Ending lick — D minor
A short call-and-response one-bar phrase that closes on the D root: the call drifts slightly away, the response settles back onto it — a classic closing formula.
Tips
Practice it alone on a loop first until it feels secure, then play it right after an existing riff or improvisation in the same key to hear it as a real closing phrase.
Understanding this type of exercise
What an ending lick isn't
It isn't a riff (it doesn't repeat) or a turnaround (it doesn't send you back — it concludes). It's a melodic punctuation played once, at the end of a riff or solo, descending and landing on the root.
Practical tips and common mistakes
- The phrase lands on the root, not on a tension note: that's exactly what makes it sound like "done".
- Play it right after a riff or an improvisation, never on its own, to hear it in its real place.
- Slowing very slightly on the last two or three notes (rubato) strengthens the ending effect.
- One ending lick per piece: replaying it every time round the grid makes it ordinary and strips its role.
Tablature
Fretboard position
root note other scale note
The same exercise in other keys
Related sheets
- Three-note rolling lick riff — C# minor (Level 4)
- call and response power riff — D (Level 4)
- call and response power riff — A (Level 4)