Rock Guitar Lick 24: Mixolydian Alternate Picking Lick #2

Hopefully you’ve been having fun practising the first mixolydian lick that we looked at last time. In this guitar lesson we’re going to continue the trend by looking at another lick that is played exclusively using alternate picking.

Grab your guitar now, and we’ll get started with the lick…

Rock Guitar Lick 24: Mixolydian Alternate Picking Lick #2

Rock Guitar Lick 24:Mixolydian Alternate Picking Lick #2

Although this lick might look like just an endless stream of notes, it’s actually comprised of two very distinct parts. The first part lasts for twelve notes, and uses a 4-note melodic pattern that’s repeated three times. The second part uses a 6-note melodic pattern that is repeated twice.

To complete the lick, I’ve tagged on two notes that form a diminished fifth interval. Because this interval is fairly wide and dissonant, it gives the lick a nice angular twist to finish things off. Of course, if you don’t like the sound of these last two notes, then feel free to leave them out when you learn the lick. 🙂

Because all of this is quite hard to see with just the TAB, here’s the lick again with the melodic patterns being indicated…

Rock Guitar Lick 24 Explained

In terms of timing, you might notice that the entire lick uses sixteenth notes. So if you’re already comfortable with playing these, you shouldn’t have too much trouble playing the lick in time. Just be sure to start off slow, and gradually build it up to speed.

Have fun!

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