An important step in every aspiring guitarist's life is when they realize that in order to improve they will need to learn to play some lead guitar. At a certain point simply learning your favorite rock songs just is not enough, you want to learn to play lead and sound like your favorite guitarists. Learning to play lead guitar takes a lot of practice and dedication, but remember that every guitarist had to go through this learning curve. Below I will discuss three important components that are needed to learn to play lead guitar.
The first step towards learning lead guitar is to learn some scales. Now there are thousands of scales that need to learned, but in the beginning just focus on the pentatonic scale. This is the most commonly used scale in rock and other styles of music and is probably the easiest to learn. There are five basic patterns and you should practice all five for at least 10-20 minutes a day until you can perform them without having to think about the pattern or look at your fret board. Start with the first pattern in a key and then when that is learned move on to the next pattern. When I first learned them I practiced one scale pattern a week for five weeks and haven't had to worry about them since.
The second step is to get a good tab book of some of your favorite solo's and begin to pick them out by ear. Make sure you have a decent recording of the solo and start with a few of the licks you really like. This process will really improve your playing. You will want to make sure you note what scale pattern is being used for each lick and how they are played. You could also look into getting a dictionary of rock or blues or jazz licks. I personally do not like them, but I have used them before. The more licks you can learn the better.
Lastly, you need to begin practicing the art of improvisation. Spend about 10 minutes or maybe 20 minutes of you practice session jamming to your favorite songs. You will want to record yourself playing along with the progression if at all possible. Another way to practice this is to create your own rhythm parts to record and then solo over it. Try to sing your solo as you play it and try to get to the point where what you sing and what you play is the same. This is probably the hardest skill to master so keep at it because it will make you a master guitarist.
You are going to want to spend about 30-45 minutes a day going through these three practice techniques I've outlined. If you keep at it you will notice a difference in your lead playing within a few weeks. You might be surprised how fast you learn to play lead guitar.
To truly understand the benefit of teaching yourself to play guitar scales you have to go out and try it yourself. I have provided access to a free 6 part series of guitar lessons which will give you in depth knowledge of how to learn to play guitar. By the end of this course you will be able to play along with a band.
To get access to your free online guitar lessons please visit:
http://www.learninghowtoplaytheguitar.info/
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