50 City Pop Style Guitar Licks (Guiar Solo Licks Tutorial)
Added 2023-06-30 08:57:00 +0000 UTCIntroduction
City Pop is the urban music that colored Japan in the late 1970s and 1980s!
The song "Plastic Love" by Mariya Takeuchi made it famous all over the world today.
It is filled with the supreme guitar playing of top musicians. Tasty licks, funky playing, and expressive guitar solos.
In this tutorial, I will explain such city pop-specific guitar in an easy-to-understand manner with numerous musical examples and demonstration videos!
In the attached files, you will find images related to each of the music examples, so please try to practice while looking at them:)
Let's enjoy playing guitar together!
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【Ex-1 Hamma-ons】
First of all, let's practice basic techniques!
By using hamma-ons, you can create a different nuance from the picking sound, so please master it!
Also, this lick uses the major pentatonic scale.
In the attached files, you will find images related to Ex-1, so please try to practice while looking at them:)
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【Ex-2 Pull-offs】
By using pulling, you can create a different nuance from the picked sound, so please master it!
Also, this lick has triplets. Let's try playing along with the rhythm:)
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【Ex-3 H-ons & P-offs】
It will be a phrase that makes full use of hammering and pulling! Hammering tends to make the rhythm faster, so please be aware of the length of the note when you play!
Also, alternating between hammering and pulling is called a trill! It's cool to play it as a solo introduction or at the end!
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【Ex-4 Slide】
The technique of playing by sliding the finger that is pressing the strings until the next target note is played is called the slide technique:)
Playing with a slide eliminates the picking attack, so you can get a smooth and sexy sound!
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【Ex-5 Advanced Slide】
In example 5, hammering and pulling are interwoven with slides!
By incorporating the slide playing method and playing smoothly, it expresses mellowness!
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【Ex-6 Double Stop Slides】
The phrase in example 6 is a city pop purveyor phrase that is often used not only for guitar solos but also for backing!
It's difficult to play the rhythm accurately with a slide phrase like this, so please try to play it consciously.
This phrase is used in many different situations, so please try to master it. Once you get used to it, you'll be addicted to playing!
In the attached files, you will find images related to Ex-6, so please try to practice while looking at them:)
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【Ex-7 Bending】
Bending is a technique that is unique to stringed instruments, and is often used in city pop!
A semitone, a whole tone, a halftone, and sometimes less than a semitone. Also, there are many different ways to raise the sound.
The trick to playing is to use the rotation of your wrist to turn the doorknob instead of lifting it with your fingers:)
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【Ex-8 Half-Note Slide】
Example 8 is a phrase that uses semitone bends. Here, the 9th note is used instead of the pentatonic, which is important in city pop!
9th is sometimes seen in codenames such as add9, m9, and M9. Adding a 9th to the chord makes it sound stylish.
By incorporating this 9th note into the minor pentatonic, you can produce a stylish sound! (The major pentatonic already has a 9th in its composition!)
If you're only playing the pentatonic and want a stylish sound, playing the 9th will give you a different impression.
The phrase that bends the 9th note by a semitone to bring it up to the m3 note is used frequently, so please try to master it!
In the attached files, you will find images related to Ex-8, so please try to practice while looking at them:)
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【Ex-9 One & Half Bend】
In example 9, we are doing one and a half note bending, which is a semitone higher than the one note bend!
It's often used in the minor pentatonic scale, but it has a lot of impact because it raises the note by one and a half steps! When the solo is getting excited, here it is! When you play it, it's very cool.
The string is lifted up quite a bit, so I think it works better if you turn your wrist like you're turning a doorknob! Beyond the door, the best scenery will be waiting!
In the attached files, you will find images related to Ex-9, so please try to practice while looking at them:)
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【Ex-10 1/4 Bend】
A quarter bend is a pitch that is about half a semitone. A quarter bend is a technique used primarily to obscure thirds!
The 3rd is an important note that determines whether a chord is major or minor. By obscuring the sound of the 3rd degree, a melancholic feeling that cannot be said to be either bright or dark is produced!
