Greetings! Playing lead guitar is no big mystery, but there are several ways to look at it depending on what kind of sound you're looking for.
The best players in the world have huge libraries, or collections of "licks" (melodic lines) that they can play in all keys. These licks can be small little 4 or 5 note blurbs, or they can be fairly long lines of melodic content. Often they use guitar "tricks" like string bending, hammer-ons and pull-offs inside these licks. If these licks are played on an electric guitar, special effects are often used in the form of effects pedals, or different amp settings.
Leads on an acoustic guitar can contain similar types of lines, but usually you're not dealing with a whole bunch of effects pedals (perhaps some, but not a lot).
The absolute BEST way to learn how to be a genuine guitar "shredder" (That's the common figure of speech -- Yer not runnin' your guitar through a shredding machine), is to listen to your favorite guitarists and try to COPY THEM.
This can be a bit time-consuming at first, but so what -- ya gotta start from the beginning.
But these licks also have a beginning. They start from somewhere. One of these starting points is the major scale.
Having to deal with scale "theory" can be quite a complex, and nasty experience. I gave you some of it in earlier lessons, and I think that's quite enough for now. What I want to do instead is to simply show ya one of them on the guitar.
We are gonna start with the G major scale just because, well, again, ya gotta start somewhere.
Now remember,the G major scale is: G A B C D E F# G. The common, natural chords in this key are G Am Bm C D and Em.
Look at the picture below. I used as example that tied tablature to a notation line. This notation is in 4/4 time (4 beats per measure). There's quarter notes in this example and they all get 1 beat or count. You can see that the example is made up of 2 measures.
You should also see that the tablature below the notation is also divided into 2 measure.
Remember what tablature is. It's the strings on your guitar. The top line is your high E string, followed by B, G, D, A and the low E. The numbers are the frets where your fingers need to go. A "0" means an open string.
To avoid ya'll getting confused about which finger to use on any given note, I want you guys to play in the 1st position.
Position playing matches frets with fingers. For the 1st position, any note played on the:
1st fret uses the 1st finger
2nd fret uses the 2nd finger
3rd fret uses the 3rd finger
4th fret uses the 4th finger
So that means in this example, the first note you will play will be the 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the 6th string followed by:
The open 5th string
The 2nd finger, 2nd fret, 5th string
The 3rd finger, 3rd fret, 5th string
The open 4th string
The 2nd finger, 2nd fret, 4th string
The 4th finger, 4th fret, 4th string
The open 3rd string.
This is one octave (G - G) of the G major scale. Practice this puppy forwards and backwards and MEMORIZE IT!
Then...
Either have someone play, or you play and record some of the usual chord progressions in the key of G.
G C D G (4 strums for each chord over and over)
G Bm C D G (4 strums for each chord over and over)
G Em C D G (4 strums for each chord over and over)
Now play the scale over it:
1. First as just a scale forward and backward.
2. Mess with the order of the notes. In otherwords, start with ANY note inside the scale and then to ANY OTHER note inside the scale etc.
3. Mess with not only the order of the notes but the timing and speed (How long you hold any note and the speed between notes).
Numbers 2 and 3 is where "licks" come from. It will be your imagination that counts here. If you stumble on something that you think sounds cool, practice it over and over and over and over until you have it memorized.
You will then have your 1st "lick" to put into your library.
That's how it's done guys and gals.
Professor Bruno Noteworthy
