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Open-String Licks for Your Next Guitar Jam – Guitar Lesson – EP639

Description

Add more rhythm, harmony, and movement to your lead playing with open-string licks. In this lesson, you’ll learn several ideas using the open E and B strings, and how to work them into your own jams.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Part 3 - Rhythm Explanation

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Slow Walkthrough - Lead

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  1. Kevin D says

    July 10, 2026 at 9:39 pm

    how about some hill country blues when you get a chance

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  2. Rafael F says

    July 10, 2026 at 9:49 pm

    I have a feeling that bar 5 of the tab is wrong, could it be? By the way, it’s a really interesting song, I’m loving it!

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    • Jeff T says

      August 21, 2026 at 5:52 pm

      I thought so too. the 7th note should be 1 fret and not 0

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  3. peter w says

    July 10, 2026 at 10:19 pm

    Wow. Marvelous. Good format others have used showing lead and rhythm simultaneously. Really works for you. I Love when you incorporate the rhythm into lessons,
    and in this case the style you chose to discuss. Great idea. I think some years ago you mentioned in a lesson that type of open string picking. Incorporating the open string in a lead . Pick a single note on the fretboard then pick the open string twice. Repeat. Very timely for me! Oddly was going over it just the other day . It just popped into my head while playing something and I started working it. You never know what you retain from a lesson past… and where you learned it. From you! Tks!

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  4. Joe S says

    July 10, 2026 at 10:29 pm

    This is a great lesson! It dovetails nicely with some of the other recent lessons in the key of E. Can’t wait to dive into this lesson and make it my own. Thanks Brian!

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  5. declan m says

    July 10, 2026 at 11:54 pm

    That’s the weekend sorted! Wife to the salon, boy to the bibi’s house, strap in and allow the master to light the way! Cheers Brian!

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  6. declan m says

    July 11, 2026 at 1:12 am

    Bar 13 you do drop the B9 in briefly.

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  7. Olivier P says

    July 11, 2026 at 4:02 am

    A very great song !

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  8. Imerio A says

    July 11, 2026 at 4:36 am

    Great lesson Brian. Lot of licks to learn and use in other songs. I appreciate when you put in rhythm parts. Your videos are a surprise each week…I always try to guess what you’re gonna talk about but I’m always wrong….:-)

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  9. Dennis U says

    July 11, 2026 at 8:15 am

    Great lesson Brian. Always appreciate when you break down the rhythm’s as well!! Question – what is the make and model of the guitar you are using? Love that guitar!

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  10. Vern F says

    July 11, 2026 at 8:44 am

    This is great! How fun. I will enjoy playing every day, for awhile!!!

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  11. Thaddeus W says

    July 11, 2026 at 8:44 am

    Love it . Has a Tommy Emmanuel sound.

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  12. Mark H says

    July 11, 2026 at 9:32 am

    I had a lot of fun going through this number last night. I found myself picking things at random, gravitating to the low hanging fruit for a first pass through fingerstyle.

    As always, there’s tons to learn and incorporate into my playing. Thank you Brian, and have a great musical weekend y’all!

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  13. Jim M says

    July 11, 2026 at 10:39 am

    Outstanding !!!

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  14. Anthony C says

    July 11, 2026 at 10:56 am

    Thanks. This is exactly the kind thing I was hoping for. Showing both the lead and the rythem. Thank you!

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  15. Martin says

    July 11, 2026 at 11:19 am

    Brian, love the slo motion addition for those of us who always need the extra ‘what did he do there?’ take lol

    Great lesson as always

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  16. Mike R says

    July 11, 2026 at 3:08 pm

    Another hit lesson. I really like it when you display the rhythm and lead as lessons. Need to get my speed up for this one. Lots of other lead ideas pop into my mind when playing this. Thanks

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  17. Mike R says

    July 11, 2026 at 3:10 pm

    Dennis, I believe the guitar Brian is playing is a Mule resonator.

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  18. Steve says

    July 12, 2026 at 6:34 am

    Great having the rhythm lesson there too, quite simple and good for jamming with friends. Love the augmented addition, knowing something about inversions helps here rather than just shapes alone, doesn’t seem to be such a big topic on guitar as on piano. And the G chord is an interesting addition, I guess G is borrowed from E minor pentatonic.

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  19. Lesley O says

    July 12, 2026 at 7:23 am

    Love this – what fun!! Heatwave here in France and busy busy so have left my guitar idle for a couple of weeks. Back into it now – just attacked this rhythm to heat things up here a bit more!! Great stuff….now for the lead, then back to last weeks lesson. Thankyou again for all this varied material Brian. Never short of something new to work on. As always, a lesson on both lead and rhythm is so very useful

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  20. Raymond P says

    July 12, 2026 at 10:53 am

    Great lesson and the rhythm lesson was very helpful too. Thanks Brian

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  21. Edmund S says

    July 12, 2026 at 1:43 pm

    This one is right into the Wheelhouse for a Tenor Guitar!! Thanks Brian. Since I’ve been struggling with losing full use of my hands for the past 2 years I’ve found myself picking up my Tenor Guitar more and more. This entire tab uses only one note on the 5th string. All the rest are on the fretboard of a Tenor guitar in Chicago tuning.

