Lead Guitar Lesson – 5 Blues Licks To Improve Your Soloing

If you’ve downloaded the blues guitar scales pdf then you can put it to some good use by learning these 5 Licks!

The Blues is definitely a guitar oriented genre and it’s a great place to start when learning to play lead guitar.

It’s not that hard to learn blues lead guitar but there are a few very important things you need to learn and always improve on.

• Vibrato
• Bending
• Gaps

Vibrato is absolutely essential in Blues. It is what really distinguishes the amateurs from the advanced players. Even if your technique or knowledge is not very advanced, having a good vibrato, and using it at the right places in your solos, will make everything you play sound great.

Bending is very important. In fact is the only thing Eric Clapton still practices so it makes sense that us mere mortals also work on it right?

The gaps you leave when you solo is also very important. By leaving some gaps, you create ‘breathing’ spaces for the listener and yourself. This makes your playing sound more natural, and also prevents you from running out of licks early. Which is a big bonus! There’s nothing worse than starting this blazing solo only to find you don’t have anymore licks left after the first couple of bars. The trick is to pace yourself…

Anyway, there are mainly two shapes used in blues, the ‘minor pentatonic’, and of course the good ‘ole the ‘Blues’ scale. Both these scale types are covered in my Guitar Scales PDF eBook which you can grab for just $9.95.

Below are 5 licks you can get your teeth stuck into. Please leave some comments and as usual have fun!

Example 1

Click the Image To Enlarge The Tab

This is a very common, yet powerful lick in A minor pentatonic position 1.

Example 2

Here the lick is in the same position but we focus more on the lower strings, This is a lick that could work well as an answer to the lick in example 1.

Example 3

This is example uses position 3 of the minor pentatonic. Although the same lick can be played on the higher strings of position 1, the notes have more tone and sustain in this register of the neck.

Example 4

This lick makes use of the b5 (flat five).

Example 5

Repetition for emphasis. A good lick can even be better with the use of some repetition.

Above we’ve seen a few examples of how to use the pentatonic and blues scale when soloing, however since they are very easy shapes, experiment with them, and you will very quickly find new licks. For further listening, have a listen to the three Kings (Albert, Freddie and B.B) as well as more modern players such as John Mayer.

Lead Guitar Lessons don’t have to be complicated!

It’s funny how simple things can totally transform your lead guitar playing. I mean really transform your playing with really simple techniques. Weird how these things work but that’s the way it is sometimes.

What am I on about? Well one small thing you can do to drastcially improve your blues guitar playing or any kind of lead guitar playing for that matter is understanding chord tones. It is super simple but it will make a massive difference in your playing. What if I told you that there is one particular note you could play over certain chords that will just sound like you know what you’re doing on the guitar? Would you like to know what that note is? What if I told you that probably 99% of beginner guitarists and even some seasoned pro’s aren’t quite aware of this killer technique. Would you believe me?

Probably not, I wouldn’t have either a few years ago. When I discovered using chord tones it totally transformed my lead guitar playing. And you know what? Those notes I’m talking about aren’t even in the Minor Pentatonic Scale. That’s right, the scale of choice when it comes to Blues Guitar Playing falls horribly short. Enough doom and gloom! There’s a super simple and easy fix!

Check out the video below and be sure to leave your comments!

Lead Guitar Lessons To Transform Your Playing!

Interesting isn’t it? Did you learn something new? Well you ain’t seen nothing yet! I have another video for you from my Instant Blues Power course called the “Money Notes” for D7 and E7. If you’d like to get your hands on that video simply enter your email in the box below and I’ll send it right along. Once you enter your email just confirm the link in your inbox and we’re off to the races.

I have loads of little things that are super easy to implement into your playing with massive payoffs to your soloing skills so that you can rock out with the best of them.

Enter your email below, confirm and then we’ll be rocking!

Learning guitar scales doesn’t have to be hard or boring. I have 3 hot tips to share with you as well as some PDF patterns you can download today.

