Learn Guitar - Bass - Drums

Learn To Play Lead Guitar - 10 Steps To Success

No Music Theory - Learn Patterns - Simple To Follow - Complete With Tracks - Another Freebie By Busk'n Servant!

• When Loading On A Mobile Device, Do 2 - 3 Rapid Swipes Up

Step #3

We Are Now Ready To Play The Pattern At A Higher Tempo

• Hold The String At Each Position, Just Firmly Enough, So You Don't Get Fret Buzzing

• Angle The Pick, Very Slightly To The Strings, Away From You

• Use Just The Tip of The Pick

• Pick The Note, At The 1st Position, With A Downward Pick Motion

• Pick The Note, At The 2nd Position, With An Upward Pick Motion

• Repeat This As You Move Up The Pattern & Back Down

• Tap Your Foot To Maintain Tempo

• Practice Playing The Pattern Using This Picking Motion

• Repeat This Exercise Regularly

Now To Increase Tempo

• Stream The Following Backing Track

  • Use The Down/Up Picking Motion

  • Play Our Pattern Up & Down

  • Pick The Notes On The Hi Hat Beat

Step #4

Time To Learn Some Phrasing

• If It's All Starting To Sound A Bit Mechanical & Boring, Its Because It Is!

  • Phrasing Gives The Solo Interest

  • Skipping Positions In Our Pattern, Even Selecting Random Positions, Creates Interest

  • Using Longer Intervals Between Notes & Holding A Note Longer, Also Creates Interest

• Let's Develop Some Interest!

  • Play These Positions: 1 4 5 & Hold For 2 Beats

  • We'll Call This Solo Part #1

  • Tap Your Foot Slowly, 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & etc.

  • Play 1st Position On The 1 Count

  • Play 4th Position On The & Count

  • Play 5th Position On The 2 Count

  • Hold 5th Position For The & 3 & 4 Counts

  • Keep Repeating This Exercise

  • Now Play To The Solo Part #1 Track, Below

• When Ready, Play These Positions: 6 5 & Hold For 3 Beats

  • We'll Call This Solo Part #2

  • Play 6th Position On The 1 Count

  • Play 5th Position On The & Count

  • Hold 5th Position For The 2 & 3 & 4 Counts

  • Keep Repeating The Exercise

  • Now Play To The Solo Part #2 Track, Below

• Repeat This Exercise Regularly

• When Ready, Play These Positions: 6 5 4 3 1 & Hold For 1 Beat

  • We'll Call This Solo Part #3

  • Play 6th Position On The 1 Count

  • Play 5th Position On The & Count

  • Play 4th Position For The 2 Count

  • Play 3rd Position For The & Count

  • Play 1st Position For The 3 Count

  • Hold 1st Position For The & 4 Count

  • Keep Repeating The Exercise

  • Now Play To The Solo Part #3 Track, Below

• Notice How The Gaps Create Additional Interest In The Solo, Silence Is Music!

• Also, Notice How We Are Playing With The Hi Hat

Step #5

Let's Play Our Solo By Adding The Parts Together

• • • Play Part #1, That's 4 Beats

    • Play Part #2 Twice, That's 8 Beats

    • Play Part #3, That's 4 Beats

  • That's A Total of 16 Beats or 4 Bars

  • Play & Tap Your Foot Slowly To Maintain Timing

  • Keep Repeating The Exercise

  • Now Play To The Combined Solo Track, Below

• Now, It's Time To Learn To Play The Solo With Other Musicians

• Stream The Following Track

• Play The Combined Solo

• If You Mess Up, Don't Worry, Just Continue At The Start of The Next Bar

• It's All About The Timing, Practice & Get The Silence Parts In Time :)

• Note How The Notes Fit, No Matter What The Bass Notes Are! We'll Talk About That Shortly

Step #6

Let's Now Extend Our Solo

• Continue From The End of The Combined Solo By Jumping To Position 6

  • Play Positions 6 7 8 & Hold For 2 Beats

  • Play This Twice

  • Play Positions 12 11 & Hold For 3 Beats

  • Play This Twice

  • Now, Play Positions 12 11 10 9 8 7 8 & Hold 1/2 Beat

    • Play On The Hi Hat Beat

    • Use Up/Down Picking Motion

  • Now, Play Positions Miss A Beat 5 6 & Hold To The End of The Bar

  • Play This Twice

  • Now, Don't Play Anything For 1 Bar

  • That's 12 Bars of Solo That Would Be Played Against An "A" Minor Chord Progression, Congratulations!

