Important lessons to learn before learning licks

Mastering the kill of playing solo licks is not an easy task. Before learning to play licks you need to know all the possible scales that can be played on the major keys. Further, you also need to know about the pentatonic scales. Pentatonic scales are used in most of the guitar solos. Only when you are able to understand these concepts, learning to play lead guitar licks will not be a difficult task any more.

Another important aspect that you need to learn before mastering to play the licks is locating the key of a particular song.

Locating the key of your solo will help you in playing effective licks that will get you audience appraisal and acknowledgment.

Learning all these lessons will require some time. So, you need to have a lot of patience and at the same time you need to practice your guitar solos regularly to achieve your goal of playing solo licks professionally.

Blues Scale

The Blues scale is one of the most important scales that are frequently used in playing lead guitar licks on an acoustic guitar. As such you need to master this technique. Try practicing this scale backward and forward by using the alternative picking techniques. Trying different ways to play this scale, will give a variety to your playing style. The more you practice solo licks combinations, the more unique and original your playing style will be!

So do consider these important suggestions quite seriously if you really want to play guitar solo licks effectively. Just improvise on these tips that have been mentioned above and observe the difference in time.

Find Out More About Guitar Solo Riffs? You Can Get Lessons to Playing Guitar Solos Here.

Author: Jennifer Harrisson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Start by learning the terminology used. Solos often involve small common techniques – hammer-on, bends, etc. – that give them the distinct “solo-ish” sound. Practice those techniques individually, learn what they’re called – so that when you run into them in a solo you want to learn, you won’t need to learn two things at the same time.

As you learn more and more solos, you’ll notice how they all usually consist of similar, repeating pieces.

Learn these pieces one by one. Don’t try to learn the whole solo at once. After you learn the individual pieces enough to play them without thinking much about what you’re doing, then you can start putting them together. Start by playing slowly and go faster as you get better (but be sure to always maintain the rhythm).

Learn basic chord and note progressions (riffs). Each riff can have multiple variations. Practice how to go from one riff to another.

Get a feeling for how different riffs sound together. Learn how to place and move your fingers, so that you’ll have no trouble playing or changing riffs.

You’ll notice that as you learn more riffs and solos, your “library” of pieces that make up a solo grows. Over time it gets easier to learn each additional solo, because you will have already learnt the pieces that comprise it. And as you get a feel for what riffs work well with what, you’ll be able to create your own solos.

If you want to learn How to Play Guitar Solos like a PRO quickly and painlessly, check out Virtual Guitar Lessons and discover easy and fun step-by-step video guitar lessons.

Author: Tony Benton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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If you’re looking to improve your skills as a guitarist and need to learn more about how to play guitar solos, you may want to think about the effects you use.

What Effects do you use? I’ll tell you straight up you can do great leads with little or no effects, but you can really take it to the next level with a couple of simple effects such as Delay and the trusty old Wah pedal. The next time you want to experiment with a lead, simply try a subtle delay and play around with the toggle switch on your guitar to get the right tone – this alone in most cases can be enough to get a great lead sound! Also play around with the speed of the delay itself to give you different atmospheres, and you’ll be surprised at how inspired you get!

One thing to remember too, whenever you use an effect such as delay it can cover up minor mistakes in your playing (which is good live but can make you a sloppy player), so make sure you practice without the effects as well so your playing stays sharp.

If you want to learn how to play guitar solos effectively, you need to make all your notes ‘crisp’ regardless of how slow or fast the playing is.

The Wah pedal can be a great addition to any solo, as it brings out more light and shade in your playing than most other pedals on the market. A lot of effects racks with a full range of different effects built in will have some form of Wah effect, and are usually quite good.

I personally prefer the stand alone pedal as I find it is more specialised for the job and produces a better result (this is just my preference, use what you feel comfortable using). A general tip – when using the Wah, use the pedal sparingly and focus on opening up the sound as you play the accents, this will give it more of a punch. If you use a Wah pedal already you know the awesome sounds it can produce, if not, try it out in a guitar shop when you get a chance!

