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Here is a bluesy lick from Jimi Hendrix. This one comes from the song "The Wind Cries Mary". During this solo, Hendrix improvises over a set of chords that change keys every 4 beats. This lick is towards the end of the solo, and is played over a C# chord. The lick comes mostly out of a C# minor pentatonic scale, but the last note of the lick lands on the 3rd of the C# chord. More on that later, here is the lick.

For more information on how to read this, check out the lesson on reading Internet tablature.

Left hand fingers
    |
    3____    3  1  3____   1 1 3_____  2 
E:---------------------------9-----------------
B:--12b(14)--12-9----------9-------------------
G:-----------------11b(13)-----11b(13)-10------
D:---------------------------------------------
A:---------------------------------------------
E:---------------------------------------------

The red number is the note that you should use as your guide. In this case the red note is a C#.

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If you combine the notes of the C# minor pentatonic scale and the C# major chord, you get this.

Notice how all of the notes of the C# chord are already in the C# minor pentatonic scale, except for one note that is indicated in blue. This is the 3rd of the C# chord.

In a nutshell this means the third note of a C# major scale. You don't really need to fully understand this to make use of this lick. Just think of it as a note that is in the C# chord, but not in the minor pentatonic scale. That just makes it a more interesting note to resolve to.

C# major scale

C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  1

* The numbers indicate which fingers to use

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