-If you have a little experience...get the book "Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar" by Troy Stetina and go through it....start at the BEGINNING and go SLOWLY...that book is an extremely valuable tool for developing lead guitar techniques. His other books on rhythm playing and other techniques are also excellent, but this book is his finest.

-If you're new and want to start some 'lead' guitar playing, acquire the books: "Rock Lead Basics" and "Rock Lead Techniques" both published by the Musicians Institute.  These book/cd packs are incredibly useful and helpful!  

-Get an acoustic guitar....or if you play acoustic- get an electric! Sometimes you're not gonna be in the mood for the electric, and an acoustic is just the thing to scratch your itch (or vice-versa). It will inspire you in different ways and help you look at the instrument differently to!

-Learn the 'Minor Pentatonic' scale. Start with the e-minor pentatonic scale (very easy to find anywhere on the internet) and learn the e-minor pentatonic all over the fretboard. This pattern, like all scales, is a cookie-cutter form, so when you've got 'e' down...moving to other keys is extremely easy. Once you've got this scale down a little bit, jam to songs with it....finding songs in e-minor to jam with is SIMPLE...lot's of blues songs use this scale.  One of my favorite e-minor pentatonic jamming songs is 'Back in Black' by AC/DC.  AC/DC is pentatonic heaven.    I've found that playing along with songs is an invaluable tool for developing your skill- and it's a lot of fun.

-DON'T buy ANYTHING without first going to Harmony Central and reading the reviews on there from other players.  You will not regret it....but if you buy something and don't go there first- you might.

-If at all possible (it wasn't for me) you should play/jam with as many different people as you can. It doesn't matter what style they play... getting together with others is great- everyone can teach you something, just keep an open mind!

-Whenever possible, use good equipment.  You do get what you pay for and good gear plays better and sounds better than cheap gear.  If you're serious about playing- save up and spend the extra dough.  A very nice (acoustic or electric) guitar can be purchased for 4-5 hundred dollars.

-Get John Petrucci's 'Rock Discipline' DVD......it's EXCELLENT.

-Play EVERYTHING with alternate picking (up-down-up-down)....some heavy riffs call for straight downpicking, for a heavier sound, but for now....use alternate picking for everything- you'll thank yourself later on.

-Grip the pick LIGHTLY. You don't have to grab that pick for dear life....doing so will tense you up and slow you down. Grab the pick with a delicate touch and you'll notice your speed increase immediately.

-Don't push down on the strings too hard with your left hand....use as little pressure as possible to get that string to touch that fret- train yourself to this amount of pressure- too much pressure will slow you down, tense you up and push the note out of tune.  Also, fret the note as close to the actual fret as possible.

-Play everything AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE at first and once you've got the motion down very slowly and COMFORTABLY (and accurately), start using a metronome...   again- very slowly....then gradually increase the beat by 5-8 BPM and don't move up the speed until you're 100% comfortable with the speed you're at. If you make mistakes....analyze where the mistakes are happening and THINK about how you can correct what you're doing wrong, then correct it.  Be mindful all the time of what you're doing and do it right always! Playing sloppy will train your muscles to play sloppy all the time.

-Use heavier strings.  Guitars typically come equipped with 9-42 size srings to create the illusion that the guitar plays very easily.  Thin strings lack tone, sustain and volume.  Use at LEAST size 10-46 strings, preferably 11-50.  This will increase your finger strength and considerably improve your tone.  Also, make sure to change your strings OFTEN.  If you play every day for an hour, strings should be replaced at the LEAST once a month....but preferably every two weeks, or even less.  Strings get 'dead' quickly from oils on fingers.

-Get Straplocks for your electric guitar strap....this will prevent your guitar from accidentally falling off and breaking while you're playing.  This WILL happen to you if you don't get straplocks.  These are available at all music stores.

-Play clean.  It's fun to play with your sound heavily distorted and/or with a lot of reverb/delay, but all of these things mask your playing and make it hard for you to hear your mistakes.  When practicing, keep the reverb low, the delay OFF and the distortion either very low or off.   .....save these things for when you're playing for someone!  (you'll find that the longer you play, the less delay, reverb and distortion you will want in your tone anyway)

-Be LOOSE. most people tense up somewhere when they play/practice.  It's very common in the shoulder, arm, hand, stomach, jaw...etc. Your picking hand fingers should not be curled up into your palm, but rather they should be pointing down toward the floor....and don't play the "I can touch my left ear to my left shoulder" game either. Be mindful of tension always when you play and correct it....you want to be as loose as possible, all the time, all over your body.  THIS IS IMPORTANT.

-Join an online guitar forum/community.  Wholenote or Harmony Central has these....as do most of your favorite bands probably as well.  There are many of these sites, so find one where you feel at home.  Being a member of one of these communities is a great resource if you have questions you'd like to run by a lot of people.  

-Remember- playing guitar is NOT a contest. No matter how good you are....there will always be a million people who are better, and a million who are worse....don't approach learning the guitar competitively.....go at your own pace and always remember it's not a race, or a contest. Don't get frustrated if certain things take you a LONG time to learn.....some things come quickly and easily to certain people, while other things take a LOT of work.

-STICK TO IT!!! Learning the guitar can be frustrating and difficult for the first six months to a year because you can't make any music yet really and it's all a lot of work. This will pass....and as soon as you can start making some music, it becomes so much fun, you won't even believe it, so stick to it!!!!

-Lastly ....always make sure you're 100% IN TUNE. Every time you play, you're training your fingers and brain, but you are training your ears as well and playing out of tune will train your ears to hear out of tune. so ALWAYS be in tune.

 

-And the most important advice of all- Get in to Doc's for lessons RIGHT NOW!      651.238.4050

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