    After 70 years of playing guitar (started out as a Classical student) I find myself regressing. They say your 1st birthday and your last are very similar. You find yourself sitting in front of a cake with icing all over your face looking at a room full of people you don’t recognize asking yourself “Who are all these people and why are they all here?”
    Ed

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    • Aaron P says

      August 1, 2026 at 10:41 pm

      😂😂😂

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  22. James G says

    July 13, 2026 at 6:20 am

    This is a good lesson for me. I like the way you force us into thinking about technical music terms. I always avoided this and as a result I was forced into memorizing songs-which is really boring to me now. Hand me a guitar now… and new things/ideas pop into my head.

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  23. Rob N says

    July 13, 2026 at 6:56 am

    This one is quite addictive – once you lock into it. The main takeaway for me was learning to relax my picking hand – allowing the wrist to flow into the rhythm – almost strumming.

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  24. KIRK E says

    July 13, 2026 at 11:43 am

    Yeah that’s another good one, waytogo buddy Thanks

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  25. MANUEL M says

    July 13, 2026 at 12:43 pm

    Bonjour Brian,
    Le tempo est différent, le rhytme est à 70 bpm à la noire et le lead est à 100 bpm à la noire. Comment faire pour connecter les deux tempos?

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    • Lesley O says

      July 17, 2026 at 6:12 am

      On peut accélérer le tempo du rythme a 130%…..comme ça c’est le même tempo du lead

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  26. MANUEL M says

    July 13, 2026 at 1:05 pm

    Est ce une erreur !
    En tout cas c’est très bien de mettre la partition rhytmique. Cela serait très pédagogique de mettre la partition rhytmique à chaque leçon. Comme cela on peut connecter le lead et le rhytme. 👌😊👍

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  27. Lynne R says

    July 16, 2026 at 11:01 am

    Please HELP. Still having trouble with this notation. In the 2measure how is the 3 rd beat counted and where does the 4 th beat fall . It would be so helpful if some one could just write the beat below the notation . Is there an old lesson that covers music notation especially sixteenth notes?

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  28. Frederick G says

    July 16, 2026 at 12:14 pm

    This is going to take some work from my old fingers but it will be worth it. Great Lesson.

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  29. Garry H says

    July 16, 2026 at 8:02 pm

    Brian, I know this is late in the week, but how come the G Chord sounds so good in the progression going from A to G back to E in the rhythm? I wouldn’t have thought to do that. I’m having a lot of fun with this lesson.

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  30. Georg B says

    July 17, 2026 at 2:11 am

    Hi Brian,
    This is another fantastic lesson! It’s really great that you’re providing us not only with the lead part but also the accompaniment. It doesn’t get any better than this. We’re getting two “products” here for the price of one. There’s so much value here that it could easily be turned into two lessons. Thank you so much.
    And as is so often the case, when I hear you play the piece at the beginning, I think to myself, “I’ll never learn this.” But with your meticulously structured explanations—the way you break down the details, the chord progression, your explanations of where the licks come from, the left hand, the right hand—I’m always surprised that afterward, I’m not only able to understand the piece but also manage to get it under my fingers to a certain extent. Of course, I can’t do it with the same speed and precision as you do. I just must be patient with myself.
    I like your motivating style and the nice, passing remarks that come with a wink. It’s also good to hear that the journey of learning guitar can sometimes be frustrating and that you felt the same way—or even still do from time to time.
    Your lessons are always like a big, beautiful buffet to me. I can’t learn to play everything or internalize every little detail. But each time, I take away a few things from all the wonderful material. That’s how I make progress, one small step at a time.
    I also wrote down my goals at the beginning of the year, just as you suggested. And now, after more than half a year, it’s obvious to me that I’ve made progress. Of course, that motivates me, too.
    Thanks again and best regards,
    Georg

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  31. Bill S says

    July 17, 2026 at 3:31 pm

    Hey Brian! Eric Halbig in his book pentatonic strategies has the C shape as #3 major pentatonic form and #4 minor pentatonic form. I say who cares what form it is

    It’s based on the C shape.! LOL! Great video and most in formative! Thx!

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  32. John I says

    July 18, 2026 at 2:30 am

    Lots of takeaways on this energetic open string composition. I get a little more every day from exploring the possibilities you suggested.
    Puts a smile on my face playing this one!! Thanks, Brian!!!

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  33. Keith S says

    July 20, 2026 at 3:52 pm

    Great lesson. Particularly because you really eloquently articulated the chord and scale forms. Love that E shape triad with the open E!

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Recent Lessons

How to find the Groove. Call & Response Blues in C minor – Guitar Lesson – EP641

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Open-String Licks for Your Next Guitar Jam – Guitar Lesson – EP639

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