Playing Lead Guitar
Some basic exercises for lead guitar. These help
develop finger strength, flexibility,
coordination, and fret board familiarity. Most of
these exercises are chromatic and do not follow
any particular scale. Scales are covered in the
next section.
(Exercise 1.1)
E-------------------------------------------------------1-2-3-4-3-2-1-----------------------------
B---------------------------------------------1-2-3-4-------------------4-3-2-1-------------------
G----------------------------------1-2-3-4----------------------------------------4-3-2-1---------
D-----------------------1-2-3-4-------------------------------------------------------------4-3-2-1
A------------1-2-3-4----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-1-2-3-4---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------------------2-3-4-5-4-3-2-----------
B-----------------------------------------------------------------2-3-4-5--------------------5-4-3-2
G------------------------------------------------------2-3-4-5----------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------2-3-4-5--------------------------------------------------
A-4-3-2-1----------------------2-3-4-5------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-4-5-6
B-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-4-5-6------------
G-5-4-3-2------------------------------------------------------------------3-4-5-6------------------------
D------------5-4-3-2--------------------------------------------3-4-5-6-----------------------------------
A-----------------------5-4-3-2-----------------------3-4-5-6--------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------5-4-3-2-3-4-5-6------------------------------------------------------
Continue this pattern up the fret board as high as
possible. This is a great exercise because it
touches every fret on the guitar. It doesn't
sound like much, but for guitarists just beginning
to play lead it is probably the single best
exercise to practice. Before continuing to the
scales section of the lesson, it is important to
have a certain amount of dexterity and familiarity
with the fret board. If you feel confident in
these areas, skip to the next section. Otherwise
continue with the exercises below.
(Exercise 1.2)
E---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-------4-1----------5-2-----------6-3--------------7-4-----------8-5-------------9-6----------10-7----------------11
D-----3----2-------4-----3-------5-----4----------6-----5-------7-----6---------8-----7-------9-------8---------10----
A---2--------3---3--------4----4---------5------5--------6----6---------7----7---------8----8----------9------9--------
E-1-----------4-2-----------5-3-------------6-4------------7-5------------8-6------------9-7-------------10-8---------
Again this pattern should be extended as far as
possible. This exercise tends to be much harder
for beginners than the previous one. This is
because it forces them to play and think
vertically rather than horizontally. This will be
very important later on, when working with
arpeggios and string skipping.
Introduction to Scales in Lead Playing
Scales are the basis of melody and harmony. It is
important for a guitar player to have a working
knowledge of scales and how they are built.
All scales are based on the seven letter musical
alphabet: C D E F G A B. From left to right the
pitch of the notes goes upwards (i.e.. D is higher
than C). The scale can be repeated any number of
times (i.e.. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B). In
this case the distance between C to the next C, or
from D to the next D, is one full octave.
With the exception of B to C and E to F, the
distance between two consecutive letters is one
tone (two frets on the guitar). The distance
between B to C and E to F is one semi-tone (half a
tone, one fret on the guitar).
Sharps (#) and flats (b) may be added to raise or
lower the pitch of a note by one semi-tone.
Starting on one of these notes, a scale is built
by using a particular stepping pattern to divide
the octave into a number of tones. We will begin
by examining major scales.
Major Scales
Major scales use a stepping pattern as follows: T
T ST T T T ST. Where T is a full tone and ST is a
semi-tone. A semi-tone is one fret of the
guitar. For instance the distance between the 2nd
and 3rd fret is a semi-tone, as is the distance
between any two consecutive frets. A tone is two
frets on the guitar, for instance the distance
between the 4th and 6th fret is a tone. If we
take the letter C as the root note to build a
major scale upon, the stepping pattern would lead
to the following series of tones: C D E F G A B
C. Here we have divided the octave into 8 parts
using the proper formula for a major scale. The
last note (C), is exactly one octave higher than
the first note. We use the C major scale as an
example because it is the easiest to play; it has
no sharps or flats and can be played on the white
keys of a piano. Below is the C major scale in
tab format.
C Major scale (one octave)
E---------------------------
B---------------------------
G---------------------------
D-------------------7-9-10
A---------7-8-10----------
E-8-10---------------------
C D E F G A B C(8va)
Using the same pattern we can figure out any major
scale. For example, starting on G and using the T
T ST T T T ST pattern will yield the G major scale
(G A B C D E F#).
G Major scale (one octave)
E------------------------------
B------------------------------
G------------------------------
D-------------------2--4----5
A---------2-3--5-------------
E-3---5-----------------------
G A B C D E F# G(8va)
When playing guitar it isn't necessary to know all
the notes of a scale in order to play them
(although it is useful). Instead we can just
start on the root note and use the proper stepping
pattern.
Minor Scales
Minor scales are based on a stepping pattern of T
ST T T ST T T. The simplest of the minor scales
is A minor. It consists of the notes A B C D E F
G. Because A minor and C major use the same
notes, A is called the relative minor of C major
(or C is the relative major of A minor). Each
major scale has a relative minor; a scale that
consists of the same notes but has a different
root and stepping pattern.
A Minor scale (one octave)
E--------------------------
B--------------------------
G--------------------------
D---------------------5--7
A-----------5--7--8------
E-5--7-8-----------------
A B C D E F G A
Using the same pattern we can figure out any minor
scale. For example, starting on E will give us
the E minor scale (E F# G A B C D E).
E Minor scale (one octave)
E---------------------------------
B---------------------------------
G---------------------------------
D-------------------------12-14
A--------------12-14-5--------
E-12-14-15-------------------
E F# G A B C D E
E minor is the relative minor of G major; they
share the same notes.
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