Between The Licks

One of the most famous blues songs ever: learn it inside and out!

Pop-up instructional video to the left.

Here is a quick overview of how to play the famous riff and how to solo over it. And be sure to check out my free backing tracks at the Jam Corner after you're done!

The riff

The Born Under a Bad Sign main riff is comprised of a run up the C# blues scale before settling on the C# on each down beat (or beginning of a measure). Here is the guitar tab and bass tab (just ignore the top two strings). 

That is the traditional riff, an octave version that fits the first position blues scale is shown below.

The turn around is in G# and F#. It is played like so.

 And there you have it! A nice ouline of how to play the riff from Born Under A Bad Sign. Now lets learn to solo, shall we?\

Improvisation for Born Under A Bad Sign

If you're well versed in the blues and pentatonic scale, head over to the Jam Corner and start soloing over my free the free Born Under A Bad Sign jam track. If you want to learn a bit about the Albert King solo style, be sure to check out my video and play the below solo!

First lick

Below is the first lick I played. It is primarily an exercise in bends and vibrato.

Second lick

Below is the second (and longest) lick I played. It starts with a run up the C# blues scale and starts bending on the b7 (12th fret on B) and minor 3rd (12th fret on E). 

Third Lick

Below is the third (and final) lick I played. It starts with a simple color fill before playing octaves starting on F# that drop chromatically and speed rhythmically to land on a root for the C#. It finishes with another color fill. 

Now PLAY!

Now that you've got the basics down, head over the Jam Corner for some free jam tracks and start practicing! Let me know what you thought of the new lesson layout in the forum or in the comment section below!

This site is FREE! If you enjoyed it, consider supporting the site by donating or by logging in to hide the ads.mfBeer Joomla! Plugin