Originally Posted by: bbzswa777Thanks for sharing.

Some of your strong points:
- you do a good job sliding into certain notes. I know this may seem simple, but to get it to sound good takes a little while
- you have a pretty decent sense of timing. When it comes to improvising over a backing track, the notes you don't play are just as important and you seem fairly patient which is a good trait
- Your bends are pretty good! But no matter how much we improve, we all still have room to grow when it comes to bending. So don't stop working on them.

Some things you could work on:
- I noticed sometimes your vibrato comes from you moving your finger from side to side. I haven't seen too many people use that technique especially on an electric guitar. I would start getting used to going up or down (but remember to always start and go back to the root note unless you're ending the note on a bend)
- Use more legato. Hammer ons and pull offs make blues licks sound a lot smoother and it's usually easier to play faster that way (not that you should necessarily play faster. that's up to you).
- If you haven't already, memorize the blues and pentatonic (both major and minor) scales so you can feel comfortable coming up with different phrasings.


You said you're a rock/metal fan. Have you ever heard of the book Rock Discipline by John Petrucci? It has some really great advice, music, and exercises that I think can help any guitarist. His Wild Stringdom book is also really good.

Thanks for the tips!

That's what I love about this site. After doing it wrong for so many years I'm starting to realize what some of my bad habits are, and how to fix them.

My whole life I've pretty much concentrated on playing rhythm. I would stick to simple songs using two finger barre chords. Every now and then a song would require me to throw down a couple of licks here and there, but I've never really sat down to learn the solos. (Main reason being that bunch of bananas at the end of my hand that I call fingers.)

The only songs I can play the lead for are: Free - Alright Now and Mountain - Mississippi Queen, so actually sitting down and learning a scale is still new to me.

I have been working on the Am blues scale. I seem to be stuck using the one pattern and a couple of boxes that I've learned in the lessons. I feel that not knowing the note names are slowing me down some. I do know where all the "A's" are now, so that's a start. It still takes me around 4 min. to complete the fretboard trainer, but I do get them all right.

As for Rock Discipline by John Petrucci...I actually own the VHS copy. I've never got to spend much time with it due to life, but it might be a good idea to get it transferred to DVD or buy a new copy.

I will make a conscious effort to work on my vibrato. That's one of the downfalls of being self taught...you don't know if it's right or wrong.

Thanks again.