You pull out a pen and sign a check, or a credit card slip. Then later in the day you sign off on a report for work, or a correspondence to a friend.
Each time, your signature looks the same (or fairly close) as it did when you signed before. It's your own mark, uniquely you. It's what separates you from the hordes.
A signature lick on the guitar is very much the same. It is a lick or riff that clearly identifies a song.
It's important to note the difference between a signature lick, and a lead lick.
A lead lick is a series of notes played during an instrumental break in a song. It is the player's interpretation of the music, often done while improvising, and the lead lick notes are played over the song's chord progression.
Conversely, a signature lick is a pre-determined series of notes that are played as an integral part of the song. Quite often, a signature lick is repeated several times throughout the song.
A signature lick is often more melodic in nature, and can sometimes be closely related to the melody of the song.
Even when not following the actual melody, many times a signature lick becomes its own melody, and is as familiar to a listener as the chorus of the song.
In fact, the best signature licks are instantly recognizable. As soon as a listener hears the first few notes, they immediately know what song it is.
One good example of a well known signature lick is in the song "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton.
When you hear the first couple of notes you know what the song is, long before the lyrics begin.
Now, take that same song and just play lead licks over the same chord progression, instead of the signature lick, and you might not know what song it is until you hear the vocals.
Signature licks can also be the intro of a song. Some examples would be "Brown Eyed Girl" (Van Morrison) or "Margaritaville" (Jimmy Buffet).
The key is that they are a melodic "part" of the song, played the same way every time - as opposed to simply improvising a lead "on top" of the song.
If you play in a cover band (or if you aspire to), when learning cover songs it's usually important to learn the signature lick of the song. It's what the listener expects to hear.
I know there are "purists" out there that will disagree with this, but I am not a big fan of learning every lead for every cover song note for note. It's just too much work at my age!
But I am a firm believer in nailing the signature licks. They're that important.
If you are a songwriter, try to put some effort into coming up with signature licks for your own songs. A lot of writers don't do this, and it's one way to make your tunes stand out from the pack.
Regardless of whether you are a gigging musician, aspiring songwriter, or just hanging out picking on the porch - knowing the difference between a "signature" lick, and a "lead" lick, is an important piece of info to keep tucked away in your guitar playing bag of tricks!
