The lead guitar is normally the guitar part that plays the melody, creating fill passages and guitar solos in the song. Although it is often associated with heavy metal music, it is also present in jazz, blues, pop and a number of other musical genres.
Guitarists, especially beginners, at some point take a lead guitar lesson. This focuses mostly on the essential roles of the lead guitar. One of which is to play the melody lines of the song (melodic playing) and at the same time adorn it as melodic playing enabling the guitarist to play more smoothly as compared to linear playing.
Often lead guitar and rhythm guitar are easily confused with each other, especially when the lead guitarist adds in chords and double-stops to the riffs. It is best to remember that lead guitar is focused on giving the melody, the more single-string guitar playing and solos while the rhythm guitar is mainly characterized by playing chords in patterns.
Some important techniques found in lead guitar lessons are bending, vibrato and slides. These provide the basic means of emphasizing notes and provide greater expression in the melody.
Bending occurs when the guitarist guitar string bends to the side by pushing to the sixth string, or by pulling the first string. The first three strings are normally pushed, while others are normally drawn. Whether the string is pushed or pulled, the note will be raised in pitch.
Vibrato adds feeling and emotion into the notes. It can be done quickly by bending the guitar string back and forth or by exerting pressure parallel to the string to the neck of the guitar, then towards the bridge repeatedly. A helpful hint for the vibrato is that the action should come from the wrist not the fingers.
Slides (or sliding) is one of the simplest but most effective guitar techniques to create a wailing sound on the guitar. There are two types of slides, legato slides and shift. Legato (connected tones) slides are made by picking the first note and slide up or down to the second note. In the shift side, a note is fretted and then the fretting finger slides up or down to another fret.
Another useful lead guitar lesson revolves around the creation of lead guitar lines. This is done by using scales, modes, arpeggios, licks, riffs and fills. It is best to use it together with a variety of other techniques. Learn the blues scale and then the pentatonic scales as these provide a good basis for creating solos, a classical element to the lead guitarist. Arpeggios add depth, and the progression of the solo is often a reflection of the underlying rhythm guitar part. Licks give short improvised solos and while the solo puts the guitarist under the spotlight for a minute or two, riffs and fills supply a series of notes for improvised backing.
With all scales, chords, combinations and variations available, there are thousands of ways to improve your guitar. Imagination and creativity can combine a creative miracle, that's a lead guitar lesson that everyone should learn.
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