Welcome back to another Quick Lick guitar lesson! In this instalment we take some inspiration from one of the toxic twins himself, Mr Joe Perry. Known for his effortlessly cool persona and iconic riffs with Aerosmith, Joe has all of that classic rock swagger that only an icon can have. Heavily inspired by the great British blues boom, Joe has infused blues and rock to create some of the genres greatest solos and riffs. With this tasty, bluesy pentatonic lick, we take inspiration from some of his greatest work on songs like ‘Love in an Elevator’ and ‘Walk this Way’.
Lick Run Through
This lick is full of 1/4 note bends that really add that bluesy flavour when played within the context of Em Pentatonic. We target that special ‘blue note’ (flat 5th) on the 15th fret of the D string which is the key tone in bringing a real bluesy flavour to your lead playing. Take care with the timing of this one as there are subtle uses of palm muting and some pushes to really give an otherwise standard lick some swagger and style. You’ll want too dial in a nice, warm overdriven tone with some reverb dialled in at around 3 to give it some depth. And don’t forget to crank it up to 11!