Many guitar players start off intending to learn to play lead guitar, but end up doing rhythm guitar chords most of the time and eventually get involved in the songwriting and composing process since they build the structure of the song.
That does not mean that the aim to learn to play lead guitar must be forgotten - rather it is the right time to advance from chords to mastering the individual notes.
It doesn't matter whether you play an acoustic or electric guitar - the basic chords and notes remain the same and once you develop your creativity with tunes, as a lead guitarist, you will be the one playing those solos in songs with everyone gazing up at you in admiration.
But before you actually get there, you need committed hours of practice to gain that expertise on your fretboard and the perfect sync between your left and right hand.
It is when you are doing this without actually being conscious, that you will free your mind and become creative with the knowledge you have of the chords and notes.
How To Learn To Play Lead Guitar Observe any lead guitarist of your choice.
Their playing appears so effortless.
The lead guitarist is one with the instrument and plays it as if it is an extension of him with total control over the movements.
Most aspiring lead guitarists learn the pentatonic scales first since these produce an open sound.
Similar to major and minor scales they do not have all of the notes of each scale.
The advantage with pentatonic scales is they let you sound good when you play them.
They are very useful in playing solos because of fewer notes.
When you learn to play lead guitar, you will initially focus on the two most common pentatonic scales, which are minor pentatonic scale, the major pentatonic scale.
Once you have the pattern for these scales you can practice them on your fretboard.
You must ensure that you do this on each key.
By increasing your proficiency with this, you will be in a position to identify the key on which the song is played so that you can solo with it.
With this, you must hone your technique so that you can sound good.
Some Tips You Can Use When You Learn To Play Lead Guitar When you practice playing lead guitar, you must constantly assess yourself.
Single note picking is something that you must make a habit of.
Each note stands out when you play lead guitar, and you need to be an expert at all the scales.
Learning and practicing the pentatonic scale will give you a solid foundation when you play those lead guitar solos.
Along with your skill with the five note pentatonic scale progressions, you can charm your listeners with your fretboard.
You can learn a lot of advanced lead guitar riffs by understanding the notes on your fretboard minutely so that you know exactly what to play and when to play it.
Techniques like hammer-on, pull-offs, bends etc can be learned through several string exercises since you must go beyond single note picking.
Tablature is another thing that teaches you the position of each finger on the fretboard - so become an expert at reading it.
When you understand this, you can understand the key to any solo.
Developing any skill means using all the resources you can get, and when you learn to play lead guitar, it's no different.
For advanced techniques, it's worthwhile to get a book that shows you how.
Guitar magazines usually help with tablature solos.
Access them.
Finally, practice hard.