Michael: This is our second lesson on Guitarists Influenced by Hendrix, featuring the lead style of Robin Trower! Trower has an amazing touch for playing blues licks and using a unique phrasing style, many of these licks are classic blues licks but with a Hendrix type edge to them. Check out the lesson sample of the licks you'll learn:

Lesson Sample

Michael: Our first licks will be in the Db Minor Pentatonic, let's jump to our first lick.



Lick 1

Michael: Here's the scale pattern (Db Minor Pentatonic) used for the first few licks.



Michael: Notice in the first lick you start with a double-stop type beginning where you bend with the 3rd finger while holding the 1st (E) & 2nd (B) strings down with your 4th finger. This might take some of you a little while to get use to, you strum all 3 strings at the same time. You later jump to the middle 2 strings of the scale and then back to the higher strings. Notice on the run on the higher strings where you add the 9 of the Db minor scale, I'll highlight the note for you.



Michael: Here's a jam track you can play over.

Looping Jam Track 1

Michael: Try playing the scale (s) and then the lick a few times. Let's jump to our next lick.



Lick 2

Michael: This lick starts with the higher note using a bend, you then jump into a hammer-on lick and then a descending run using the 9 note again, both licks fit great together. Here's our next lick.



Lick 3

Michael: Now these are common intervals used by Hendrix and Trower, they have such a dramatic sound! The fingering is shaped like the dom7th chord, but actually have a R, min3 and 6 in each interval. Notice how you strum a rhythm pattern as you ascend the neck on the 1st three strings. Also notice you leave our the note on the second string by slightly muted them which turns the intervals into a 6th interval. Now here's another lick using these intervals.



Lick 4

Michael: Notice how the intervals jump to various positions, you are playing a Db major interval on the 9th fret, so you make a slight adjustment in the fingering. OK, now let's jump to the Key of E, in the next few licks we'll use the E Minor Pentatonic scale pattern in the lower position of the neck. Here's our next lick.



Lick 5

Michael: Here's box 1 and 2 of the E Minor Pentatonic scale patterns.



Michael: Notice how the lick starts in box 2 using open notes on the 1st string (E) and then jumps into Box pattern 1. Now towards the end of the lick you actually jump into the C Major Pentatonic and then D Major Pentatonic as you follow the chord progression.



Michael: Try playing over this jam track.

Looping Jam Track 2

Michael: Here's another lick using the E.



Lick 6

Michael: Now you can see the lick was changed using the open string with box 2, then using 6th intervals and back to box 1 of the E Minor Pentatonic and using open string to resolve the lick. Now let's try a different groove in E. For the next few licks you'll use the E Minor Pentatonic on the 12th fret position.



Michael: Here's the jam track of the new rhythm.

Looping Jam Track 3

Michael: Here's our first lick.



Lick 7

Michael: Notice this lick is kind of like licks 1 & 2 that I gave you earlier. The only different is we are now in E Minor Pentatonic and not Db and you're using a slower rhythm pattern, it sounds very expressive when slowed down. Here's the next lick.



Lick 8

Michael: This lick pretty much follows the same scale pattern, well time to go everybody, bye!

Stratman: bye