Becoming a Good Lead Player--Best Approach?

[J the TyranT]

Seriously, when I play solos... people tend to say I sound like Im somewhere between Queensryche, Megadeth, and Skolnick...

And to be honest, that's fuckin fine with me, cuz, ya know, Im still the drummer primary, and I never expected to get that good at guitar... so, its like a bonus.

J

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

To actually learn the rest of the fretboard and have a clue what I'm doing. If you played a riff or chord progression and asked me to improv a solo over it, it would sound like a little kid picking up a guitar for the first time (OK maybe not quite THAT bad, but you get the picture). Now I can write solos note by note and learn them, but I want to be able to just come up with stuff easier and quicker by actually knowing what I'm doing.

Then I'd say learn as many scales as you can...

 

[Matt Lee]

If you played a riff or chord progression and asked me to improv a solo over it, it would sound like a little kid picking up a guitar for the first time (OK maybe not quite THAT bad, but you get the picture). Now I can write solos note by note and learn them, but I want to be able to just come up with stuff easier and quicker by actually knowing what I'm doing.

I'd suggest two things. One is if you haven't already, learning scales but also learn what they harmonize with well. Even if you're not literally playing a Dm7add9 or something, if you understand the basic ideas of harmonization, you can sort of figure out the most appropriate scale for a riff or chord progression you're playing over. Like if my band is playing a riff that's a combination of E5, F5 and G5, and changing too fast to treat it as three separate chords to harmonize, I'd use E Phyrigian over it (first 3 notes of which are E - F - G). I find myself using Phrygian a lot with my band because they looove that minor 2nd, minor 3rd stuff. But then who doesn't in metal?

Then one thing I'd suggest for getting a few simple quicker ideas available, plus if you want to build speed, and definitely if you like Queensryche solos (because they use(d) this a LOT) is scale contours. I don't know if that's a regular term, it's just the one my guitar teacher way back used, and it's the one I use when I make my students do this. Basically just play through a scale in note groupings of 3 or 4. For example a triplet contour in A major (in your usual box pattern) would be A - B - C, B - C - D, C - D - E, etc. Then back down when you get to the top. Same thing in 16th notes groups of 4. These are really good for building good coordination between left and right hand, though I know you probably don't need a lot of work on that, but for whipping out faster solo passages, this kind of thing works well as a starting point. Fragments of this kind of pattern are all over QR's solos, and you'll start to recognize them and get a feel for similar/different ideas within scales that you can use to build the faster parts of your solos, and knowing what scale to harmonize with the rhythm part will make the melodic parts come really easily, especially since you already have a good sense of melody.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[J the TyranT]

Shit, lately Ive been trying out that Mr Crowley solo [both, actually], and some Eric Johnson.. just for a change... and its more difficult than I would've assumed... mostly just remembering the whole fuckin thing, linking it up, and pulling it off CLEANLY... oh well.

 

[Virgil.]

I would suggest the following videos/books:

• Any Paul Gilbert instructional videos
• Joey Tafolla - "Shredding" VHS instructional vid
• Frank Gambale - "Chopbuilder - The Ultimate Guitar Workout" DVD/VHS
• Frank Gambale - Technique Book Part 1
• Frank Gambale - Technique Book Part 2

The Frank Gamabale in-depth'ness will blow your mind. These items will get you fast quick (with dilligent effort of course).

 

[Matt Lee]

Shit, lately Ive been trying out that Mr Crowley solo [both, actually], and some Eric Johnson.. just for a change... and its more difficult than I would've assumed... mostly just remembering the whole fuckin thing, linking it up, and pulling it off CLEANLY... oh well.

One of my fav Randy Rhoads solos! (er, two of them I guess, but I'm slightly partial to the second) played them at a talent show in highschool. No one really got it. They knew Crazy Train so they loved that but come back with Mr Crowley and it was all crickets. Heathen bastards.

 

[AmirH]

Nobody answered my question, but fyi I gave up

According to Kyle it's hard stuff so he wasn't too down on me.

 

[J the TyranT]

Dude, Friedman is Marty Fucking Friedman for a reason... and that's because he's really really good. So, there you have it.

 

[Virgil.]

Marty Friedman is one of my guitar idols. He is the one that actually inspired me to pick up a fucking guitar
His videos are good. I would suggest picking up his video "Melodic Control". The other videos by him are GOOD, but I would suggest Melodic Control over any of them. Really gives some down-to-earth soloing advice.

 

[SickBoy]

One a scale of 1-10, how hard are the leads on megadeth's "hangar 18"?

I'd say about 9...
Many of them aren't insanely fast, but have quirky signature Friedman odd note groupings or rhythms, as well as crazy arpeggios to go with them.
I like to describe Friedman as a very non-linear player and that's his biggest quality, that way he always ends up sounding fresh...

It's relatively easy to be fast when you play linear scales, but Marty does almost everything BUT that...
That for me is the reason why he's such a guitar god.

 

[AmirH]

Haha, I know but Kyle's been playing like half as long as me and he whips that type of shit out like it's nothing. I guess it's easy to lose perspective.

