3 Fun & Easy Licks In The Style Of John Fogerty

Learn to play three fun and easy licks in the style of John Fogerty with Guitar Control instructor Darrin Goodman, aka Uncle D. In this video lesson Uncle D goes over three iconic John Fogerty licks from the pentatonic scale that demonstrate some of the pentatonic sequence concepts that he has been teaching as of late. So be sure to get the free tabs to go along with the video instruction and you will be rockin’ these fun and easy licks tonight!

John Fogerty Licks

Introduction

How’s it going everybody? This is Darrin with GuitarControl.com bringing you this video lesson and today I’ve got three fun and easy licks for you in the style of John Fogerty.

So right now, Guitar Control is giving away this really awesome daily practice routine to improve your lead guitar chops. This was put together by our very own Silvio Gazquez, a two-time Guitar Idle finalist. This routine covers the four main concepts that are necessary for lead guitar; alternate picking, legato, sweep picking and tapping. All the tabs and exercises are all included in this free ebook and there’s a link in the description where you can get yours.

So be sure to click on the link in the description for the tabs and let’s get close up and take a look at these.

John Fogerty Lick -1 Old Man Down The Road

All right, so the first one to look at is from the intro for Old Man Down The Road. This one’s pretty easy and it’s just based out of the pentatonic and using the open strings here in the first position. So we’re going to start off we rest on the first three beats and then on beat number four we start with the open G string and then on the and of four we go to the second fret. So when I’m doing this I’m using my second finger and it’s just because here in a minute we’re gonna have to go to the first fret; just so I don’t have to change my hand position. So we’re going to go four and then the first beat of the second measure is we’re going to bend that up a half step with some vibrato. And then starting on the downbeat of two we get that note again, second fret on the G string, and we’re going to that’ll be two and then on the and of two we hit the open G string. Then for beat three we’re gonna go to the second fret of the D string and then for beat number four we’re gonna go to the first fret of the A string and then on the and a four the open A string… All right, so that’s the first two measures and then starting on the third measure we’re going to go to the third fret of the low E string and I’m going to use my third finger. So again I’m just staying in this position so I have to switch my hand position and we’re gonna go one and then on the and of one, second fret of the G string. Then we’re going to rest on the downbeat of two and on the and of two the open low E string and then the second fret of the D string again for beat three. And then starting on beat number four is kind of where the riff starts over again. So the only thing that’s different this time we start off the same way so we’re going to starting on beat number four on the third measure; four and, and then on this fourth measure we’re going to hit we’re going to bend that a half step, but instead of it being a quarter note we’re gonna do it twice as eighth notes… and then the rest of it’s the same…

John Fogerty Lick -2 Green River

All right, so the next we’re going to look at is the riff from Green River. So we’re going to start off we’re going to hit the open low E string and I’m playing this with hybrid picking. I just think its much easier and I kind of think that’s the way that Fogerty played it too, but don’t quote me on that. So we’re going to start off on the downbeat of one we have a quarter note just the open low E string and then we’ve got this little dyad. We’re on the fourth fret of the G string and I’m using my third finger and then I’m on the second fret of the, or excuse me, the third fret of the B string. So we’re going to slide into that; so one two and three and four… So then the second measure starts off the same; so it’s one and two and, and then this is where everything changes. So just that first part… Okay so after we do the one and two and on the second measure then we’re going to do this little lick here. So we’re going to start off it’s like a slide from nowhere, but you have to basically start on the first fret on the G string and we’re gonna do that to the second fret and then follow that with the open G string… So on the end of three plus the downbeat of four and then on the and of four we’re gonna hit that D string… So we hit this and one two and open A string three and then we hammer back down to two and then on the and of three the open D string. Then we’re going to go to the third fret of the low E string and this is the downbeat of four and we’re going to do this quarter step bend and then back to the second fret of the D string. Okay now that fourth measure is very similar. So we’ve got the open low E string for beat number one and then on the downbeat of two it’s that second fret of the D string again. So two, the and of two is the open A, down B, hammer onto two, so the end of three is the open D string and then the downbeat of four is the third fret of the low E with that quarter step bend, four and. So it ends the same way as the third measure and then that whole thing just repeats…

John Fogerty Lick -3 Fortunate Son

All right and then the last one to look at is the little opening lick for Fortunate Son. So all of these notes, everything that we’re playing here is on the G and the high E strings except at the very end of it. Okay so starting off we’re going to start like here on the fourth fret of the G string and we’re going to pick that slide to six, but we’re going to treat it like a slide from nowhere. So we don’t want we want… and you let that ring. So this is like one and, two, three, four and this is the fifth fret of the high E string with my first finger. So that’s our first measure… Okay, so the second measure is basically the same thing, we’re just going to move it down. So now we’re starting on the second fret and we’re going to slide to the fourth fret and pick up the third fret of the high E string. And then for our third measure we’re going to start off with the G string open and do a hammer on to the second fret… And then pick up the second fret of the high E string. So here I’m using my second and first finger, second and first finger, second and third finger and then the fourth measure is going to be exactly the same thing, but instead of playing the second fret of the high E string, the highest string is open and then we’re going to go to the fifth string. So on the A string on the third fret and I’m going to use my third finger to pick that and just a little quarter step bend and follow it with the open A string and then the whole sequence just repeats…

Okay now the other thing with this is I’m hybrid picking this so the notes on the G string I’m playing with the pick and then I’m using my second finger to pluck the high E string… and then the pick to hit the A string.

Conclusion

All right, so there you have it, three fun and easy licks in the style of John Fogerty. So if you like this lesson be sure to give me a thumbs up and leave a comment down below if you have any questions about this or other guitar related topics. If you’ve not already done so please subscribe to the channel and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss any of the content that we upload throughout the week. Well that is all I have for you today. Thanks for watching and have a great day.