These are just two ways you can make your leads more effective, regardless of the notes you choose – just by tweaking your sound a little. Get in the habit of trying new effects, and trying old effects in new ways. When learning how to play guitar solos, anything you can use that separates you from the competition will get you noticed!

Glenn Bird is a Guitarist who specializes in Lead Guitar, and who’s mission is to teach other guitarists how to play guitar solos and compose their own music more effectively, regardless of Style.

How to Play Guitar Solos

Easy Guitar Lesson

Author: Glenn Bird
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Think about it, a lot of guitarists choose a hassle free guitar without the tremolo due to the tuning issues sometimes associated with it, but these are easily fixed and how can you compare with the sounds they can produce? Quite simply, you can’t.

Here we’ll look at the top 5 techniques you can practice when learning how to play guitar solos using a whammy bar, that when practiced with accuracy and patience will give you an edge over the majority of other players. One little side note before we go through it – A lot of people think that it’s a random thing using the whammy bar because of the drastic variation of sound it can produce, but when practicing it will really help you to gain full control of it so you can use it however you wish when the time arises.

Let’s look at the 5 techniques:

1)      Soft Vibrato – Either after or during playing the note hold the bar and gently rock it in a timing that fits with what you’re playing. For the greatest ease hold the bar while playing the note instead of going for it after.

2)      Hard Vibrato – The same technique as the first but played with more intensity. This can also be used as a combination with the Dip technique – try playing a chord and using vibrato while slowly depressing the bar at the same time.

3)      Dips – A Dip is simply a soft depression of the bar and can be played a number of ways. One way that is very useful is to depress the bar slightly before playing the note and then as you play the note, ease back on the bar to release it to its original position.

4)      Dives – Now we’re getting into the fun stuff! Dives are caused by playing the note and immediately after depressing the bar down evenly until you reach the desired note. You can depress it all the way until the strings hang loose for greater effect, and if you want to make a real impact follow it with the next technique.

5)      Squeals – After you have completed the dive, tap a natural harmonic on either the 5th, 7th or 12th Frets and raise the bar back to the original position to create a squeal, and add some vibrato at the end to intensify it. If you want to make it even more intense then pull back hard on the bar to raise the pitch of the squeal even more!

Try these out in your next practice session and mix and combine the ideas. The harmonics don’t have to be natural either; if you know artificial harmonics then the squealing can be even more intense!

Glenn Bird is a Guitarist who specializes in Lead Guitar, and who’s mission is to teach other guitarists how to play guitar solos and compose their own music more effectively, regardless of Style.

Try not getting into unnecessary theory, and steer clear of unimportant technicalities. Learn only what is relevant and important, you will get there faster. As soon as you learn some fresh concepts like, bends or riffs or anything else, first give it a few days of practice.

Then, straight away plunge into a song which is preferably a popular one, and also incorporates these concepts. The moment you play a song you identify with the concepts easily. They don’t seem that difficult any more. Above all, this gives you the confidence to go solo. If you just concentrate on picking up the concepts, and plan to turn to songs at the end of your course, chances are that you might run into lot of confusion and also be low on confidence.

If you are looking to really accelerate your progress, it’s advisable to avoid getting into the intricacies of the music notation or language. A majority of professionals, especially those who play the rock form, are not well versed in this. You might learn the “TAB” instead, as this is specifically meant for guitar. It’s also much easier to learn as it uses fret numbers.

The simplest way to bail you out of this situation is to make a simple melody yourself, using a maximum of three to four notes. Play this along with some songs, till you get the rhythm right. An easy piece might not be unique but your success in this will definitely help in killing your fear to play guitar solos.

Find Out More About Playing Guitar Solos? You Can Get Lessons to Playing Lead Guitar Here.

If you want to learn how to play guitar solos like the pros do, there are a few things you need to focus on in your practice sessions, and once these have been mastered everything you do from here will sound professional. Surely that’s better than just being able to play a couple of things here and there!

There is one element that covers everything you will learn on the guitar, and this you need to master or you will fail with every song you attempt, and that is Control.

Control simply means being in charge of the notes you choose rather than the guitar telling you what you can and can’t play which funny enough is how a lot of musicians play. The three areas of control with your playing are:

Playing the note cleanly – When you learn how to play guitar solos it’s important to break it down into small sections at a time so you can practice individual patterns.