 

[J the TyranT]

Everybody's different. I've only picked up the guitar like 4 years ago and still beat the asses of most players... just the way it is, I suppose.

 

[Static]

I must be one of the only people here that learns by playing tabs. The way it is, I'll be sitting here listening to some of my favourite songs and suddenly think 'shit that sounds cool to play on guitar', and go look up the tabs and jam away for a couple hours.

And then I sit around and figure out my own stuff...

Don't know if it's the most effective way of learning, but it seems fun and easy and I think I'm starting to play quite well...

Maybe I should check out some books and things. I don't think sitting around learning repetitious scales and shit is what I want to do, but I wouldn't mind getting an idea of how all these scales go...

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Ain't nothing wrong with learning from tabs, not everyone can read music and tabs are very easy for people to understand. The problem is that a lot of people do utterly shitty inaccurate tab transcriptions that only hinder the learner unless they can tell whats wrong. Developing your ear at the same time is a definite "have to".

 

[Enmity]

For improving your technical ability / fretboard knowledge practicing the good ole scales will really help you out. Once you build up a solid lexicon of scales you'll have a lot more stuff to reach for when you're playing. Since you're also a vocalist, singing out the notes while you play them (when practicing slower) definitely is another good practice. Also, when you're improvising it really helps to have an exact idea of where you are.

For building your bag of tricks and understanding solo-writing, I would consider learning solos. This is a great way to pick apart their playing and find / figure out little tricks here and there (great for improvising). The important thing is to learn solos by guitar players that you admire or enjoy their playing style, then break down the solo and find out exactly what is going on musically.

If I were in your situation, I would avoid listening to the guys that just do the instrumental shred stuff. Instead find artists that play in the context of actual songs. Personally, I really enjoy the soloing of Marty Friedman and Dave Mustaine on Rust In Peace, as well as Alex Skolnick's and James Murphy's solo work on their respective Testament albums. Any Death (any album), Mercyful Fate / King Diamond (MF's early stuff especially), and of course Iron Maiden (self-titled through Seventh Son...)

I'd say about 9...
Many of them aren't insanely fast, but have quirky signature Friedman odd note groupings or rhythms, as well as crazy arpeggios to go with them.
I like to describe Friedman as a very non-linear player and that's his biggest quality, that way he always ends up sounding fresh...

It's relatively easy to be fast when you play linear scales, but Marty does almost everything BUT that...
That for me is the reason why he's such a guitar god.

Have you seen his "Melodic Control" video? My goodness. There is this one section where he's just playing and talking about what he's doing. His note selection is perfect and he doesn't just rip into a speedy solo.

 

[Static]

Ain't nothing wrong with learning from tabs, not everyone can read music and tabs are very easy for people to understand. The problem is that a lot of people do utterly shitty inaccurate tab transcriptions that only hinder the learner unless they can tell whats wrong. Developing your ear at the same time is a definite "have to".

Yeah, I've also been figuring out a few things by ear too.

Thing is if I had to just sit down in an empty room with a guitar and play something I probably wouldn't remember much of what I've been playing with all the tabs, cos I don't play most things for a long time, usually in passing.

They'd be a few key things I can really remember...probably the shit I've been recording and playing over and over recently. Takes a lot of playing something over and over to get it down in teh brain and fingers.

 

[Static]

Mercyful Fate / King Diamond (MF's early stuff especially)

That stuff is just so great to play...

 

[Mendel]

if you can play piano and know theory on piano, you can automatically know the theory on guitar. anyway, it helped for me allot ! if i have ti imporivse it'easy for me now cause i know he scales and chords on piano and now also on guitar

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Yeah, I've also been figuring out a few things by ear too.

Thing is if I had to just sit down in an empty room with a guitar and play something I probably wouldn't remember much of what I've been playing with all the tabs, cos I don't play most things for a long time, usually in passing.

They'd be a few key things I can really remember...probably the shit I've been recording and playing over and over recently. Takes a lot of playing something over and over to get it down in teh brain and fingers.

It's weird, i never used to be able to remember stuff too well but recently it's come naturally, I can write a song, then record it without having to look at the transcription again.

 

[Virgil.]

if you can play piano and know theory on piano, you can automatically know the theory on guitar. anyway, it helped for me allot ! if i have ti imporivse it'easy for me now cause i know he scales and chords on piano and now also on guitar

You can automatically know theory for the guitar if you know it on the piano--it is all the same. Now, if you're talking about putting the theory into practical application, you CAN NOT just know how to do it from playing the piano. Putting theory into application on the guitar is more than hearsay from the Piano. I would suggest picking up a beginners book on Theory. If you want a great suggestion: Pick up the video/books by Frank Gambale. He is an incredible jazz player. I know I just heard the whole board mumble, "jazz? errrr...."
If you want to learn how to put theory into practice in applicable areas for the guitar, this will teach you. It teaches you how to Write Solos and just learn to Improv over any key, in any mode. It's great.