Can anyone give me advice on how to play lead and do learn how to do guitar solo's and stuff like that? I've gotten pretty good with chord progressions but I'm kind of stuck learning to play lead. Any words of advice?

just get good tabs and slowly work on it. do easy stuff like hybrid rainbow first, and eventually you'll be playing crazy good stuff.

Just keep on practicing. You won't suddenly "get" how to play lead.

One thing that will help you (though it may seem difficult at first) is alternate picking. Try practicing your scales while picking up, then down, up, down, up, down...instead of just downpicking the entire time.

Yeah, just work on some scales and stuff. Mess around.

scales are hard at first but definitely necessary. i've recently started working on them and noticed a huge improvement in my imrov.

where could I find these scales on the internet?

[quote="kininku buster"]where could I find these scales on the internet?[/quote]

you wont, they're on the guitar.

I know that.... But I need to know specific scales... that work together. You're not helping btw. ~_~

just search "guitar scales" or something on google.

generally, you use the main key of the chord progression for notes for the lead or notes from chords that are consonant with the main chord. or the chord the rhythm is playing at the time. i think.

http://www.cyberfret.com/scales/guitar-codex/index.php

i use guitar-codex... i've even saved it to my computer and made a link that will open the applet up in a new firefox window. it's really really useful.

start with pentatonic minor. it's the easiest and most versatile. my next pick would be major... but that one is harder to play and memorize... i only have two modes of that memorized... after that i plan on minor, but i'm not too sure. once you know pentatonic minor up and down the fretboard, you'll feel like you can play over anything, and you can... it's just that you don't have TOO much variance in what you play.

that's my $.02.

Half steps between notes 3 and 4, and 7 and 8.

;B

YOU COULD LEARN THE CHROMATIC JAZZ SCALE!!@1

Thanks guys, I found some scales online. I'll praticing on my free time, hopefully I will get better at these scales.

I have one more bit of advice to give. scales are key to learning to improv, but you also need just plain finger exersices to gain more finger strength and agility.

these are the finger exersices I do.

- each number is the finger number.
- play up and down all 6 strings on one fret from fret 12 down to 1 and back up to 12 again.
- do the first run with alternate picking, then with down picking, then up picking, and then with alternate picking again.
- it's good to use a metronome, but if not try keep a steady beat.
- play each note clearly, if you mess up start that fret over again.
- then after the finger exercises practice your scales the same way like your life depends on it.
- don't get bored.

[code]|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
|-1-2-|-1-3-|-1-4-|-2-3-|-2-4-|

|-------|-------|-------|-------|
|-------|-------|-------|-------|
|-------|-------|-------|-------|
|-------|-------|-------|-------|
|-------|-------|-------|-------|
|-1-2-3-|-2-3-4-|-1-2-4-|-1-3-4-|

|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
|-1-2-3-4-|-1-3-2-4-|-1-2-4-3-|-1-4-2-3-|-etc-...-|

|-------------|-------------|--------------|-----------------|
|-------------|-------------|--------------|-----------------|
|-------------|-------------|--------------|-------4-1-------|
|-----4-1-----|-----4-1-----|-----3--1-----|-----3-----2-----|
|---3-----3---|---2-----2---|---2------2---|---2---------3---|
|-1---------4-|-1---------4-|-1----------3-|-1-------------4-|[/code]

I've noticed that the last part especially gives me good string hitting accuracy. I just need to work on my finger strength.

I usually practice for like 1 or 2 hours when I actually get around to it. I've been doing this for just about over a year and my skills have gone up considerably.

Make sure you learn the scales and all of the modes, so you can quickly play in any key, anywhere on the fretboard. Also, learn the notes on at least the sixth and fifth strings so you can easily find barre chords; this also helps you determine what key you're playing in. Works well for me. I almost never use tabs anymore.

[quote="Overburn"] - play up and down all 6 strings on one fret from fret 12 down to 1 and back up to 12 again.
- do the first run with alternate picking, then with down picking, then up picking, and then with alternate picking again.
- it's good to use a metronome, but if not try keep a steady beat.
- play each note clearly, if you mess up start that fret over again.[/quote]

the descent is way fucking harder than the ascent. especially with my gimping fucking pinky that can't stretch at all. it barely reaches the last knuckle of my ring finger, and yeah...it sucks.

i found that by playing on a shitty acoustic whose strings were really hard to press down, i've gained good finger strength.