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Take the Lead
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We moved the same lick down a string for TARGET THE E so it lands on an E, the root of an E7 chord.
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Target the E
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All three of these licks have the same phrasing: three eighth notes, starting on the and of beat 3, followed by a quarter note on the downbeat of the next measure. It may seem weird or uncreative to play a series of licks with the exact same phrasing, but as some bright soul once pointed out, you can’t have a theme and variations if you have no theme. TARGET PRACTICE, below, shows one strictly thematic way of playing through a 12-bar blues progression using the three licks you just learned to target the roots of each chord as they go by.
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Target Practice
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Slide into Your Licks
We’ve been targeting the E on the seventh fret of the fifth string, but there’s an E an octave higher at the fifth fret of the second string. You can also play that E by sliding out of position for a moment, from the seventh to the ninth fret on the third string, as shown in the example below.
We’ll use this sliding move to land on an E chord in a moment, but first we’ll use it to start a new lick that targets an A7 chord. For FIRST SLIDE LICK, play the seventh fret of the third string, fretting it with your ring finger, then immediately slide your finger along the string up two frets to the ninth fret. Then move your ring finger back to the seventh fret and play the rest of the lick.
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Slide
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First Slide Lick
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To turn this into a D-targeting lick, we’ll use a hammer-on. Start with your index finger at the fifth fret of the third string, pick the first note, hold it for a half beat, and drop (hammer on) your ring finger to the seventh fret of the same string in a single quick motion. You shouldn’t need to pick the string a second time to hear the second note, but it may take a little practice to get it right. (Try aiming for the wood of the fretboard itself, not the string.) Try it in measures 4 and 5 of SLIP AND SLIDE, below.
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| | Hammer-on
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Slip and Slide
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