Lick of the Day: Smokin'-fast Pentatonic Run by Mark Tremonti

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Today's lick is a fast, descending pentatonic phrase that takes a Shawn Lane-inspired approach to playing single-note runs. This involves the use of individual fingers when moving between notes on neighboring strings located at the same fret, as opposed to employing a more traditional finger "roll" or barring technique. Finger barrés often result in notes ringing together like a chord. By avoiding them, maximum note definition is maintained to create a cleaner-sounding lick.

To grasp this lick's fingering concept, note that you'll be using your fret-hand middle finger to fret the last note in each of the first three quintuplet groups. Doing this will allow your ring finger to jump back and cleanly fret the following note on the adjacent higher string without having to rely on a ring-finger barré to catch the note. An exact play-by-play of my fret-hand fingering is provided by finger prompts in the notation.

The tempo is 132 beats per minute, 94 for slow practice.