Hey! Another stuck noob here. :)
I've been playing for around 6 months, and have become fairly smooth with rhythm guitar. I worked myself through most of the Hal Lenoard method books. (But am still very weak on some things like fingerstyle)
Last week I started taking it to my band's practices. (I sing/play sax in a christian praise band)
Thing went fairly smooth on that front...but...
What is really needed is for me to start progressing on lead guitar; playing fills and such. The other guitarist is our main rhythm player and a primary singer. He doesn't want to take on any lead duties.
So....is there any advice for transitioning from strumming to playing lead lines? I've been practicing scales, but don't have a good idea of where to take it from there. In theory, I thought I could start taking things that I play on sax (I've been providing some fills in the absence of a lead guitar) and applying them to guitar. But in practice, my sax playing is much more advanced than my guitar and I just can't play the licks I hear in my head.
There are two kinds of people in this world:
Those who think there are two kinds of people in this world, and those who don't
You answered it -- you can't play the licks you hear in your head, so you need to get to where you can.
So . . how to get there?!
First, learn your major scales across the neck of the guitar. Don't just play the scales, learn them. Say the note names. Say the note scale degrees. Sing the note BEFORE you play it. Get the relationship between the guitar string/fret combos into your head as melodic tones.
Now, take any major scale, any one you like. Think up a children's melody. Play it. Pick it out by ear until you've done it perfectly.
Now, do that again.
Keep doing that until you run out of children's tunes.
Now take any other simple diatonic melody you know well, and keep doing that.
Don't stop.
Keep going.
Ok, you've been doing that for a while, so now you need to go to the next step. Whistle a melody that you've just made up. Now play it back.
Get with the other guitarist or another musician and do "call response" stuff. Have them play a lick, then you play it back.
Keep doing that for a while longer.
One day, you'll look around and realize you just ripped off exactly the melody you had in your head as you were thinking it and you didn't even realize you were doing it until it was done.
Congrats, you're a real lead player now!
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
KP - Great advice!
KP, could you move down to Austin so I could take lessons from you? :)
Jeff
