Classic Guitar Licks | Doug Marks

When the Metal Method program was first created in 1982, the heart and soul of the course was Classic Guitar Licks. That tradition continues. Classic Guitar Licks, is a tribute to: Hendrix, Clapton, Trower, Page, Jeff Beck, and more. You can use this program to improvise lead guitar solos for rock, metal or blues.

A System for Memorizing and Recalling Licks

Classic Guitar Licks teaches a technique for memorizing licks, and even more important, recalling licks while improvising. It doesn’t matter how many licks you know, it only matters how many licks you can recall when you need them. In the early 80′s Metal Method instructor Doug Marks was giving private guitar lessons and taught more than sixty songs. He deconstructed the lead guitar solos from these songs into 107 licks. These phrases are transposed to the key of A minor. So, if the lead is in G, which is two frets lower than A, all 107 licks can be moved back two frets.

Next, the licks were organized according to their first note. The secret for recalling these licks is to memorize and practice all licks with the first note in mind. For example you’ll learn seven licks that begin on the first string fifth fret in A minor. Next time you’re improvising a lead and you end up on the first string, fifth fret you’ll have seven licks to choose from that start on that note. This grouping of licks makes memorizing them a breeze. This is eighty minutes long and includes on-screen and on-disk tab. Each section and exercise can be located through the menu system. Find licks instantly, and repeat them at the touch of a button. Printable tab is located on-disk in a PDF file. This lesson includes on-disk animated tab so you can use your computer to play along at any speed. A computer is helpful to learn this stuff but not necessary.

Massive Revision to This Course – a message from instructor Doug Marks

(From 2012) 30 years in the making, two and a half years in revision, ladies and gentlemen I bring you “Classic Guitar Licks.” It’s been an epic journey. When creating my instructional programs I always set a deadline for lesson completion.  Otherwise, I can take forever on a project.  The reason is, no matter how long I work on something it’s never perfect and there’s always room for improvement.  So, without a deadline I can continue working on a project forever. 

This is my fourth revision of Classic Licks over the past thirty years and I really wanted to get it right this time.  So, for the first time ever I chose not to set a deadline.  Now, two and a half years later it’s complete!  Eventually I did set a deadline or I would still be making changes. I think that Classic Guitar Licks is the best program I’ve ever done but ultimately that’s for you to decide.  It doesn’t matter what I think. 

The program is about an hour and twenty minutes in length. The licks are the same as the original version but the presentation is completely different. There’s much more explanation of how to actually apply this stuff. The original premise of the Licks lesson was to create a system for “instantly recalling licks” while improvising.  It originally had about 130 licks and I hoped they would be interchangeable.  Over time I realized some weren’t interchangeable for various reasons.  Although all licks were in a minor key some were Dorian, others were Natural minor, and many were Pentatonic.  No problem with the Pentatonic licks – they’ll fit anywhere but you can’t get away with combining Dorian and Natural Minor.  Now the licks have been labeled so Dorian can be combined with Dorian and Natural Minor can be combined with Natural Minor.

This is more than just a catalog of licks like previous versions of this course.  It’s a catalog of licks with detailed instructions as to how to combine them to form leads.

Here are some of the changes in this revision:

• • Licks other than pentatonic have been identified by their scale or mode.
  • Guitar-Pro files are included so you can play along at any speed.
  • Backing tracks are included to help you use these licks in improvisations.
  • Fretboard diagrams for Aeolian, Dorian, Pentatonic, Blues scale are included.
  • Each of these scales are divided into five patterns and displayed on separate guitar necks.
  • Animated tab, picking hand, and fretting hand are all shown simultaneously.

Classic Guitar Licks is available with streaming and a Digital Download. The program is eighty minutes in length including forty minutes of instruction explaining how to combine these licks and patterns to form leads while improvising. Classic Guitar Licks includes printable tab, diagrams, backing tracks, and other lesson materials. Optional: to play along with lesson exercises at any speed you must purchase the Guitar Pro 6 software separately.