Jazz Fusion Guitar Lick
in G Mixolydian
Video Guitar Lesson
by Shawn Bradshaw

In this video guitar lesson you are going to learn a cool jazz fusion lick out of the mixolydian mode. Mixolydian is a guitar mode that can be used over Dominant 7th chords and has a bluesy sound to it. This guitar lick is inspired by guitarist Larry Carlton, and covers a lot of ground on the neck. I am going to show you the lick first in G mixolydian, and then show you how you can transpose this into other keys as well.

8th Note Triplet Rhythm

The primary rhythm that is used in this guitar riff is an 8th note triplet. In a nutshell you are going to play 3 notes in every beat. You count 8th note triplets 1 & a, 2 & a, etc. Triplet are indicated in music by a bracket with a 3.

G Mixolydian Jazz Fusion Guitar Lick
Video Guitar Lesson

G Mixolydian Jazz Fusion Guitar Lick

So let's take a look at the guitar lick, and then break down what makes it tick. This does have a couple of guitar slides and pull offs to help create a smoother sound. The lick below is written in both standard music notation and guitar tablature.

G Mixolydian Jazz Fusion Guitar Lick Tablature

Mixolydian Guitar Lick Break Down

Now let's break this down into the 3 sections on the neck of the guitar. In a way, you could just think of this as 3 mini guitar licks chained together.

Guitar Lick - Part 1

So here is part 1 of the lick. The 2nd note you play on the 4th string is a G, and should be used as your point of reference if you wanted to play this over another chord or key. Learning the notes on guitar is critical to being able to move guitar licks to other keys. So if you wanted to play this lick over an A7 chord, just move everything up 2 frets so that 2nd note would be an A.

G Mixolydian Jazz Fusion Guitar Lick Tablature - Part 1

Another way for you to visualize the notes of the first part of this lick is to link them to a G major barre chord with the root on the 6th string. The first 3 notes come from that basic guitar chord shape. G barre chord chart 1 G barre chord chart 2

The rest of the notes of the first part of the lick come from a G major pentatonic scale. Here is the whole scale form in that position starting at the 5th fret. The white ovals are the G notes, or the root of the scale. The numbers are the left hand fingers to use. This is a horizontal scale chart. So the 6th string is the bottom line, and the 1st string is the top.

G Major Pentatonic Scale - 5th Position

Guitar Lick - Part 2

Here is the 2nd section of the lick. The first note in this part is the G and should be used as your point of reference. If you wanted to play this over an A7 chord, you would just move all of the notes up 2 frets just like you did for the first part.

G Mixolydian Jazz Fusion Guitar Lick Tablature - Part 2

The 2nd section is just made up of the notes of 2 chords. The first 3 notes come from a C major chord. It's really the same shape as the 1st 3 notes of the first part of the lick. So you can use a C major barre chord with the root on the 6th strings as your shape reference.
C barre chord chart 1 C barre chord chart 2

The 2nd set of 3 notes is just a G major chord, or G major arpeggio. Below is the basic chord shape that is used for those notes.

Guitar Lick - Part 3

Part 3 of our lick is up in the 12th position on the neck.

G Mixolydian Jazz Fusion Guitar Lick Tablature - Part 3

The first 5 notes of the lick are all out of a G major pentatonic scale. The white ovals are the G notes in the scale. The scale grid to the right below includes the last note of the lick which is not in the major pentatonic scale form. It's an F note and is indicated in blue..

G Major Pentatonic Scale - 12th Position

G Mixolydian Jam Track

Alright, let's start to do some jamming with your new fusion lick. Try practicing the 3 sections separately, then chain them all together. This jam track is just a groove over a G7 chord. you might also try using a G minor pentatonic, G major pentatonic, and a G mixolydian over the jam track as well as your new found lick you just learned. Below are 3 basic scale patterns you might use. And also test out the other scale forms in this lesson as well.