Quick Licks - Santana: Infusing Blues with Spanish Flair

"Quick Licks - Santana" is an exceptional guitar lesson series by Stuart Bull that is tailored for players seeking to infuse their blues licks with the distinct Spanish influence characteristic of Carlos Santana's style. This series not only provides a deep dive into techniques like legato, vibrato, and string bending, but it also uniquely focuses on how these elements are blended with a Spanish flair to create Santana's signature sound.

What You Will Learn In This Course

35 killer blues and fusion style licks in the style of Carlos Santana. This course also includes a backing track to play over. The techniques you will learn include:

• Legato
• Vibrato
• String Bending
• Adding a Spanish Influence to Blues

Technique Breakdown

Legato

Legato, a technique involving smooth and connected note transitions, is foundational in Santana's playing style. It typically involves the use of hammer-ons and pull-offs to create fluid lines that flow effortlessly across the fretboard. This technique reduces the pick's involvement, resulting in a more connected and lyrical phrase. Mastering legato can significantly enhance the expressiveness of your playing, allowing you to execute fast runs and complex passages with ease and elegance.

Vibrato

Vibrato, the slight fluctuation of pitch around a note, is crucial in Santana's expressive toolkit. His use of vibrato is deeply emotive, adding a vocal-like quality to the guitar's voice. In this series, you'll learn to control the depth and speed of your vibrato, enabling you to infuse each note with more soul and feeling. This technique is vital for bringing out the character in slower, more melodic passages.

String Bending

String bending is another cornerstone of Santana's style, used to add intensity and emotion to his playing. Bends can mimic the human voice's nuances, providing a powerful tool for emotional expression. These lessons focus on executing bends with precision and feeling, ensuring each bend accurately hits the intended pitch and sustains the right amount of tension.

Adding Spanish Influence to Blues Licks

One of Santana's most distinctive qualities is his ability to blend traditional blues licks with Spanish influences. This fusion creates a unique sound that sets his playing apart. You'll learn how to incorporate Spanish scales and rhythms into your blues playing, adding a new dimension to your guitar vocabulary. This approach not only broadens your stylistic range but also opens up a world of creative possibilities.

Practicing Over a Backing Track: The Real-World Context

Each lick is practiced over a backing track, providing a real-world context for the techniques you're learning. Playing with a backing track helps you understand how these licks fit into a musical framework, improving your timing and rhythmic feel. It also encourages improvisation and experimentation, essential skills for any aspiring guitarist.

Carlos Santana’s Guitar Style

Carlos Santana is renowned for his soulful, melodic guitar playing, which seamlessly blends elements of Latin American music with traditional blues and rock. His style is characterized by sustained notes, expressive bends, and a distinctive tone achieved through his guitar and amplifier choices. By studying Santana's techniques, guitarists can explore new ways of expressing emotion through their instrument, transcending conventional genre boundaries.

The Benefits of Learning These Techniques

By mastering these techniques, guitarists can:

• Achieve a more fluid and expressive playing style with legato.
• Enhance the emotional impact of each note with controlled vibrato.
• Express deeper feelings through precise and soulful string bending.
• Broaden their musical palette by integrating Spanish elements into blues licks.

Guitar Techniques Used in "Quick Licks - Santana"

The "Quick Licks - Santana" series will enhance your skills in the following techniques:

• Legato
• Vibrato
• String Bending
• Alternate Picking

Dive into "Quick Licks - Santana" and embrace the opportunity to expand your expressive capabilities on the guitar. These lessons offer more than just technical proficiency; they provide a pathway to infuse your blues playing with the unique, soulful essence of Carlos Santana's iconic guitar style.