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For the past few weeks, Guitar Techniques have been posting sections of this bumper feature showing you how to dramatically increase your rock soloing potential, and boost your fingerboard knowledge at the same time. Here, though, are all 50 licks in the same place for the first time. Scroll down for the full tutorial, and check out the gallery for larger tab…

The main focus here in terms of vocabulary is classic rock, which we're going to define for the purposes of this study as pre-Van Halen, so you'll find no eight-finger tapping, no three-octave sweep picked arpeggios and no 32nd-note legato monster licks. What you will find, however, is a choice selection of medium-tempo classic rock phrases that are stylistically diverse, melodically flexible, and display a wide range of articulation and dynamic devices.

They are all also completely useable to guitarists of many levels and in a variety of settings. It's arguable that it's this mid-tempo range phrasing that really establishes the character of a rock guitarist. When the tempo gets cranked up there are generally less workable options.

You'll often find the same fingerings and melodic pathways being adopted by a large number of players, but it's the melodic phrasing and note selection that really allows their personality to shine through.

This study divides the fretboard into five areas, or positions. As the pentatonic scale forms the basis for a huge amount of rock soloing, each area relates directly to the scale's associated CAGED minor form (see below).

Scale diagrams

For each area of activity we have presented ten different ideas - a lick, a melodic fragment, or some form of sequential permutation of the notes. Whilst the pentatonic scale is generally at the core of each idea, we are by no means restricted to it exclusively.

Follow the associated text for each idea and all will become clear. You have two strategic choices when approaching this study. The first is to work through each idea in sequence with a single isolated fretboard position. While we're at it, ensure that you can move each idea through a selection of keys.

It's fair to say that rock styles tend to favour the keys of E, A, D and G, so start with these before eventually aiming for fluency in every key. The second option is to read through the pages, and therefore move along the fretboard horizontally. Moving each associated idea (bends, for example) in sequence through each of the CAGED minor pentatonic shapes.

The beauty of the five-position system

We've purposefully designed each example to be distinctly different from the next, to achieve a spread and balance of musical ideas that forces you to exploit the full range of the fretboard and, most importantly, exploit the individual fingering potential inherent within each form. The beauty of the five-position system is that it gives you some very bold and instantly identifiable visual, aural and physical landmarks when learning new ideas.

You get nowhere by brushing stuff under the carpet, so once you spot a weak area, or fretboard 'blind-spot' you can then take remedial action. Another way to expand your knowledge is to imagine you have to write all of the examples for this lesson, and you can't use any of the ones we've already presented. Go on, we dare you! You'll learn a huge amount in a very short and focused time, we promise you.

First up: area one licks, example tab and playing tips

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