Lead Guitar Solos: Essential Facts

Great guitar soloists are always in demand. Take Eddie Van Halen. He played on Michael Jacksons "Beat It". Everyone pretty much agrees that its cool to play solos in a band. But you should know what your role in the band is too. You want to contribute to the band performance. In this case, Eddie was adding something to Michaels project with his lead guitar solos.

Eddies typically plays lead guitar. Lead guitar is really different from rhythm guitar. Rhythm guitarists provide structure to the song by supporting the lead singer's vocals. They also contribute in a major way to the band's songwriting because of their mastery of rhythm. Lead guitarists, on the other hand like Eddie, provide awesome solos and use the rhythm guitarist's work as a foundation for their own.

Let me give you an example. Take lead guitarists like Paul Gilbert, Greg Howe, George Harrison of the Beatles and Jimmy Page. Here are a few rhythm guitarists. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and John Lennon of the Beatles. Singer-songwriters such as Bryan Adams, Avril Lavigne, and Bono of U2 are also known lead guitarists.

The playing styles of lead guitar solos also differ significantly from those of rhythm guitar solos. Rhythm guitarists mainly use chords and strum their guitars while lead guitarists focus on solo-string playing and solo using plucking. The best guitarists should ideally be able to play both roles in the band, especially if they are the lead singers.

When you are learning to play lead guitar solos it's critical to master the scales, since the notes will be the building blocks that you will use to improvise.. The major scales that you want to focus on are the Pentatonic Scales and the Blues Scale. Also, make it a point to study the different styles of lead guitarists you like. And don't forget to keep getting your inspiration from them until you begin to develop a style of your own.

One cool exercise for noob lead guitarist is download a MIDI file of a song that has a strong guitar solo, such as "Jump" by Van Halen or "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits. Then mute the solo guitar track and record your own playing over it. Practice the solo over and over again until you feel that you're no longer just imitating the original but playing the solo in your own style.