Learning Guitar Scales – Hot Tip #1

“Know the formula” – No I’m not talking about anything like “E = mc2″. The formula I’m referring to is simply understanding the intervals that make up the scale. This makes learning guitar scales so much easier as you’re actually aware of what makes the scale what it is. Understanding this will give you an added advantage as a lead guitarist. This would mean that you would be able to re-create the scale in any key using the “formula” so that you don’t just have to rely on shapes.

A good exercise would be to take that formula and then play the scale on just one string. A paradigm shift or seeing something from a different angle can be worth it’s weight in gold. It’s no different with the guitar. When you’re learning guitar scales on one string you get a different view of the scale than what you get when you’re blindly zipping up and down patterns or shapes.

The image below illustrates the C Major Scale on one string. (The image comes from my Guitar Scales eBook – Check it out I think you might like it)

Learning Guitar Scales – Hot Tip #2

“Know the note names” So once you have the formula down make sure you learn the note names. The formula applies to all scales but the note names change depending on the key of the particular scale. This is extremely helpful because as long as you know the notes on the guitar you can play the scale without having to rely on patterns. Don’t get me wrong though, patterns are great but knowing the notes will give you the added insight to take your playing to the next level. Then once you know the notes of the scale you should learn all about chord construction. That would be learning which chords can be formed using the notes from the scale. Now this is HUGE. You see when you’re playing solo’s, or fills, or licks or whatever you’ll most likely be playing those over chord changes right? So then knowing which notes the chords are made up from and knowing the note names of your scale you can then pinpoint your landing notes. This will make a MASSIVE difference in your playing.

Learning Guitar Scales – Hot Tip #3

“Learn some melodies” This tip is actually two for one. When most people are learning guitar scales they try and learn all five patterns of the caged system in one go. Big. Mistake. Why? Well if you haven’t learned how to make music with one pattern what is 5 patterns gonna do for you? Not much right? So here’s the tip. Focus on one scale at first and then learn how to make music with that scale. Learn to play some melodies of famous songs and check out so classic licks. This will build and develop your vocabulary big time. Put on a backing track and rock out.

Below you’ll find a backing track in the key of E Major. Use the E Major Pentatonic Scale and jam over the changes. It’s just a 12 Bar Blues so it’s pretty simple. This track is from my up and coming course that will teach you all the essentials of lead guitar playing. I’ve also included the E Major Pentatonic Scales from my Guitar Scales eBook.

Download The E Major Pentatonic Scale Patterns

Have fun and wail out!

Cheers,

Charl

Lead Guitar Lessons – Have you found what you’re looking for yet?

It’s good that you’ve decided to make a commitment to your playing and that you’re looking for lead guitar lessons.

You see, when looking for lead guitar lessons online one of two things will happen. Either you find exactly what you’re looking for or you spend hours trying to find lead guitar lessons that suit your current level of playing as well as your style of preference. Sure the internet is full of lead guitar lessons but finding the right ones is not that easy. The reason this seems to be quite a challenge is that you need to know where you’re at and where you want to go and then find a website that can deliver what you need at the right time. Not surprisingly, this rarely happens. So I decided to help you out by adding a few basic lessons for you on this page >>Lead Guitar for Beginners<< and also to provide you with a couple of downloadable guitar scale PDFs.

I’d really like to help you even further than that by providing you with the right lessons at the right time but before I can do that I need some info from you. Help me to help you. Remember that line? Well what it comes down to is this. I need to know where you’re at with your playing, what topics do you have questions about and what styles are you looking to learn? You can leave your answers in the comments below and then I’ll respond with a range of lead guitar lessons suited to your needs in the form of videos, audios and pdfs.

Also make sure you’re signed up to the site so that I can update you whenever I release new videos. Has it ever occurred to you that you have the potential to be a killer lead guitarist? I’m sure I can help you when I know where you’re at and what you’re after. I will then provide you with the essentials you’ll need to be a great lead guitar player as well as address your questions in greater detail.

So I would like to suggest that you take a few minutes to think about what exactly it is that you’d like to learn. Imagine the kind of site you wished existed and what they can offer you. Then let me know in the comments below and we’ll get the ball rolling.

I’m convinced that you can become the guitarist you’ve always dreamed of as long as you have the right lessons and that you practice regularly. That’s it!

