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The blues is a language, and this book of licks is your blues lick dictionary. It contains the vocabulary you need in order to speak the language.

The licks in the pages that follow are divided into categories that will help you organize your thinking about the guitar fretboard, so that you can play the blues in all keys up and down the neck. Some licks are based on scales, some on chords. Some are associated with a particular artist. Most of them will sound familiar if you've listened to a lot of blues.

All the blues licks in this book are played on an accompanying recording. Listen to it as you read and play the music/tablature, because timing is all-important, and timing is easier to hear than to read.

Like any other language, you learn the blues by imitating those who are already conversant. Besides listening to your favorite blues guitarists, listen to and imitate blues singers, pianists and horn players. There are '30s recordings of the great New Orleans clarinetist and saxophonist, Sidney Bechet, playing what any modern blues fan would call "B.B. King licks"-fifteen years before B.B. recorded. So if you want to play deep, genuine blues, listen to the great blues vocalists and instrumentalists of all eras, in addition to the popular blues guitarists of the moment. Then you'll learn how to use your blues vocabulary-the licks in this book-to form sentences, and "speak" the language of the blues with your guitar.