So I think it's good to quarter-choke the minor 3rd of the minor pentatonic! If you stop in the middle of the sound getting brighter as you get closer to the Major 3rd note, the phrase will be decided in a cool way!
In the attached files, you will find images related to Ex-10, so please try to practice while looking at them:)
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【Ex-11 Unison Bend】
A unison bend is when two adjacent strings sound in unison to the same pitch.
This style of playing, which is often used in rock music, can really add momentum to your solos!
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【Ex-12 Double Stop Bend】
Example 12 is a compound note phrase where you bend the 2nd string with your ring finger and play the 1st string with your little finger!
This technique is especially used on the high frets, and like the unison bend, it can add momentum to your solo!
In city pop songs, guitar solos often come at the end of songs, but I often hear them fade out with phrases like this!
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【Ex-13 Vibrato】
Vibrato is a very important technique that repeats bends to create fluctuations in the sound and express emotions! You can add a variety of expressions to your phrases by rocking it sometimes violently and sometimes gently! (Actually, I have used it in the score examples so far.)
There are two methods of vibrato: swinging the strings upwards and swinging the strings downwards!
For example, if you lift the string upwards and swing it, it may be difficult to do with the 4th to 6th strings. In such a case, it is easier to vibrato by swinging the strings downward!
In this phrase, the 1st to 3rd strings are swinging upwards, and the 4th to 6th strings are swinging downwards!
It's a matter of preference which way you swing it, so it doesn't matter which way you're comfortable! Also, keep practicing until you find the sound you like, such as how fast to shake and how much pitch to shake!
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【Ex-14 Bending & Vibrato】
In Example 14, after the bend, the sound is vibratoed!
You can express impressive guitar tones such as rock and ballads! If you want to play one note of the soul, please try this method!
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【Ex-15 Major & Minor Pentatonic】
I think it was a very melancholy solo. This is because the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic are played together!
In fact, you can use both major and minor pentatonic on the 7th chord! By playing a combination of major and minor penta on this 7th chord, the 3rd note becomes ambiguous. The ambiguity creates this sadness.
Also, even if the chord doesn't have a 7th, it can be played on a triad with dominant motion!
In the attached files, you will find images related to Ex-15, so please try to practice while looking at them:)
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【Ex-16 Blue Note】
In Example 16, I am playing minor penta with the b5th note added!
The b5th is one of the sounds called "blue notes", and when you add this sound, you get a bluesy melancholy as the name suggests!
Blue Note also refers to the two notes m3th and m7th, but by adding the b5th note to the minor pentatonic, all blue notes are included!
It is used not only in city pop, but also in various genres, so please try to master it!
In the attached files, you will find images related to Ex-16, so please try to practice while looking at them:)
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【Ex-17 Chicken Picking】
In example 18, it is played with a pick and the middle finger of the right hand.
This picking method is called chicken picking!
Chicken picking is well suited for playing fast phrases as you move the strings!
Depending on the phrase, you will be able to play faster than with alternate picking, so please try to master it!
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【Ex-18 Passion Lick】
This technique involves playing the same group of phrases over and over again!
Especially if you repeat the run technique around the high fret of the high string, you can get a lot of excitement!
The same phrase is played many times, so it's easy to remember!
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【Ex-19 Three Notes】
This lick is a three-note phrase played in 16th notes!
The timing shifts one note at a time.
It is important to play with awareness of the 16th note:)
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【Ex-20 Five Notes】
The 5-note phrase is difficult to play, but the effect as a rhythm trick is outstanding!
It's very difficult, but try playing it repeatedly while keeping in mind the rhythm of the 16th note!
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Conclusion
City pop that colored Japan in the 70's and 80's. The guitar playing that forms such city pop is well-versed in various fields such as blues, soul, fusion, funk, and rock, and is very difficult to master.
But if you've practiced these licks, you're a city pop guitar master! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for walking on such a long road.
I hope your guitar life will be more wonderful!
(guitar cover with tab)
