ago I was on holiday with my family and we went the to Veluwe National Park. It’s the largest forest area in The Netherlands. While I was enjoying my coffee, relaxing on the couch and fiddling on my guitar I came up with a 12 bar blues, hence the name Veluwe Couch Blues.

Tabs for the 12 Bar Blues

12 Bar Blues Guitar Lesson TABS

How to Play The Blues Riff

  1. Bars 1-4: Start with a rhythmic pattern based on the E7 chord. Use alternate picking to keep the groove consistent.
  2. Bars 5-6: Shift to the A7 chord. Notice the similar finger shapes, which make transitions smooth.
  3. Bars 7-8: Return to the E7 chord and repeat the opening riff.
  4. Bar 9: Move to the B7 chord and play the designated riff for one bar.
  5. Bar 10: Transition to the A7 chord for one bar.
  6. Bars 11-12: Play the closing riff in E7, resolving the progression beautifully and setting up the next loop.

What Is the 12-Bar Blues?

The 12-bar blues is a classic chord progression used in countless blues, rock, and even jazz songs. It typically follows a structure of three four-bar sections:

  • The I chord (root chord) for 4 bars.
  • The IV chord (subdominant) for 2 bars, followed by the I chord for 2 bars.
  • The V chord (dominant) for 1 bar, the IV chord for 1 bar, and a closing riff in the I chord for 2 bars.

E7 | E7 | E7 | E7
A7 | A7 | E7 | E7
B7 | A7 | E7 | E7 (closing riff)

Why Learn the 12-Bar Blues?

The 12-bar blues is more than just a chord progression; it’s a gateway to musical improvisation and expression. Mastering a few riffs and licks can:

  • Improve your timing and rhythm.
  • Expand your knowledge of scales and chords.
  • Prepare you for jamming with other musicians.
  • Tips for Practicing
  • Start Slow: Use a metronome to keep time and gradually increase your speed.
  • Focus on Groove: Blues is all about feel, so emphasize the rhythmic swing.
  • Experiment with Variations: Add slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs to make the riff your own.
  • Jam with a Backing Track: Playing along with a track can help you internalize the 12-bar structure.

Enjoy!

Marvelous Major Pentatonic Blues Country Lick

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June 11, 2022 by Klaus Crow

Major Pentatonic Blues Country Lick

A Marvelous Major Pentatonic Blues Country Lick is heading your way. This blues country, country blues guitar lick is a great one for intermediate and beginner players, because you can split it up into 2 licks and play it slow and fast. Either way it sounds pretty good.

Marvelous Major Pentatonic Blues Country Lick

The lick is played in the key of A and is derived from the major pentatonic scale. The lick runs through 3 or 4 different positions of the major pentatonic scale and includes hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides.

Lick Chords and Progression

The lick can be played over a 12 bar blues in the key of A or a Major key chord progression like the popular I – vi – IV – V chord progression: A – F#m – D – E

A chord progression in the key of A can consist of the following chords. (See video lesson below)

A – Bm – C#m – D – E – F#m – G#dim [ I – ii – iii – IV – V – vi – vii dim ]

Below you can find the TABS and the detailed video lesson for this blues country lick.

Have a great one ya’ll!

Tabs

Video Lesson

Leave your feedback in the comments. I appreciate it. 🌿

How to Keep Guitarhabits Alive (and Growing)

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April 22, 2022 by Klaus Crow

Dear friends of Guitarhabits,
I am happy to see that a lot of people are enjoying the free quality guitar lessons on Guitarhabits and I really enjoy creating those lessons, videos and guitar articles on the website. It’s a true pleasure.

Who is behind Guitarhabits?

I’m Klaus Crow and Guitarhabits.com is just run by me. I started this website in 2009 and have built it with passion and hard work over many years. As a result the website managed to get a good position on Google, so people could find Guitarhabits worldwide. With the help of ads on the website and my 50CBL course I could always sustain and maintain the website.

Adapting to fast changes

Since 2021 there have been dramatic and fast changes in the Google SEO landscape. I have been working hard trying to keep up and adapt to these new SEO changes, along with maintaining the website, creating new content and videos (which is a challenge to say the least), to make the free lessons in clear sight on Google for anyone who wants to learn to play guitar, be motivated and inspired.  

To keep Guitarhabits alive and growing it is urgent and essential to have a fast website for the audience without the ads getting in the way to maintain its existence within the new Google SEO landscape.

The future of Guitarhabits

So, I’m looking for someone who believes in Guitarhabits and wants to support me to preserve all the hundreds of beautiful free quality guitar lessons on the website, so I can keep creating, improving, expanding and grow the website for all you awesome guitar players out there.

If you think Guitarhabits deserves a chance to sustain and grow and you want to help out with a sponsorship and have a serious offer please let me know.

If you’re interested send an email to info@guitarhabits.com and put “Sponsorship Guitarhabits” in the subject.

Warm regards, 
~Klaus Crow