  • Play Along To The Next Example

You Create Your Own Solo

• While Playing The Backing Track, Select Other Positions & Create A Solo

• Start With Our Combine Solo Then, Add Additional Notes From The Pattern, Similar To What We Did Above

Step #7

What's This Musical Talk - You Said No Music Theory!!

• At The End of This Step You Will See That You Don't Need To Learn Anything Other Than Our Pattern

• You Have Been Learning The "A" Minor Pentatonic Scale

• It's Called "A" Minor Pentatonic Scale Because:

  • We Started On The "A" Note On The "E" String

  • The Scale Has 5 Notes, Hence Penta, Meaning 5

  • It's Played Against An "Am" Chord Progression, Hence Minor :)

  • Hey! We Played 12 Notes, Why Do You Say 5 Notes?

  • There Are Only 5 Notes, They Just Keep Repeating

  • Us We Go Up Positions, The Notes Also Go Up An Octave

  • Position 1 Is An "A", Position 6 Is An "A", Just An Octave Higher etc.

• Notice How Any of The Pattern Notes Fit In With The Bass

• The Bass Is Using Notes From That Scale As Well, That's Why They Fit

• The Backing Track, Is A 12 Bar Blues Progression In The Key of "Am"

  • The Bass Is Playing The "A", "D" & E" Notes From That Scale

• A Rhythm Guitar Would Play "Minor Chords" To Accompany This

  • They Use Notes From This Scale As Well

  • This Means The Rhythm Guitar Would Play These Chords - Am, Dm & Em

• So, You Can See That The Solo, Bass & Rhythm Guitar Are All Using Notes From This Scale - Our Pattern

• It All Fits Together Harmonically, That's Why It Sounds Good!

What About Other Keys & Scales

• For Any Minor Scale/Song Key, Play Our Pattern Commencing With The Root Note On The "E" String

  • Example: A Song In Cm Would Have A Solo Playing The Pattern From The "C" Note, "E" String, 8th Fret

• For Any Major Scale/Song Key, Play Our Pattern But, Go Down 3 Frets On The "E" String & Start There!!!!

  • Example: A Song In "A" Major, Play Our Pattern Commencing With The "F#" Note, "E" String, 2nd Fret

  • Note That The Minor Scale, Uses The Same Notes As In The Major Scale, When It Is Played Down 3 Frets

  • The Same Principle Applies, The Solo, Bass & Rhythm Guitar Will All Use Notes From The "A" Major Scale

• Hey, That Means This One Pattern Covers Most Songs, Minor or Major - Yep!

• You Can Even Mix Notes From Both Scales In Your Solos

• The Minor Scale Notes Sound Sad, The Major Scale Notes Sound Happy

• There Are Other Scales But, That's A Subject For Another Time :)

Step #8

Lets Learn Some Additional Phrasing Ideas

• Sliding Into Notes

  • Reasonably Simple, Press Down On The String Softly

  • Press Down 1 or 2 Frets Lower Than The Note You Want

  • Pick the String And Immediately Slide To The Desired Note

  • You Can Slide Up/Down 1, 2 or Many Frets For Varying Effect

  • Practice This Technique

  • Try This On Solo Part #2

    • Slide Into The 6th Position From Position 5

    • Pick The 5th Position Note & Immediately Slide To Position 6

    • Now Pick The Position 5 Note As Normal

    • Slide Again Into Position 6 & Repeat

    • Sliding Adds Interest To This Part

• Time To Learn Vibrato

  • Vibrato Is About Changing The Pitch of The Note Very Slightly

  • To Do This Move The Fretting Finger Up/Down Slightly, Still Holding The Note

  • You Can Get A Similar Effect, Moving The Guitar Neck Back & Forth

  • The Speed of The Action Determines The Speed of The Vibrato

  • Practice This In Solo Part#1 On The 5th Position Note

  • Notice How It Adds To The Phrasing, While Holding The Note

  • Repeat This, On The Same Note, In Solo Part #2

  • Also Repeat On The Final Note In Solo Part #3

  • Vibrato Adds A Pleasing Effect - But, Don't Overdo It!

