100 Jazz Rock Fusion Licks for Guitar is published by Fundamental Changes and available now on Amazon in E-book/Kindle and print formats. The book contains over 100 examples, covering licks in the style of fusion’s greatest guitar players, including Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Allan Holdsworth, Larry Carlton, John McLaughlin and others. These are high-protein, high-information lines that span jazz, bebop, blues, rock and shred styles, often within an individual example.
The first nine chapters contain ‘Licks In the Style of…’ starting with a few shorter ‘building block’ type examples before presenting ten full licks which are generally built from these shorter motifs or ‘melodic cells’. The full length examples show how melodic cells can be embellished and developed to create longer lines, giving some sense of the ‘process’ behind creating and improvising longer, more sophisticated fusion lines. The final chapter draws from the ideas covered in the first nine chapters to demonstrate how fusion lines work over changes/harmony covering both major and minor II-V-Is.
100 Jazz Rock Fusion Licks is aimed at intermediate to advanced guitarists who have a basic grounding in some modes and scales. Detailed breakdowns and explanations of each lick are provided to give a sense of the ‘What' and ‘Why' behind these types of fusion lines. Blues, Rock and Metal players stuck in a predictable ‘diatonic rut’ or those wanting to incorporate extended harmony and ‘outside’ ideas into their playing will find plenty of inspiration and ideas here. The Larry Carlton, Robben Ford and Jimmy Herring chapters would be a great starting point for blues players wishing to branch out and explore some more complex harmony via a blues sensibility.
The licks are all based around a tonic of G, covering a mixture of Minor and Major (dominant 7th) tonalities. This allows for a quicker assimilation of the material as you work through and try the examples as well as facilitating a direct comparison between the individual players’ styles, especially in their scale/note choices but also in their phrasing and approach to articulation/fingering.
Each chapter is built around a unique backing track reflecting the given guitarist’s musical style and approach. These can be downloaded from the Fundamental Changes website along with the licks which are played at normal and half-speed.’