I suck at lead - where do I begin

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stumplegriltskin
  • Start date Start date
In order to be good at lead, u must know where you u need to go with your fingers.

1) know the chord progression your soloing over. Determine which scale works over the progression.

Always land on chord tones. (Ex: if soloing over 12 bars of just an E chord. Pick the E minor scale. Stay within the scale framework. Land on/resolveto --the notes---E,G or B. (The 1/3/5 of the chord) they will always work. And are easy for your ears to comprehend. If playing over a progression,when the chord changes,land a root note on beat one of the change. Ex: E played 8 times then change to A for 8. Once the chord changes from E to A, land an A note(use vibrato,listen). Then play the chord tones. Ex:A/C/E.

Nothing changes overnight.youll get out of it what u put into it.

Any questions PM me.
 
Stop playing anything but the little strings. If you are a skilled rythym player, I bet the tiny strings jack with your picking.

Tell yourself "I will only practice lead technique every time I pick up the guitar." Your rythym skill set will still be there. Make yourself play note progressions, not chord progressions. Don't get frustrated and blow through some killer Gary Holt rythyms to make you feel better. Just keep sucking on lead technique until you get one down, then move on to another. Gotta put the same thousand hours into the lead crap you did to hone that killer rythym.
 
Candiria":m7t41c7s said:
This is me dude. I've never had a hard time trying to learn something, but I just cannot retain music theory. I started playing about 12 years ago, with a 7 year hiatus sprinkled in, and I still cannot retain simple things like scales. I legit only know 2 positions of the minor pentatonic, and that's it. It's frustrating as hell to be not be able to get things from your head to your hands easily because you don't know where you're going. I was honestly thinking about taking guitar lessons because I've never had any.
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Man, you sound like me. I started playing in 1985 and immediately was in a band in high school. Something about scales and theory reminds me too much of Math. Between that an ADD, I just can't focus on learning something. That's the downside.

The upside is that it forced me to play more by "feel" and improvising. That can be a good or bad thing, depending. I'll have friends say how great I can play, shredding thru parts, etc. but the reality is that I'm literally flying by the seat of my pants.

To the original poster, if you can retain than I agree with learning the scales. With that said, jamming to a backing track and improvising will teach you how to really let loose.
 
still to this day I would give up some of the theory and stuff learned at berklee if I could have the phrasing and vibrato of Michael Schenker. Just keep coming back to this guy and not really sure he knows what he is doing theory wise, but he certainly creates great solos. worth listening to for influences. I think his hero was Leslie West, another amazing vibrato and box player with 2-3 finger technique. Listen to him too. Hendrix was mentioned too, genius.
 
I would also add that you can get some good help from any of Troy Stetina's materials. Very good stuff. His Sound and Story dvd is excellent as is Mark Tremonti's. Rusty Cooley has a couple of very good dvd's out there as well. Troy Stetina has a book called fretboard logic which is helpful as well. Those are some great starting places. Record yourself all the time even if the recording quality is poor and listen to yourself grow. It will help you. A metronome is a great thing as well. Learn to improvise and chase after the melodies in your head and get them down on the fretboard. It will be a great season of growth and creativity. Think long term and big picture. Have fun!
 
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