John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom

Let’s face it: if you’re trying to learn how to improvise compelling solos, there’s no way around learning how to play the blues. The way the pentatonic scale is used and most of the vocabulary of lead rock playing (including slides, bends, double stops…) have been borrowed from the blues idiom.

And if you wanna get that boogie going, look no further than John Lee Hooker: he invented it! The song Boom Boom has been a classic from Hooker’s repertoire for decades, and the Play Guitar Hits features a simple 12-bar solo in E minor pentatonic that takes you through many classic licks that you should know. Most of them will work in many different contexts and – trust us on that one – you will be glad you’ve worked on them beforehand.