When you practice these patterns, because they consist of only a few notes each you have a greater chance of controlling each single note and playing it cleanly. Do this with a metronome and then increase the speed to normal speed and you’ll have a series of clean patterns that you can play together to make one crazy guitar solo!

Staying on your chosen note – This may sound odd to some, but because the strings are easy to bend it means you can go off note fairly easily.

If you choose to go off note by sliding, bending or just simple vibrato, then practice doing so smoothly and landing on the desired note at the end. The key once again is control of the individual note and knowing and practicing how it should sound as an end result.

Controlling the Intensity – As well as being able to play cleanly and stay on note, a good solo comes from the feel that the player puts into it, and this comes from controlled intensity. Practice the level of attack when you hit the note, the timing, and the mood you want to achieve to match the overall song as a whole. Accents also fall under this bracket as well, and need to be thought of to bring light and shade to the mix.

When learning how to play guitar solos it’s vital to practice as a professional would, otherwise you may pick up bad habits, and you know what practiced bad habits become – annoying!

One question to think about – Do professional guitarists become so after they get noticed, or do they get noticed because they practice professionally to start with? All the best with your practice, and make every note count!

Glenn Bird is a Guitarist who specializes in Lead Guitar, and whose mission is to teach other guitarists how to play guitar solos and compose their own music more effectively, regardless of Style.

For more tips and lessons on playing Guitar Solos, check out http://www.howtoplayguitarsolos.net.

For starters, a musician needs to be well versed in the various facets of music. The best place to start in this regard is of course familiarizing oneself with scales and notations. Once you get to know your way about the fret board reasonably well, it gets easier to play anything and everything.

Scales have the added advantage of being an easy way to learn the various interrelations and progressions of notes.

In this manner, you will be able to understand which notes go well with each other, in addition to building muscle memory which serves to help you to develop your technique, making solo playing effortless and fluid.

When you learn to play guitar solo, you will soon discover that the difference between a good guitarist and a bad one is the feel or emotive quality of their playing.

One very common mistake that beginners make is to cram in too many notes into their solos. A solo saturated with notes is not necessarily a good one. It is to be remembered that it is the right notes, not how many notes that is going to make the difference.

With solo guitar, after a point, dedication is essential. It doesn’t matter if you spend 10 minutes a day, as long as you do it regularly. There are many resources available on the web to help you along. Many websites like learnguitarsolo.com, myguitarsolo.com etc have comprehensive resources for the aspiring solo guitarist. In addition, a Google search will also come up with additional material. Metacafe and YouTube also have videos that serve to instruct as well as inspire. So, as you get deeper into it you will come across various resources to help you in your quest for soloing.

Find Out More About Learn To Guitar Solo? You Can Get Lessons to Guitar Soloing Lessons Here.

When considering what makes an average band so popular, most usually associate it with the lead singer. That seems to be the one that makes the most direct contact with the audience and hence, the most prominent among all band members. Those who play the instruments do not stand out so much.

Still, the guitarists take a significant presence that rivals the singers. Ladies like guitarists simply because the guitar is “hot”. For guys, a guitarist is liked usually because they love listening to solo guitar. One can’t deny that all guys have fantasies about busting out on stage and doing a five-minute solo. For any man, this is his finest moment in life. It’s true that it’s practically encrypted into a male’s DNA. Still, the remaining members play along in the background of the remarkable, creative performance of the guitarist.

If you have a strong desire to learn how to play guitar solo let me put this to you plain and simple.

A guitar solo is like a free style way of playing and thus lacks techniques. Therefore, this is not something I can teach you. The guitar solo resembles “improv” jazz and blues more than any other type of music.

Despite its lack of technique, there is still a lot of preparation necessary to learning how to play a guitar solo. To begin with, your overall guitar playing skills should be equal to that of an advanced or expert level. Unfortunately, this leaves out beginners. Simply solo are much too challenging and can’t be learned in two weeks. Although they may not look so hard, they can’t be played without complex bends, “hammer-ons”, “pull-offs”, or other advanced techniques. Though some of these techniques can be picked up quickly, I still recommend that you learn to play guitar chords and proper strumming techniques first.

