Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

Hey, Nick. Long time no see! :) Hope you are doing well.

Originally Posted by: NickFerra

Hi Christopher! Yes its been a while. I'm doing well. Hope you are too!

Where should I begin if I want to start playing solos and lead guitar?

I'm into Slash, Synyster Gates, Noel Gallagher, Angus young, etc...

[p]You should build your single note playing skills & start building a repertoire of licks. If you know which players you like, then learn their licks & mix & match them to suit your own purposes & make your own solos.

Read this article.

https://www.guitartricks.com/blog/how-to-play-a-guitar-solo

What is your current skill level? Can you play this?

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=27820&s_id=723

How about this?

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=20410&s_id=1614

Or this?

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=14200&s_id=914

Or this?

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=9540&s_id=185

The point is those are a series of progressively more complex lead licks starting with a basic idea & gradually getting more involved.

You could start working through the Rock course looking for lead playing tutorials & combine that with learning solos from artists that inspire you. But I'm trying to get an idea of your skill level to point you exactly in the right direction.

At this point my skill level is just a basic understanding on how to play the minor pentatonic shape. 5-8 5-7, 5-7, 5-7, 5-8, 5-8

And so on and so on. I sound too much like im just playing scales up and down... so I think i should learn some actual licks? Maybe? I dunno!

I remember at one point you were trying to take over lead guitar duties in a band you were playing in. You asked about some of the leads of the previous guitarist. I explained what was happening. It was pretty basic stuff. Did you ever get any of that under your command?

Hope that helps!

I did take over lead for a little while but someone else came in that had a better understanding of lead than I did so he took over. That was very short lived for me. Soon afterwards the bass player and the drummer moved and long story short.... the band broke up. Singer got an ego and never appreciated the work I did to manage the band and get us playing shows and trying out new members. So I got fed up lol

I have some facebook videos of me playing some lead if you wanna check out how bad they are lol we played a show where I played Yellow Ledbetter, lead and everything... plus some lead on the original songs we did if you wanna see em. Maybe see a visual of where I'm at on my guitar journey. Is there a way to tag you in the videos? Or no?