This weeks Quick Lick is tasty Nuno Bettencourt style rock lick utilising the D Mixolydian scale. Favoured by blues, rock and country players alike, the Mixolydian scale will take your lead playing to wider sonic palette, especially when combined with our trusty old Pentatonic. The fifth mode of the major scale, the Mixolydian is derived from the 5th note of the major scale and offers up a unique voicing due to the third note of the scale having a major interval.
Inspired by the great Nuno Bettencourt, this lick starts with some standard minor pentatonic bends, focusing on hitting that D root note with a bend from the 13th fret. We then hit that major flavour interval of the Mixolydian (a trick you can hear in full effect in Slash’s playing) before a descending run down back to the root note on the 12th fret of the D string.
What makes this lick particularly tasty is the descending run at the end. The 3 tone intervals from the major third note (F#, 14th fret on the high E string) down to the flat 7th (C, 13th fret on the B String) gives a distinctive major to minor feel over the D. You can hear Nuno Bettencourt use this to great effect in his playing when combining ascending and descending runs, particularly on Extreme’e most recent track ‘Rise’. Take care to ensure you evenly time those descending pull offs to give a clean but speedy feel to the lick. Starting slow and building up to speed is a great way to nail any flashy runs.
Take care on the timing of the descending legato run at the end and make sure to play around with that major and minor feel that the Mixolydian offers. So strap in, turn up and blast this loud!