Doing this will make the advanced techniques even easier. If you still want to know more about playing guitar solo, you’re free to inquire about “hammer-ons” and “pull-offs”.

To play a guitar solo, a guitarist will use numerous high-end strings, many of which are located on the lower third of the guitar neck. Beginners are accustomed to playing on the top third section of the neck since that is where all the basic chords and power chords are played from. As for solo guitar, they’ll concentrate on the lower third section.

Personally, I love playing on the lower third section of the neck, but keep in mind that sometimes it can be more difficult. This is because the frets in this section are closer together than those at the top. Those will long or thick fingers are more prone to accidentally bumping into the fret.

Playing guitar solo will absolutely pose as a speed test to your fingers. Only expert strummers who can shift through the strings on the guitar neck easily should seriously consider attempting to play a guitar solo. Masters of guitar solo have an ability to change from a slow, melodic solo to a fast and frantic pace. Apparently, the fast and frantic sections are the more difficult to learn so make sure you can keep up before considering to play.

Still, if you’re like me, you’ll want to learn how to play guitar solo too. Isn’t that the reason you picked up the guitar in the first place? Keep in mind that guitar solo take time to learn and are not advised for beginners, unless they’re extremely simple. Learning them can help you expand your horizons. Therefore, you’ll need to learn more scales, become familiar with one or two keys, then learn a few solo you like to get started on.

It’s a quick and dirty way to get started and often an effective tool, but there comes a time when this style of learning guitar solo and playing breaks down. This situation most commonly occurs when guitarists attempt to play jazz or any style of music that involves multiple variations of chord structures.

This “slide rule” concept of moving shapes and patterns usually ends up with the guitarist performing a disjunct non-melodic solo. Having difficulty “making the changes” is a major problem for most guitarists attempting the transition from just playing licks and riffs to becoming a creative guitar improviser.

What is generally lacking for most guitarists is a strong sense of chord tone knowledge.

Horn players generally develop a strong melodic chord tone sensibility in the beginning stages of their development, but most intermediate to advanced guitar students are in the dark when it comes to chord tone placement and fretboard harmony.

Because of the labyrinth of unisons the guitar fingerboard avails, it truly can be confusing enough to make a Zen master cry.

To develop this chord tone sensibility, start by taking a chord progression and develop a clear melodic solo using only chord tones. At first this will tend to be quite awkward, as you will not be able to rely on favorite licks or technical fretboard wizardry. It is generally helpful to list the notes in each chord next to the symbol when first attempting this exercise. It’s well worth the hassle as you will be amazed at the creativity and new dimensions your performance abilities will take.

Follow these suggestions and listen to what transpires:

1. Don’t consciously try to play arpeggios.

Use silence as a tool to create mood and form as opposed to filling up the measures with notes.

2. Use as much of the fingerboard as possible. Do not stay in any one area of the guitar for more than a phrase or two. Using the whole neck may feel awkward and goes against the principle of “economy in motion,” but it will give you an individual sound that adds character and definition to your playing.

3. Don’t try to use every note in the chord before it changes. Pick and choose the notes you use by letting your ear be your guide.

4. Don’t get stuck in a rut by using the same chord tones or silences in the same section each time you practice.

5. All chord tones sound good, but the 3rd and 7th degrees define a chord’s texture and will make for the strongest sound. These are often referred to as guide tones or color tones.

6. Stepwise motion (either half or whole) sounds particularly good when chords change.

7. Writing improvisation-style solos is a good academic exercise, but get away from it as soon as possible because it can bog you down. Work off the fingerboard. It’s helpful to make a chart of all the notes on the fretboard to keep in front of you at all times.

8. Take your chord tone solo and, using your ear, play notes connecting your chord tone ideas with scale tones and chromatic approaches. If you’re unsure of what to do, rely on your ear.

9. Record yourself often, but put the tape aside and listen with a constructive ear at a later time. Date your tapes and make a “journal” of phrases and ideas you feel are particularly good. Good players have their own individual library of phrases and sounds that are unique to them. As soon as you can start developing your own phrase library, the better off you are.