So take a moment and think about what you’re looking for and let me know in the comments section.

Cheers,

Charl

Fun and games awaits you! What more would you expect as you learn lead guitar with www.leadguitarzero2hero.com? Remember you can download all the scale patterns here. >>Learn Lead Guitar Scales< <

Let me ask you a question… What’s better than the Minor Pentatonic Scale? Or even the Major Pentatonic Scale or Blues Scale for that matter?

Well using all 3 of them at the same time of course! The more the merrier. -) Ok seriously, jokes aside… Mixing these 3 scales is the way to go because you have access to so many different sounds and luckily styles like Blues and Classic Rock lends themselves extremely well to combining major and minor tonalities.

If you’d like to learn lead guitar and learn to play it well then you need to develop some strength in your left hand fingers and they have to sync up well with your right hand picking. I’ve been getting some good feedback on the video about left and right hand synchronisation techniques so I thought I’d give you all the permutations of the 1234 chromatic fingering combination. This is a great way to get your fingers sorted and if you want to learn lead guitar properly then you have to develop this technique.

Download the Chromatic Exercises PDF here.

I’d suggest working on the patterns that you’re not that comfortable with and remember to practice these with a metronome. Go. Slowly. At. First. You’re busy programming new moves into your muscle memory so don’t screw it up by going too fast too soon. Perseverance and patience will pay off big time here. The great thing about these exercises is that you get to play across all 6 strings and as you ascend up the neck you get to practice playing on the different sized frets as well. So by now I’m sure you can see the advantages of these patterns?

We’re all creatures of habit and it’s no different when it comes to playing lead guitar. If you always play the same things you’ll only get better at playing what you already know, which is fine if you don’t want to grow as a musician or an improviser. On the other hand if you’d like to learn lead guitar to the best of your ability then you need to know that the only place where new learning occurs is outside of your comfort zone. Want to grow as a musician and become a better lead guitarist? Practice new things. It’s that simple. The goal of being a good improviser is the ability to play what’s in your head at any given time. So how does playing these chromatic exercises, which don’t always sound great, help you become a better lead guitar player? It’s all about developing the technical facility to be able to reproduce what you’re hearing onto the guitar. These exercises will develop dexterity in your hands which in turn will help you to play what’s in your head and to not be limited by un-cooperating fingers. Even if you don’t want to become a virtuoso these patterns still serve as great warm up exercises so give ‘em a go. I think you’ll really like the the end result which will be becoming a better lead guitarist.

By the way these 24 patterns come out of my 200 page book along with a bunch of other exercises. Currently the book comes as a bonus to everyone who joined RhythmGuitarZero2Hero.com which is a site dedicated to teaching the basics of acoustic guitar. If you’re reading this post then you’re probably looking for something a bit more advanced? Well I have good news for you. I’m busy filming a series of lessons dedicated to people who want to learn lead guitar and it should be available in a week or two. I’ll make the book available as a bonus for you as well when you join so watch this space.

Enjoy and remember to leave your comments below.

Learn Lead Guitar Scales Video 03.

in the last 2 videos we looked at the Minor Pentatonic Scale & Major Pentatonic Scale. I also showed you a typical lick using each one of those scales.

This week I will show you how to play the Blues Scale. All you need to do is add one more note, the flat 5, to the Minor Pentatonic Scale and voila… You have the awesome Blues Scale. This scale is a “must learn” if you want to play great lead guitar and here’s why… You’ll remember in previous videos I said the Major and Natural Minor Scales have a real dense sound because there are 7 notes in those scales. The Pentatonic Scale has a much more open sound because there are only 5 notes within Pentatonic Scales. That’s why the Blues scale is so cool… you still have the open sound of the Pentatonic Scale and the extra note, the flat 5, adds a bit of tension which is very handy indeed when playing lead guitar. All great lead guitar players are masters of tension and release and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be either right?

Of course it’s not a great note to land on but that added melodic interest is golden. So as you can see the blues scale is a great bridge if you will between the 7 note scales and the 5 note pentatonic scales.

