10 Early Rock Lead Guitar Licks

Some lead guitar licks you hear over and over again. These licks are clichés and they are valuable to have under your fingers. Just like their verbal cliché cousins, tried-and-true sayings (such as “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”) these licks can quickly get over used but they get over used because they work.

The following 10 Early Rock licks work in many styles, from Rockabilly to Blues, from Rock to Punk. Learn them and then re-work them into hundreds of “new-yet-so-familiar” phrases. The licks are all shown in the Key of A but move around the neck easily.

I covered these licks in my first Live Video Guitar Group Lesson here on GuitarTeacher.com this past Thursday. Check out the video and tab transcriptions below. I even have a cool rockabilly track for you to practice with that I first covered here. Have fun!

10 Early Rock/Rockabilly Cliches

A selection of guitar licks that fit into many soloing styles:

Accompanying Jam Track

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