Quick Licks - In The Style of Brian Setzer

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Steve Trovato Tutor, Professional Guitarist

Course Content Overview

This course delivers rockabilly guitar licks in the style of Brian Setzer, each broken down by Steve Trovato with clear, step-by-step instruction. Every lick draws directly from the techniques and musical vocabulary that define Setzer’s iconic sound — from the swinging, jazz-inflected lines of his Stray Cats recordings to the full-throttle showmanship of his orchestral work. A high-quality Brian Setzer style rockabilly guitar backing track is included, giving you the opportunity to put every technique into musical context from day one.

The techniques covered in this course include:

• Whammy Bar Tricks — The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece is as much a part of Brian Setzer’s identity as his Gretsch guitar, and this course teaches you how to use it with the same flair and control that Setzer brings to every performance. From subtle, expressive dips that add colour to sustained notes, to dramatic pitch drops and full-throttle dive bombs, you will learn how to make the whammy bar a genuine expressive tool rather than a gimmick — exactly the way Setzer does.
• Double Stop Bends — A cornerstone of rockabilly and blues guitar, double stop bends are used throughout Setzer’s playing to add harmonic richness and aggressive energy to his solos. You will learn how to bend two strings simultaneously while maintaining pitch accuracy and tonal coherence, building the kind of confident, powerful technique that makes Setzer’s licks so immediately impactful.
• Vibrato — Setzer’s vibrato is nuanced, controlled, and deeply musical — adding a vocal, singing quality to sustained notes that draws the listener in. This course teaches you how to develop a consistent and expressive vibrato technique, modulating speed and intensity to suit the musical moment, whether you’re playing a slow, smouldering ballad or a high-energy rockabilly burner.
• Unison Bends — One of the most distinctive sounds in Setzer’s toolkit, unison bends involve bending one string up to match the pitch of an adjacent string, creating a tense, harmonically charged effect that is immediately recognisable. You will learn how to execute these with the precision and control needed to replicate Setzer’s most iconic solo moments.
• Single-String Bop Runs, Chord Substitutions, and Rockabilly Fingerpicking — Beyond the headline techniques, this course also covers a range of supporting skills drawn from the jazz, swing, and blues traditions that inform Setzer’s playing, giving you a comprehensive and musically rich rockabilly guitar education.

This Course is Ideal for Players Who...

This course is the ideal choice for guitarists who want to:

• Learn authentic rockabilly guitar licks and techniques in the style of Brian Setzer
• Develop a deeper understanding of rockabilly and swing guitar soloing and improvisation
• Build expressive whammy bar, double stop bend, and vibrato skills rooted in the rockabilly tradition
• Explore the jazz and blues influences that underpin Setzer’s unique musical approach
• Study with a professional instructor who delivers clear, practical, and musically intelligent tuition
• Access a structured online guitar course they can follow at their own pace, from home
• Practise in a real musical context using an included rockabilly guitar backing track

What will I achieve from completing this course?

Quick Licks - In the Style of Brian Setzer works because it treats rockabilly guitar as the sophisticated, multi-layered art form it truly is. Steve Trovato doesn’t just show you where to put your fingers — he unpacks the musical logic behind each lick, explaining how Setzer draws on jazz harmony, blues phrasing, and the raw rhythmic drive of early rock ‘n’ roll to create something that is genuinely greater than the sum of its parts. That depth of musical understanding is what separates a guitarist who can play Setzer licks from one who truly understands them.

The course is built around a focused, practical methodology that has made Licklibrary.com one of the most trusted names in online guitar tuition. By concentrating on 35 carefully chosen licks that collectively cover the full breadth of Setzer’s technique, you will build a solid, transferable rockabilly guitar vocabulary that you can apply in your own playing, your own improvisations, and your own musical context. The inclusion of a dedicated backing track means that from your very first session, you are playing music — not just running exercises — and that makes all the difference to how quickly and how deeply these techniques become part of your playing.

Brian Setzer’s style is one of the most rewarding in all of guitar music to study, precisely because it rewards both technical ambition and musical curiosity. The more you dig into it, the more you find — layers of jazz sophistication, blues expressiveness, and rockabilly energy that keep revealing themselves the deeper you go. This course gives you the tools, the guidance, and the musical context to start that journey properly. Licklibrary.com’s flexible, on-demand format means you can revisit any lesson as many times as you need, working through the material at a pace that suits your schedule and your ambitions as a guitarist.