In later videos we’ll look at more licks and how to use this scale over a 12 Bar Blues progression. But don’t let the name fool you. It’s not just for blues as you can use it in any style of lead guitar playing that you like whether it’s rock, country, jazz, funk metal or pop, it’ll work! I’ll stop waffling now and let you get on with your lead guitar playing so watch the video… Learn the scale and the lick and then wail out!

>>Download Blues Scale PDF<<

The Minor Pentatonic Scale is by far the most used scale on the guitar. We have looked at it briefly in some of my earlier videos but since this scale is used so often I thought I’d include it again in this “Understanding Scales” mini series.

I’ll show you the difference between the Aeolian Scale and the Minor Pentatonic Scale. I’ll also give you a typical Pentatonic Scale Lick. You can use this scale in just about any style but one of the great uses of the good ‘ole Pentatonic is to use it in Blues where you actually play the Minor Pentatonic Scale over Major Chords, mostly Dominant 7 chords. Now that takes some getting used to. What actually happens here defies classic music theory because we’re playing a flattened third over a major chord. Strange but true. Just be sure to tweak that flattened third a bit by bending it slightly sharp to hint at the major third. Watch the video to see what I mean. But wait there’s more… You can also mix the Minor and Major Pentatonic Scales together and to be honest that’s where the fun really starts… When I first discovered that it’s possible to mix both these pentatonic scales I was in seventh heaven. In fact it’s still one of my favorite things to do. Being able to mix these two different tonalities together is instant gratification and you’ll wonder what you ever did without it. I’ll show you how to mix all these scales together in the next 2 videos so be sure to watch out for them. Before we get to that though let’s look at a typical lick…

You can also download a PDF below that contains all the Pentatonic Scale Shapes. Visit this page for more >>Guitar Scales<<

>>Download Minor Pentatonic Scales PDF<<

Have fun and remember to leave some comments!

Minor Pentatonic Scale

The Major Pentatonic Scale. – Learn Lead Guitar Mini Series.

I have filmed a bunch of new lessons for you and I’ll be releasing my new Lead Guitar Course soon. There’s still time to tell me what you want me to include so be sure to leave your suggestions on the site. I recently got a new MusicMan Silhouette and I have to tell you that it absolutely rocks. When you hit play on the video below you’ll get to see it in action.

In this video I’ll show you the main differences between the Major Scale and the Major Pentatonic Scale and I’ve got a basic Major Pentatonic lick for you as well. It’s essential to understand the difference between these two scales so be sure to compare them to each other. In the next 3 videos I will show you how to use the Minor Pentatonic Scale, The Blues Scale and then we’ll wrap it up with a lick that uses all three of those scales. That’s when things get really interesting. When students come to me to learn lead guitar I always suggest learning a lick or something with the new scale. Scales on their own aren’t music, it’s what you do with them that counts. If you can learn some kind of a musical phrase like a lick or a riff along with the new scale you stand a much better chance of actually internalising the sound of the new scale. Try it, I think you’ll like it. That’s why I’ve got a classic lick for you which you can get your teeth stuck into as you learn this new scale. My “Learn Lead Guitar – The Effortless Formula” course will be ready soon and we’ll look at some complete solo’s making use of these scale. For now you can watch the video below and you can also download a PDF below that contains all the Major Pentatonic Scales.

>>Download Major Pentatonic Scales PDF<<

Have fun and remember to leave some comments!

Oh by the way if you’d like to see a few more MusicMan guitars in action then visit this link http://www.musicmanuk.co.uk/ I’m behind the cameras this time.

Major Pentatonic Scale Lick

In the previous video we looked at slides and the various different types and applications of the technique and in this video I’m going to give you some examples using slides.

It’s always a great idea to incorporate new techniques into your playing by using whatever you have learned in a musical context. After all that’s why we learn these techniques right? To make some music and play killer lead guitar licks, solos and riffs…

So check out the video below and get sliding!

In case you haven’t yet seen the introduction to slides video click here to watch it Learn Lead Guitar Techniques – “Slides”

Remember to leave some comments and feel free to share the video with friends.

Cheers,

Charl

Learn Lead Guitar “Examples Using Slides”