classic lesson

GIT Lesson
Five Quirky Licks
from Left Field
By M ATT Bl Ac k e TT

GIT InsTrucTor Allen HInds Is A Guy

who can play melodic instrumentals, accessible fusion, and open-tuning slide licks like
nobodys business. All of those skills are
in fine form on his latest release, Monkeys
and Slides. What youll also hear on that
record, however, is Hinds knack for playing crazy, cool, wacky lines that somehow
sound way outside and yet fit right in. He

offered to share with GP how he creates

some of those strangely beautiful licks.
I think Jeff Beck is a perfect example
of why I love guitar so much, he says,
Because when you think of Beck, blazing technique or supersonic scales are
not what come to mind. Rather, you think
of a genius mixture of melodic, soulful,
quirky ideas, where you never know whats

going to happen next. Guitar, more than

many instruments, lends itself to expressive, off-the-wall ideas that really cant be
emulated by any computer or quantize
button. I would much rather hear someone creating from his or her right brain
than a mechanical rehashing of some scale
over and over. So, having vented all that,
here are a few right-brain licks from left

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

Ex. 3

4
4
T
A
B

5 7

7 9

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( )

( )

9 12

12
B

36 | April 2015 | GUITAR PLAYER VAULT

12

14

T
A
B

(7) 7

(7) 7

february 2012
Ex. 4

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3

T
A
B

8 7 6 5

8 7 6 5 4 5 4 7

field that might just spawn some creative

ideas in your playing. All these licks can
be applied over any chord scale. Its about
the idea and the motif more than the individual notes.
Hinds gets down to business with Ex.
1, a climbing chromatic lick. Once youre
comfortable with the moves, you can just
keep going until you decide to connect it
somewhere. The trick is keeping it even
and resolving. Tricky indeed. Look for a
cool place to land, such as a chord tone

Ex. 5

 
 
44            


T
A
B

8 5 7

6 5

7 6

or a comfy blues lick to bring it on home.

Ex. 2 is a weird half-sweep lick, he
explains. With the half-step approach note
it tweaks the ear just enough. Although
Hinds bends the first note of each group for
even more chromaticism, this lick works
even if you dont.
Ex. 3 seems simple, but it actually takes
some doing to make it rock. The slightly
seasick pitch discrepancies between the
bent and the fretted Ds are part of the fun.
This one is best with a bit of distortion.

5 9 8 5

Keep it nice and expressive, la Jeff Beck.

Although Ex. 4 can work over other
tonalities, try it over Am7 or A7#9 This
is a pseudo-Benson lickchromatic with a
bit of a sweep to get you to the next chromatic phrase. Keep the pull-offs and the
sweeps even.
Ex. 5 is another cool chromatic idea.
Its in the style of Holdsworth but can
be used anywhere. Just connect the dots,
as in notes, at the beginning and end to
taste. g

Hinds gets quirky in tHis

lesson video.

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