I play heavy metal. I am pretty new at playing lead. I am having trouble making "interesting" leads and solos. If someone were to play a 3 power chord rhythm, and i had to solo over it.....i would jsut wank around on 3 finger increments as fast I can around 12th fret and higher. I dont understand how things fit with scales. Do you take all the notes possible in an entire pentetonic scale and try to peice them together to get something sounding good or what? is there a way i can create a good rhythm, and then by knowing the key the rhythm is in, i can play the corresponding scale/notes?? I DONT KNOW HOW IT WORKS!!!!!!


any help would be fantastic guys, thanks

Although, there is no perfect way to tell someone how to play more interesting leads and solo's. You have to build on it by practicing. I can tell you most metal solo's are based around Modes. Modes are made from taking a scale, say a major scale, and instead of starting on the root, say starting on the 5th interval in the scale. Which is a Mixolydian mode, great for soloing over V7 chords. Its not just limited to a couple of notes in a scale, all scales and each note of a scale is a mode. Search though this site, you will find countless threads about this.

You must know the chord progression, which your soloing over. That way you can pick the correct scale to play over it. Most solo's sound lame cause they're using the same scale thoughout the solo, you have to mix it up to make it sound more interesting. Giving it a sense of flow, and movement rather than being stagnate.

A good way to learn how this all works is learn a song you like with a solo in it. Learn both the rhythm and the solo, then figure out how they come together. Take alittle Music Theory so you can understand how it works, there's also alot of threads and tricks on here just use the search to find them. You will find alot of pointers.

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Yeah just learn songs with solos. Early Kirk Hammett and Randy Rhoads are some great soloist. Learn their stuff and after a while you'll see a lot of guitarists just steal from others. And whats stopping you from doing it to. use the licks you learn to get you from the scale parts that you already know. After a while you will be able to make some good solos on your own.

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like the above have said, learn the solos you like. i suggest Randy Rhoads(Ozzy)and Kirk Hammett(Metallica)if you don't have any in mind. they are good studies anyway.
also, taking this a step further, you should learn the scale and patterns these guys(and/or your heros)use in their solos and songs.
i recommend learning the pentatonic scales. these are a great start and are used by very prestigous guitarists from Eddie Van Halen to Zakk Wylde. they are easy to learn and easy to solo with. if you get bored or want to try something new, they are plenty of other scales to have a field day on. just try them all out. i must have a drawer full of scales i've used and tried.
well, just try it out dude.
good luck

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