GIT InsTrucTor Allen HInds Is A Guy who can play melodic instrumentals, acces-sible fusion, and open-tuning slide licks like nobody’s business. All of those skills are in fine form on his latest release, Monkeys and Slides. What you’ll also hear on that record, however, is Hinds’ knack for play-ing crazy, cool, wacky lines that somehow sound way outside and yet fit right in. He

offered to share with GP how he creates some of those strangely beautiful licks.

“I think Jeff Beck is a perfect example of why I love guitar so much,” he says, “Because when you think of Beck, blaz-ing technique or supersonic scales are not what come to mind. Rather, you think of a genius mixture of melodic, soulful, quirky ideas, where you never know what’s

going to happen next. Guitar, more than many instruments, lends itself to expres-sive, off-the-wall ideas that really can’t be emulated by any computer or ‘quantize’ button. I would much rather hear some-one creating from his or her right brain than a mechanical rehashing of some scale over and over. So, having vented all that, here are a few right-brain licks from left

36 | April 2015 | GUITAR PLAYER VAULT

classic lesson

Ex. 1

GIT LessonFive Quirky Licks from Left FieldBy MATT BlAckeTT

Ex. 2

TAB

443 3 3 3

5 5

5 2

7 7

7 4

9 9

9 2

12 12

12 9

14 B B B B

Ex. 3

TAB

44

5 (7) 7

( ) ( )

5 (7) 7

B B

GUITAR PLAYER VAULT | April 2015 | 37

february 2012

field that might just spawn some creative ideas in your playing. All these licks can be applied over any chord scale. It’s about the idea and the motif more than the indi-vidual notes.”

Hinds gets down to business with Ex.

1, a climbing chromatic lick. “Once you’re comfortable with the moves, you can just keep going until you decide to connect it somewhere. The trick is keeping it even and resolving.” Tricky indeed. Look for a cool place to land, such as a chord tone

or a comfy blues lick to bring it on home.“Ex. 2 is a weird half-sweep lick,” he

explains. “With the half-step approach note it tweaks the ear just enough.” Although Hinds bends the first note of each group for even more chromaticism, this lick works even if you don’t.

Ex. 3 seems simple, but it actually takes some doing to make it rock. The slightly seasick pitch discrepancies between the bent and the fretted Ds are part of the fun. “This one is best with a bit of distortion.

Keep it nice and expressive, à la Jeff Beck.” Although Ex. 4 can work over other

tonalities, try it over Am7 or A7#9 “This is a pseudo-Benson lick—chromatic with a bit of a sweep to get you to the next chro-matic phrase. Keep the pull-offs and the sweeps even.”

“Ex. 5 is another cool chromatic idea. It’s in the style of Holdsworth but can be used anywhere. Just connect the dots, as in notes, at the beginning and end to taste.” g

Ex. 4

TAB

�������������44

� �� �� � � � �� � �� � � � � �3

8 7 6 5 5

5 8 7 6 5 5 4 4 7

Ex. 5

TAB

�������������44

� � �� �� �� �� �� � � �� � � �

8 5 7 6 5

7 6 5

5 5 5

9 8

Hind’s gets quirky in tHis lesson video.