ARRANGED FOR LAP STEEL IN STANDARD NOTATION & TABLATURE (audio samples below) Note: licks are presented with appropriate backing chords but are not musically analyzed.

Charlie Christian is one of the most important figures in the history of the electric guitar and a highly influential performer whose music helped bridge the transition from swing jazz to Bebop. His driving, dynamic single-string solos helped bring the electric guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. Charlie’s recordings with the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941 were hugely influential to the careers of many jazz guitarists like Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow and thousands more, as well as those of Western Swing guitarists like Junior Barnard, and steel players such as Joaquin Murphey. 

While many of Charlie’s licks and runs are derived from common chord positions and arpeggios, his rhythmic delivery of these ideas made him one of swing’s most exciting soloists. These 27 licks lie perfectly on the steel guitar neck in C6th tuning (and can be easily transposed to A6th).