Lead Guitar Lessons – Learn And Master Guitar

Lead guitar lessons are about building the skills you’ll need for fills, solos, intros and all those other moments when the singer takes a break and leaves you as the star of the show. They’re your chance to break away from just chugging away on rhythm and finally show the rest of the world what you can really do. Practically all the guitarists that people have heard of have played lead guitar, but sounding like your heroes takes practise. Practise, and the right information.

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Start Out Right

If you’re just starting out with lead guitar, then you need to get some basics under your belt. It’s no good running off into sweep picked arpeggios and long tapping sequences if you haven’t learned to produce a good vibrato or choose a good note to land on first. The Musician’s Institute Rock Lead Guitar book is a good place to start, as is Hal Leonard’s Beginning Rock Lead Guitar. Those looking for a confident, musical approach to the subject should also seriously consider Guthrie Govan’s Creative Guitar Volume One.

More Advanced Lessons

Eventually, of course, you’ll want something a bit more advanced. You’ll want some lead guitar lessons that push your skills a bit more, and which encourage you to branch out into new areas. Hal Leonard’s Melodic Lead Guitar is a good choice here, as is their Improvising Lead Guitar. Those interested in lead guitar for specific styles should also check out things such as their Metal Lead Guitar series.

Often at this stage you’ll want to experiment with modes and scales. There are vast numbers of books pointing you in the right direction in these areas, and some particularly good ones include Frank Gambale’s Modes No More Mystery, the MJS Total Scales and Applications DVD, and Al Di Meola’s Guide to Chords, Scales and Arpeggios.

Of course, some of you will just be interested in developing pure technique at this point, and there’s plenty of help there too with things like Paul Gilbert’s Intense Rock series or Troy Stetina’s Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar.

Follow Your Heroes

One of the best options here is to copy players you admire, and it’s usually not that difficult to do, since a great many of the best guitarists have appeared in instructional DVDs or written teaching books. Respected player Joe Satriani uncovers many of his best techniques in Joe Satriani- Guitar Secrets, helping you to put together his fluid legato lines and understand his approach to the pitch axis system. Phenomenal shredder Rusty Cooley has his Fretboard Autopsy series, picking apart modern metal techniques and showing you how he gets up to frankly worrying speeds. Those of a jazzer bent should try Hal Leonard’s Larry Carlton guitar masterclass, where he discusses his approach to improvisation and gives some great jazz lead guitar lessons.

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