Sunday, November 30, 2008

7 Tips To Help Improve Playing Lead Guitar

By Joss Schuyler

It takes more than a natural talent to play a lead guitar it also takes time dedicated to learning the theory and techniques of playing the instrument. Many people have learnt how to play a lead guitar and are now looking to improve their skills, but some find it easier than others. In this article we provide some tips which you make find useful in the future to help improve your playing lead guitar.

Tip 1 - For you to learn how to become a great lead guitarist you have to learn the basics of playing it first. Although the basics of guitar playing may seem boring and not worth bothering about, then you need to rethink what you consider is important. If you don't learn the basics then when it comes to playing lead guitar well you find it is very difficult indeed.

Tip 2 - Okay so the great lead guitarist will stand up and jump around the stage when playing, but this is not the best way to learn. It is much easier if you actually sit down in a comfortable chair when carrying out your lessons or when you practice. If you are relaxed you will find it much easier to retain information and you won't tire so quickly when you need to practice for some time.

Tip 3 - You need to make sure that you discipline yourself to carry out practice when you should. Therefore if you decide that each day you are going to spend 45 minutes practicing then make sure that you keep to this and don't slope off 10 or 20 minutes before you should.

Tip 4 - Although economy picking is easier it is far better if you also learn alternate picking. If you do not learn this technique then you are going to find it more difficult to learn more complex techniques or faster pieces of music. With alternate picking you are learning how to alternate between the down and up strokes as you pick the guitar strings. It takes time but you will soon be playing these picks in an automatic way and the speed at which you pick the strings will increase.

Tip 5 - You must dedicate time to learning the many different techniques associated with playing lead guitar, which means you need to learn how to play bends, slides, vibratos, hammer ons, pull offs and the other kinds of tricks that lead guitarist use. Learning these techniques will help to make your guitar playing more colorful and will help to make it more expressive.

Tip 6 - To play guitar solos of any kind you need to learn the scales and learn how to play them repeatedly. The scales that are most commonly used by guitarists these days are the E Blues and Pentatonic scales. If you can learn these you can then use them as a framework for your playing and also can help you to create your own music.

Tip 7 - This final tip for playing lead guitar is of course for many the most important and is the one that says that you should practice, practice, and practice. The more time you spend on practicing a piece then you will find it much easier to remember and over time you will find them much easier to play. It is best when you start learning to play each piece you do so slowly at first and then build up the speed of playing them using a metronome. - 15615

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