Don’t be a Guitar Center doodle-wanker! A short tasty phrase is worth 10,000 notes.Did you ever think maybe you loved soloing too much? Sure it’s great to be able to whip out some impressive lead chops, but if this comes at the expense of the rest of your playing, you might want to reevaluate your practice regimen.
There are many more elements to great guitar playing than just shear speed; for any doubters: take a listen to some David Gilmour-era Pink Floyd; if you don’t get it now, I give up.
Rhythm is a key element to expressive soloing; so, practice rhythmic playing. This goes beyond just figuring out tricky syncopations and sequences for scales and arpeggios. Any kind of rhythm playing -especially studying songs in genres you are unfamiliar with - will enhance your lead skills.
Think you got chops? Can you play a Bossa? Swing like Bird?
The more music you explore, the better your playing will be. I encourage all my students to study one book: The Berklee Modern Guitar Method. This book forces you to understand music, and how to “see” it on your fretboard. It isn’t easy. Neither is getting good at guitar.
Phrasing is another oft neglected element. This is what people often call “soul”. There are infinite ways to play a note, explore them. Practice your vibrato: short and fast, deep and slow… A bend is where one note is pushed into another; don’t settle for out of tune bends!
To practice bends:
- Play the note you are going to bend, play the note you are going to bend to, bend the note, and then check it again against the fretted note. They need to match, perfectly!
- Repeat until you can accurately bend to your target note every time.
- Practice bending to different intervals: half-step up, whole-step, one and a half steps…
- Practice sliding into and out of notes; Steve Vai is a master of this.
- Practice bending notes with your tremolo; use the same method as with bends to make sure you are in tune.
Don’t be a Guitar Center doodle-wanker! A short tasty phrase is worth 10,000 notes.
