Learning to play lead guitar is one of the most thrilling and best feelings for a guitarist. Have you ever listened to your favourite band or artist and then dashed off to your guitar and tried to play that same solo? How about playing your very own solo? However it is not easy to do at first as there are eleven skills that you need to acquire. All you need is an electric guitar and an amplifier and I shall show you the rest.

1. Learn the notes on your guitar

Firstly, make sure that you know the notes of all six strings. If possible try to visualize the notes on your guitar fret board. Try to do many as you can. After all this is what your guitar solos are based on.

2. Learn your Scales

The first and essential thing you need to be able to do in learning to play lead guitar is to play the scales in the correct key. These are the minor & major pentatonic scales and also the major scale. These scales are used widely in guitar solos. Learn each different scale and play these at different keys. Once you have played these through try playing them in reverse.

3. Use of chords & arpeggios

Another important aspect in learning to play lead guitar is the use of chords. These are so important because the chords contain the essential ingredients such as the essential notes of the key that you are playing in. Try to blend the chords by using rhythm playing with single notes of the scale. This is a little difficult to do but make sure you learn the chords first. Make use of arpeggios, these are all the notes contained in a chord played separately and in sequence, in other words a broken chord is played.

4. Always use Alternate picking when learning to play lead guitar

When learning to play lead guitar you should pick the strings in a specific way. Pick down and then pick up then down and up again repeatedly. Do this all the time as this improves the speed of your soloing technique. Do the same with chord playing using a down stroke followed by an up stroke do the same again.

5. Bends, slides and vibrato playing

Numerous techniques are used to spice up the guitar solo and appears a lot more pleasing to the ear. Make sure you use bends, slides, pull-offs and vibrato in your lead guitar playing. Most guitars use tremolo arms to vibrate the strings to rapidly alter the pitch of the sound. This is the same as vibrato playing but using your index finger. So make sure you get used to these techniques when learning to play lead guitar.

6. Distortion and effect pedals

A great way of spicing up your guitar solos when learning to play lead guitar is to add a few effect pedals to your gear. Distortion and gain is an essential one in guitar lead playing as it adds meat to the overall sound. Some other effect pedals are chorus and flanger, which are used widely by Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Two more great pedals are delay and reverb which sound as though you are playing live as they give out an echo effect.

7. String damping is used when learning to play lead guitar

String damping is when you mute the string or strings with your fretting fingers and play the note. This gives out a click sounding effect and sounds quite cool in between loud notes. Again, Dave Gilmour uses this very effectively. Another one is palm muting, this is when you mute the strings to a variable degree with your picking hand which enables you to strum a silent chord. This is used a lot when playing power chords.

8. Harmonics is used when learning to play lead guitar

Harmonics is a great way to add some great sound to your lead guitar playing. Pinch harmonics are played by picking a note and then immediately follow this by making contact with the string and the flesh of your thumb. Also string harmonics is an alternative. This is where you gently touch and play the note on any of the 6 strings at either the 3rd, 6th or 12th fret then quickly release.

9. Use of Pickups

Good use of pickups is another important factor when learning to play lead guitar as this is what makes the sound. Guitars usually have two versions of pickups, three single coil pickups or two single coils and one humbucker pickup. The humbucker pickup is more suitable for lead guitar soloing as it gives a dirtier and meaty sound.

10. Tone and feel

One of the most important factors in lead guitar soloing is the tone and feel of your own personal playing. When playing try to play through your own ears and what sounds good to you. Try and get the most out of each note that you play by making it sound sweet and tasty. Add silence between notes as this says just as much as a note being played. Playing and sounding good does not mean that you can play 5 or 6 notes per second or shredding but quite the opposite. It is not all about speed. Play from your heart. David Gilmour and Slash are great examples of this sort of calibre.

11. Importantly, practice when learning to play lead guitar

This is probably the most important factor when learning to play lead guitar. Without practice you will get nowhere. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Make sure you practice around 30 minutes per day and set yourself a practice schedule and divide the tasks mentioned above and allocate them to different days. As long as you get this right I assure you will become a proper lead guitar player.