I've been playing guitar for about 10 years. When I first started what really brought me out of the early stages is the song one last breath, by creed. Learned it note by note over about a 1 month period and just kept at it till I got it. Really gave me the dexterity boost that I needed and helped me learn how to navigate the fretboard on other songs really well. Learning at least one song that's way above your skill level....and mastering it....really helps you to improve. Takes time but tabs are out there and all you have to do is practice slowly till you can play it at full speed. If you can play the full "I'm Alright" song you should have just about all the basics down for playing lead. I'm a lead guitarist myself and I'm just now starting to polish my rhythm. I've been playing a long time but there is a lot of things I've just never focused on, kind of wish I had now. I would advise working on a little bit of everything. Learn some Rhythm, try out flamenco style, get your fingerpicking skills up a little, etc... You are going to have to get a basic knowledge of keys, chords (you should already know your chords by now), and what scales to use to play lead in any given key. It's boring, and tedious...BUT...you can jam your motherfucking balls off when you get it to click. Start playing along to some blues backing tracks in a key that you have learned the appropriate scale to. I'm entirely self taught so if you have a teacher that really knows his shit, stick with him. It will probably help you out a lot. I couldn't have played I'm Alright when I was 8 months into guitar playing....it would take me a solid 5 hours to learn it even now.

Hope you get some helpful info out of here. Let me know if you have any other questions.

thanks a lot man, i will definitely take a look a tthat song..
im alright took me about 3 months to learn... and i also am playing the version with the fast scaled work before the solo hehe.


i took a nice listen at that song,
sounds really easy to be honest... didn't really hear a solo...
i like the song... i may want to learn it although i like songs that are always changing (not repeating) with cool solos.


This post was edited by DeathDeception on Apr 4 2011 02:31pm

The Animals - House Of The Rising Sun is all you need.

already know this one... just a bunch of chords :\

Nope. Learn more.

It's not easy for someone at a beginner's level (which is where I was when I learned it, I think the hardest thing I could play at the time was come as you are by nirvana, lol). Soloing all by itself gets old after awhile. I say solo your ass off until your interested in branching out into other things....it will happen eventually.

im not at a beginner's level. what im trying to do here is continue to progress from where i left off.
im not garbage... i can play solos etc etc its not all about chords for me

Yeah, and those bunch of chords will help with timing, shape shifting and dexterity. There is no over night magic trick

bob man, i know you're good at guitar, i just wished you understood what im asking for.
how will playing that song help me?