Lets Learn Some More Phrasing Ideas

• Time To Learn Bends

  • Bending Is About Changing The Pitch of The Note Usually Half or Full Step

  • This Means Bending The String Upwards To The Next Note

  • You Don't Have To Bend To A Full Step, A Pleasing Effect Is Created With Slight Bends

  • Pick The String And At The Same Time Bend Upwards & Hold

  • Release The Bend In Time With The Beat

Last Phrasing Ideas

• This Time To Learn Hammer-On & Pull-Offs

  • A Hammer-On Is Created By Tapping The Fretting Finger On The String

  • A Note Is Held Lower On The Fretboard With The First Finger & Picked

  • Immediately The 3rd Finger Hammers Onto The Next Note, Usually Two Frets Up

  • That Note Sounds With A Pleasing Effect

• Creating A Pull-Off

• • A Pull-Off Is About Flicking The String Slightly When Removing The Fretting Finger

  • Any Note Being Held Lower On The Fretboard Will Sound With A Pleasing Effect

  • Usually The 3rd Finger Does The Pull-Off, The 1st Finger Holding The Note 2 Frets Down

• Combining Hammer-On & Pull-Offs

  • Both Effects Can Be Combined

  • First Do A Hammer-On Followed By A Pull Off

• Combining Bends, Hammer-On & Pull-Offs

  • You Can Combine Effects In Succession

  • Try A Bend And As You Release Pick The Note & Pull-Off

Positions For Creating Solo Ideas

• Each Position Has A Unique Role In Playing A Solo

• The Following Is A Brief Summary

  • We Have Used These In Our Solo

  • See If You Can Pick Where

Home or Root Note

• Generally, A Solo Will Start & Finish On "Home"

• We Need To Get Back To This Note In A Solo

• It's Where We Can Pause or End A Solo Sentence

• Positions 1, 6, 11, 14 Are All "Home" or, "Root" Notes

• In Our Case, Using The "A" Root Note on The "E" String

  • Those Positions Are All "A" Notes

Add Phrasing Flavour

• Notes That Are Great For Vibrato or, Slight Bends

• They Have That Sad or, Minor Note Sound

• Positions 2, 7, 12

Going Somewhere

• Notes Used On Passing To Another Note

• Slides Can Commence Here

• Used To Bend Into A "Tension" Note

• Positions 3, 8, 15

Tension Note

• These Notes Build Tension

• You're Waiting For Something Else, Another Note

• Often Used To Get Back To "Home"

• Positions 4, 9, 13

Add More "Tension"

• Notes For Adding Additional Tension

• Used As A Note That We're Moving On

• Used To Slide Into "Home" Position 6 or 10

• Positions 5, 10

Another Passing Note

• Notes That Are Great Passing Notes

• Can Be Used To Begin A Slide

• Often Called "Blues" Notes

• They Give A Bluesy Vibe!

• Positions, Between 3 & 4, 8 & 13

Practice Using These Ideas In Your Solo

Step #10

Soloing To Other Beats

• Let's Try A Swing or Shuffle Groove

  • A Swing Groove Is A Straight 1/8th Beat Like We Have Been Playing But, Modified

  • The Hi Hat & Snare Hit On Each "And", Between Beats, Is Swung

  • This Means They Are Delayed Slightly, Giving A Skipping Feel

  • Vocalised It Is Dit di Dit di Dit di Dit

  • Often Referred To As The Shuffle or Boogie Beat

• Stream The Following mp3 Track

• Play Our Combined Solo To This Beat

Another Solo Example

• Recorded On My Looper Pedal

• Listen For The Various Techniques

• • • Slides & Quick Bends

    • Trills - Rapid Playing of A Note or Notes

    • Fast Hammer On & Pull Offs

That Completes This Introductory Lesson On Lead Guitar. From Here, Learn Other Pattern Position Extensions.

To Practice To Other Tempos & Keys, Checkout The Freebies Section In The Song Pack Store.

To Download For Off - Line Use:

To Download The Practice Tracks, Tap The Download Icon On iPhone Devices or, On Android Devices, The 3 Dots, Top of Screen, Scroll & Select Download. The Track Will Be In Your File or Download Folder.

Read More About Music Backing Tracks & Backing Tracks For Guitar, Bass Guitar, Keyboard, Drums. Also Read More About Busking, On Line Busker, Looper Pedal Backing Tracks & Busking Music Backing Tracks. Listen To Busking Music & Busking Loops. Checkout Musician Resources & Jamming For Beginners.