Mike Zito is a blues-rock maestro with a classic rock sensibility – and learning his skills will add a timeless quality to your leads

Mike Zito is one of the co-founders of blues-rock supergroup Royal Southern Brotherhood, alongside Cyril Neville, Devon Allman, Charlie Wooton and Yonrico Scott. In this line-up he shared lead guitar duties with Devon (son of Gregg) Allman, drawing comparisons with Duane Allman and Dickey Betts’ twin-guitar assault in the Allman Brothers Band.

While the Brotherhood was a great outlet for Zito, it was only a matter of time before he struck out on his own. After leaving the band in 2014 Mike continued the upward trajectory of his solo career. He has been prolific in releasing albums full of original songs, and his wonderful singing is supported by a tasteful yet forceful lead guitar style.

While rooted firmly in the blues he wears the influence of his rock guitar heroes on his sleeve, too. The sound of the great Texas guitar players has also found its way into his style, Zito having been a Texas resident for some time now.

Mike’s solo albums feature high-flying guests and stellar rhythm sections, revealing influences from Americana, rock, country, Louisiana swamp, funk and R&B. His wide ranging musical taste is demonstrated by the variety of grooves and chord progressions in his music. He has talked of the influence of Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, and even Van Halen in his early years.

Mike brings a great sense of pace and development to his solos. The maturity in his playing is obvious; he’s in no particular hurry to impress, and yet always manages to hit bullseye. Examine his style and we suspect you’ll discover many licks that are just begging to be ‘borrowed’ and made your own (just as Mike surely did).

Sound-wise, Zito uses a more saturated tone than many blues players and this seems to affect the kinds of lines he plays, too. He often sounds like a great classic rock player due to his long flowing lines and that sense of motivic development. As if this weren’t enough he’s also an accomplished slide guitar player and often uses this to create a more rootsy Southern vibe.

In the following examples, I have introduced a range of approaches typical of Mike Zito. In the chord progression that dominates the solo there is consistent use of the tonic A minor pentatonic with occasional blues scale inflections, Prince-style pentatonic double-stops and much more.

Mike’s solos seem to have a timeless quality and I’ve attempted to emulate that sense here, too. Zito sounds like a player that’s used to making records and crafting solos that are meant to stand the test of time. His fantastic use of melodic development is sure to be playing a large part in this, so in your own improvisations always aim to introduce shape, style, and purpose.

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 8, Bass 7, Middle 4, Treble 6, Reverb 4

Mike uses various guitars including Telecasters and PRS, and he’s recently acquired a Ceriatone Overdrive Special tube amp. His use of a heavily driven tone means that you’ll need a powerful overdrive pedal. A clean boost will help too, if you have one. Go for a driving American style amp tone with reverb and delay, and try adding light tremolo, as Mike often does.

Example 1

We start with a raucous double-stop and then work around the A minor pentatonic scale. This is a classic Zito-style line ending with a perfect blues move.

Example 2

Here the phrasing is vocal and more rhythmic. This vocal style of phrasing really helps Mike to ‘sell’ a solo.

Example 3

The inflections are the key to the sound here. The pre-bend from Eb to D in the first bar is another classic Zito move, reminiscent of Brian May.

Example 4

This starts with a motif that is repeated in the second bar. After that we get a line that uses A minor pentatonic harmonised in double-stops, as Prince might.

Example 5

This idea is a move that you’ll often hear Mike use – a double-stop on the minor 3rd and 5th of Am9. Be consistent with the held bend in bars 3 and 4 of the lick.

Example 6. Solo

Here is where the previous examples come together for a final solo. While it’s largely based around A minor pentatonic shape 1, and a little of shape 4 higher up the fretboard, this familiar terrain will still show some fresh and vibrant phrasing ideas that you can add to your own lead playing.