Playing lead

[Todd Tipton]

Originally Posted by rick413

...I can play a couple of scales...

My advice? Start right there. Take a scale you are most familiar with. In some of your practice, use it to play along with a piece you really enjoy. Don't worry about what is right or wrong. Play around with only 2 or 3 notes in your familiar scale pattern. Repeat them a lot making simple gestures. Listen to how those notes interact with the changing chords. This is a great place to start.

Are you not sure about the key or where to play the scale? Don't worry about that just yet. A combination lock with only 12 combinations isn't a very good lock is it? Let's keep this simple so that you can get immediate results. As you are listening to the piece you have chosen, play your scale in one position. If it doesn't sound good, move up another position and try again. Eventually, you will probably "unlock" the piece and find where the scale pattern sounds good.

Gradually, and I mean VERY gradually, weeks, months, whatever it takes: Slowly learn one scale pattern at a time. Make sure the next one you learn is adjacent to another pattern. The more patterns you know, the more freedom you will have to play anywhere on the neck. When you learn the five patterns, you will then have the full freedom to move anywhere on the neck in any key.

But don't worry about that right now. Really spend lots of time making sure you really know that scale you think you know. Few classical players talk about this, but it is really important to learn to easily see the shape of the scale form. Look for the patterns. Try to only learn a small part of the scale pattern. Twenty times a day, take half a minute, see it in your mind, and "play" it with your air guitar...lol Then when you sit down to experiment with improvising, you will have the freedom to play around, not having to worry about what finger is supposed to play what.

There is lots of great information out there, and later you should start seeking for things that are easy to understand and speak well to you. But if you have never had any experience soloing, I think you will lots of fun taking my advice! So much of what we do is so structured and work like. Not that this can't be or shouldn't be, but I think you should start out having fun with that scale. Be a kid!

[rick413]

Thanks so much for all the great advice, my goal for the winter to be able to learn the basics well enough not to Embarrass myself.