How to Turn Other Guitarists' Licks Into Your Own Improvisation
A lick is a short, memorable phrase taken from someone else's solo or transcribed by ear (see [[how-to-learn-guitar-solos-by-ear:the article on transcribing solos by ear]]). Playing it note for note is a legitimate way to learn, but the real goal is turning that ready-made material into part of your own vocabulary, not mechanically reproducing someone else's.
Shift the lick into a different key
Pentatonic shapes are movable - the exact same finger pattern, shifted to a different root, gives you the lick in a different key (see the article on transposing). Take a lick transcribed in one key and play it from a different root - the finger shape doesn't change, only where you start does.
Change the rhythm, keep the notes
Play the same set of notes from the lick with a different rhythmic pattern - stretch it over more beats, compress it into half the time, add a pause where the original had none (see the article on building phrases). The notes stay recognizable, but the phrase stops being an exact copy.
Take only part of the lick
You don't have to use the whole lick - take just its beginning or its most memorable detail (usually 2-3 notes) and build your own continuation around it. This is exactly how licks from different guitarists gradually become part of a shared vocabulary of techniques, rather than staying separate quotes.
Blend two licks into one
Take the beginning of one transcribed lick and the ending of another - if both sit in the same pentatonic position, physically connecting them isn't hard, and the result no longer fully matches either source. It's the fastest way to get something that sounds familiar without being a direct quote.
The test: is the source still recognizable
After a couple of changes, play the result for someone who knows the original - if the lick is no longer recognizable as a direct quote but still sounds musical, the changes are enough. If it still sounds like 'that solo from X', keep changing the rhythm, the notes, or the context the lick is used in.
Try it in practice
Open chord trainer