This is a short video jazz guitar lesson from John Pisano. He’s appeared on tons of albums including recordings with Joe Pass, Herb Ellis and Diana Krall. If you want to study with John, contact Cal State Northridge University and find out when he will be offering his next class. You couldn’t ask for a better teacher.

It’s All About Context
Everyone needs a larger musical vocabulary. So how can learning someone else’s guitar licks improve your vocabulary? The answer is that you make them your licks by choosing when to use them, what effects (if any) to use and what tone you play with. It’s all about context.
I’ll give you an example. Play a some blues licks in the key of E over a background of G, C, D country strumming and your blues licks will become very country sounding.
Another example of context is to play your licks with a clean tone with most of tone rolled off on your guitar and now the same licks sounds jazzier.
You can play the first part of a solo lower on the neck and shift to the higher octave position towards the end of the solo to build intensity.
So where you place the Tricks and what tone you use dramatically alters how they are perceived.
An Exercise Idea
Pick three 2 Minute Guitar Tricks and try using them on one song. Try them in different order or at different points in the song and then change the order in which the licks appear. The process of figuring out what works best and where it works best is valuable.
The Tonal Equation
The tonal equation is made of two basic components, your fingers and your gear. Let’s get away from gear. Aside from having a properly set- up guitar and new-ish strings, you can practice unplugged and don’t need the rest of your gear. You need to feel the fingerboard and strings. You should strive to gain control over your vibrato technique. If anything defines your sound when it comes to blues and rock guitar playing it is your vibrato. Really focus on the intonation, timing and where to place your vibrato. Here’s a great way to improve without learning new guitar riffs; try to play all the Guitar Tricks WITHOUT using a pick.
Now let’s talk about distortion. I am a fanatic about it and I just love classic tones. I love natural tube-driven distortion and I like distortion pedals that sound tube-like. High-gain tones that are harmonically rich, compressed, sustaining etc. are a lot of fun to play solos with. It’s very easy to defer to that kind of sound every time you take a solo, but it may be undermining your ability to express yourself musically.
Clean Guitar Tones
As a younger player, I used to hide behind effects and distortion. I used to rely on high gain tones to cover up sloppy fast-picking. I would only clean up my tone for strumming chords or arpeggios but for a fast lead I always slathered on as much distortion, delay, reverb etc that I could muster and get away with.
It wasn’t until I had been playing for many years that I realized how important it is to feel comfortable playing lead with a clean sound too. I still use all the aforementioned effects, but there is another galaxy of playing that exists when playing clean.
Clean-tone playing is much more unforgiving since it practically highlights your mistakes. The big payoff however is that that is where the nuance is. The subtlety, the emotion and the best way to orchestrate and serve the song is often with a clean sound. You are not hitting the listener with a ton of bricks, you are persuading them with melody. Playing with a clean sound also forces you to play accurately and melodically. Don’t be afraid to clean up your act. The rewards are there.
Combine Clean and Dirty Tones in Your Solo
You can also create tension in your solos by playing the first part of your solo clean and then graduating to a more gritty tone towards the end of the solo.
Solos need to have a beginning, middle and end. The solo can be viewed as a small musical story. Use the 2 Minute Tricks, experiment with which ones work best and place them in the order that tells the story you want to tell over the chord changes they sit on top of.
Play It On Acoustic
Practice on an acoustic guitar as well as electric guitar. Finger strength and improved vibrato are natural byproducts of playing on an acoustic guitar. You may view my 2 Minute Guitar Tricks as electric guitar riffs, but they are really only notes. They work on any guitar. You may not have the ability to play the higher positions if your acoustic does not have a cutaway body, but see how far you can get. Early blues was played on acoustic instruments and you should consider playing one too. A great exercise is to record a rhythm track on acoustic and play a solo over it. Do that over and over. Be sure your acoustic rhythm track is in time and in tune. Try different Tricks and experiment by adding and subtracting notes.
I encourage you to post here and let everyone know how you are doing with my 2 Minute Guitar Tricks do your experiences can help someone else.

Possibly the most important instruments in your inner band is the drummer. Without a solid groove your music will suck. Every time I walk into a guitar store and hear players playing lightning-fast licks that don’t groove I just cringe. What’s the point of all that speed without a groove? Lack of groove makes the song pointless.

So you need to hear the drums, the bass the singer etc. when you are practicing. The whole point of playing is to play with other players and make music together. Think of the players you admire most. I will bet you they played in a band at least most of the time. I guarantee you they heard the other parts in their head every time they practiced alone.

So what do you do when other players are not around? Channel your inner band that’s what. Imagine the drummer’s groove locking to the bass player and play a solid rhythm part. See if you can lay down a solo and seamlessly jump back into the rhythm part without missing a beat. If you can’t do that, then keep practicing until you can.

You have to hear the other players to do that even if they are not physically present.

I don’t care how many chords, scales, picking techniques you know or how fast you can play them. If you want to attract an audience you need to groove. So start hearing the band playing in your head and figure out parts the fit into the framework of the song. Listen to what you imagine are the other players and strive to play WITH them by not stepping on them and playing with the beat. You can train yourself by playing to drum loops or a metronome.

If you can hear your inner band, your actual band practice will go much better because you will already have some idea how you fit in. You will have to adjust your playing around the actual players but you will relate to the song differently. And if you record your playing alone and when playing with others you will find out if you are grooving. Then you can fix what does not work.

So you aren’t crazy. Hearing imaginary musicians is actually a good thing.