PHIL HILBORNE’S ONE-MINUTE LICK

Lydian String Skipping Phrasing Licks

This month’s lick contains a set of four one-bar string skipping arpeggio ideas that can either be played in a row or used separately as four different ideas. In fact, to get the most out of this, it’s a good idea to take the sequence illustrated in each bar and then apply them to every bar in turn. Mix and match them to suit afterwards. The arpeggios used are C maj7 (C-E-G-B), Em7 (E-G-B-D), G maj7 (G-B-D-F#) and C maj7 – up an octave. These are all played against a typical Lydian (IV chord of G Major) Cmaj7#11 chord. Viewed in terms of C the arpeggios imply C maj7 (C-E-G-B), C maj9 (E-G#-B-D) and Cmaj7#11 (G-B-D-F#). Essentially all we are doing here is using the diatonic 7th arpeggios built on the root, 3rd and 5th of the underlying chord. The licks get more complicated as they progress. The first three 16th-note patterns are not too bad but the fourth bar with the sextuplet phrasing might take a little longer to master. I use hybrid picking for these lines, but you could also use fingerstyle or alternate picking. As always, experiment, and use whichever technique or combination of techniques suits you best.