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Dominant 7th Guitar Lick Ideas
Dominant 7th Guitar Lick Ideas
Dominant 7th chords are an extremely important type of chord on which to play over. Many styles of music, including blues and funk, rely heavily on the use of dominant 7th chords.
Even when a musical style consists mainly of basic major and minor triads, dominant seventh chords will still be included in the chord progression. Dominant 7th chords can function as a bluesy or funky sounding static chord on which you can vamp, or they function as a transitional chord, creating tension before resolving to the key chord, or to a different key entirely.
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A Mixolydian Guitar Lick
This guitar lick is based on the A mixolydian mode being played over A7, although chromaticism is included in the lick.
One could argue that this lick does not stick directly to the Mixolydian mode, although improvisation would be very boring if it wasn't for the inclusion of chromaticism. I always like to add extra notes of interest, so this guitar lick gives the essence of Mixolydian, whilst creating a bit more interest.
G Melodic Minor Scale Guitar Lick
I love the melodic minor scale and it is one of my favourite scales. The melodic minor scale has so many great uses when playing over various chord types. Dominant 7th chords are particularly suited to the melodic minor scale.
This melodic minor scale lick is rather fiddly as there are many string skips that require accurate picking technique. This lick should give you a good guitar picking workout!
E Mixolydian Open String Lick
This dominant 7th chord lick features open strings to create an interesting texture. This particular dominant 7th idea creates tension and release within itself, as it resolves to a true E7 sound at the end of the lick.
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