Nuno's Trick Bag - Funk/Rock Licks

Welcome to this "Lick-tutorial". Now, even though this was meant to be a lick-tutorial, you know me, I always press the need for real world applications and conceptual understanding of every little thing you learn! So, I felt I had to record these licks and tricks over a backing track (as the title suggest in the style of Funk/Rock-Maestro Nuno Bettencourt, spiced up with some "me" in there). Now, I could have recorded this over one of my own tunes. However, I always want to press the importance of being able to make your licks and ideas flow over ANY style backing, however cheesy or "groove-less" you might find it. So, I opted to use some free loops in Garageband and string them together to a short Funk/blues backing. You should try these licks over ANY backing you have lying around, in ANY tempo or key. If you find it hard to get them to flow in other (perhaps slower) tempos, you'll probably want to re-visit my Timing and Note Value Alterations tutorials, since the key is often to be able to alter the basic note value of the ideas to make them groove in any situation! Sit back and watch through this performance, and then we'll go into the the breakdown part.