| The concept of playing Lead Guitar can be hard to | | | | factor of a piece of music. Think of something like |
| wrap your head around at first. How do they think that | | | | Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Duh duh duh duuuuuuuuh. |
| fast? How do they move that fast? How do they | | | | Even if you play exactly the same notes, but with the |
| choose those notes? Well, let me give you a few of | | | | wrong rhythm - duh duuuuh duh duh - It's no longer the |
| the tools you'll need to be a shred beast too... | | | | same melody. So when you're creating your 3-5 note |
| Tip #1 - The notes you'll play match with the chords | | | | melodies, work at creating the most interesting |
| you're playing over. So, if you're soloing over a C | | | | rhythms you can rather than the perfect combination |
| major chord (spelled C E G), then those notes are | | | | of notes. Your lines will have a lot more impact that |
| going to work perfectly. The other notes can be in | | | | way. |
| there too, but your emphasis will be on the notes of | | | | Tip #5 - Learn to ornament. Notes and rhythms are |
| the chord. | | | | nice, but it's what you do to the notes that creates |
| Tip #2 - Pick a scale that includes the notes from at | | | | really great musical phrases. Take the time to really |
| least most of the chords you'll be playing over. Let's | | | | learn about bending strings, hammer-ons, pull-offs, |
| say you have a chord progression that goes A D E A. | | | | slides, rakes, vibratos, palm muting, etc. A line played |
| Spell those chords out first: | | | | straight is like a Christmas tree with nothing on it. Add |
| A - A C# E | | | | some of those decorations and you'll start to realize |
| D - D F# A | | | | your own voice as a player. |
| E - E G# B | | | | Tip #6 - To gain speed, slow down. Take one of your |
| Which scale includes those three sharp notes? A | | | | 3-5 note phrases and work on it with a metronome at |
| major. You can use an A major scale to solo over | | | | a slow speed. Once you can play it perfectly 5 times |
| that whole progression and you'll be just fine. When | | | | in a row, bump your metronome up one notch. That's |
| you start to encounter progression that don't all easily | | | | only a couple of beats per minute and your brain won't |
| fit into one scale, you'll simply pick another scale (in the | | | | realize you've gotten faster. Get it solid the same way |
| same way) to play over the chords that don't fit your | | | | at that speed then bump it up again. Eventually you'll |
| original one. | | | | have it up to the speed you want it at. It seems like it |
| Tip #3 - Start with small groups of notes. When you | | | | takes longer this way, but really you're accomplishing |
| see a player blazing all over the fretboard it looks like | | | | much more in way less time. |
| they're playing a lot of notes all at once. What is | | | | The bottom line here is that some work has to be put |
| actually happening, and what you want to do, is take | | | | in at the beginning. And you may come back the next |
| small groupings of 3-5 notes and create a phrase out | | | | day and you've fallen a couple steps back. Learning |
| of that. Then create more of those little 3-5 note | | | | music (and anything else) is always "two steps |
| melodies. When you string them together, they'll appear | | | | forward, one step back". If you're consistent in your |
| to form much larger phrases. But you're still thinking of | | | | practice your starting point each time will be closer to |
| the small phrases linking one to the next. | | | | your goal. So keep at it and be sure to check out the |
| Tip #4 - Think rhythmically. Rhythm is the defining | | | | resource in my sig for more great guitar tips! |