If you've performed live on stage or even a casual jam with your friends at band practice -- one of the most annoying things guitarists have is a thing called FEEDBACK!

If you don't know what feedback is -- it's that terrible high pitched sound that comes from speakers.

It usually happens when you place your microphone too close to the speaker or play your guitar directly in front of the amplifier.

Not only does this damage your ears, but it puts your audience off when they come to hear you play!

Now I'm not an expert on the dynamics of feedback. But I have performed on stage many times and have learnt a few tricks to avoid feedback from occurring...

The first step is to turn down your treble on your amplifier. Too much treble invites feedback so don't have too much treble in your amplifier settings.

The second step is to turn the volume on your guitar up only 3/4. Don't turn your volume up full as this is invites huge feedback! Always leave a little room on your volume, so don't turn it up all the way. Only 3/4 and I guarantee you will reduce feedback at least 80% with this trick.

One other trick is to turn down the gain or distortion on your amp. When you play softly, you can turn your gain or distortion full. But when you start playing with some serious volume, turn your gain only 50%.

You will still get the same sound and distortion, but this is the trick to avoiding feedback from occurring when you play loudly.

Finally, if you're using an effects pedal, only turn it up 3/4 the way. Like your guitar -- always leave a bit of leeway as it offers more control over the sound and keeps your playing tight!

Remember this -- if you keep control of your volumes, you reduce the level of feedback and have a much tighter sound as an over all band. If you turn everything up full and try to rule the world -- you'll sound a mess and out of control.

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Learning to play the lead guitar comes in the advanced stage of guitar mastery. If you are able to learn some of the tricks of guitar improvisation then you will be able to play a solo with ease. Any rock or metal band normally has a lead guitarist and a rhythm guitarist but more often than not, it is the lead guitarist who takes the center stage.

Over the years, lead guitarists like Van Halen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Peter Frampton, Frank Zappa, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, David Gilmour, John Frusciante, Jimmy Page and Brian May have rendered some of the most beautiful solo compositions.

<I>According to the Rolling stone magazine</I>, the top 5 lead guitarists in the world include Eric Claption, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, Jordan Rivers and Eric Johnson. The lead guitar has the most powerful impact especially when competent guitarists play their solo. <I>Two of the famous solo numbers</I> that are practiced the world over on a lead guitar includes: Eruption by Van Halen This is considered as one of the greatest lead guitar compositions of all time and was performed by Eddie Van Halen. Here are some excerpts of the lead guitar tabs for Eruption:

----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------
-11-1h4--8-1h4--8-1h4--8-1h4--8-1h4--8-1h4--8-1h4--8-1h4--|--9-1h4--9-1h4-----
----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------
----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------
----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------
----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------
 t       t      t      t      t      t      t      t         t      t         

-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------
-9-1h4--9-1h4--9-1h4--9-1h4--9-1h4--9-1h4--|--9-3h6--9-3h6--9-3h6--9-3h6------
-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------
 t      t      t      t      t      t         t      t      t      t          


Eddie Van Halen also used MXR Phase 90 and the Univox EC-80 echo box for the lead guitar solo.<I>Sweet Child O' Mine by Slash</I>is also another one of the most popular rock ballads of all time and has been featured in the debut album of Guns N' Roses called Appetite For Destruction.<I>Hotel California by Joe Walsh & Don Felder</I>is another one of the most famous numbers by Eagles, The lead solos played by Don Felder and Joe Walsh have captivated the hearts and souls of many generations</B></I>. This is probably one of the easiest solos to practice on lead guitar. This is the hotel California intro tab:

E||-7--------7------7--------7--------6------6------9---6---
B||-------7----7---------7-----------------7---7------------
G||----7---------7-----------7-----------6-------6----------
D||-9--------------------9------------8---------------------
A||---------------------------------------------------------
E||---------------------------------------------------------

If you are trying to play the lead on a 12-string acoustic then this is how it will look

e-----------0-----------2-----------0-----------------0-----------0-------\
B---0---0-------------0---2-4-----3-----3---------0-----------1-----------|
G-----0---0---0-2---2-----------2-----2---2-----0---0-------0-----------0-|
D-----------------1-----------0---------------2-----------2-----2---0h2---|
A-------------------------------------------4-----------3-----------------|
E-0-----------------------------------------------------------------------/

The other easy mode3rn compositions that will help you to master your lead guitar includes Spies by Coldplay where the lead guitar intro starts with E-Bow and slide and goes on to the next loop with distortion, volume swells and tremolo. Finally, you can try <B>Gary Moore’s Parisienne Walkways</B> lead guitar intro, which starts like this:

E--12--10----------------------12--10--
B----------13--12--10------------------
G----------------------12--10----------
D--------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------

Why are you learning the guitar? The most obvious answer would probably be to master the various scales and to play the solo on stage. Well! Playing the guitar is one thing and playing a lead guitar on stage in a live gig is another thing.

The place where it all starts – as in the practice to play the lead guitar is with the minor and major scales. The major and minor scales are normally separated by just about four frets and they are known as the relative scales. They are known as the relative scales because of one reason: they have the same tones. In major scale the tone is DO - RE - MI - FA - SO - LA - TI and in minor scale it becomes LA - TI - DO - RE - MI - FA - SO.

Whether you are gearing to get into the Rock scene or into heavy metal, the major as well as minor scales will be the backbone of lead guitar. You need to master them thoroughly before you can move forward and learn some of the other advanced scales and this is going to do you a lot of good when you actually get down to playing lead guitar. The major scale is used more often and is the most familiar of them all. Let us take a look at the attributes and values for major scale

• Scale Formula: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
• Step Construction: W-W-H-W-W-W-H
• Distinguishing Degree: M7
• Good over Chords: M , M7 , M6
• Good with Progressions: I-IV-V , II-V-I , I-VI-IV-V , I-III-IV-I , I-IV-I , I-V-I

In the minor scale the attribute will be:

• Scale Formula: 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
• Step Construction: W-H-W-W-H-W-W
• Distinguishing Degree: m6
• Good over Chords: m, m7 , m6
• Good with Progressions: Im-bVII-bVI , Im-IVm , Im-Vm , Im-bIII-bVII

The major scale is also quite similar to the Ionian mode and is made up of 7 notes like any other diatonic scales. The Ionian scale is the one that is the first of the 7 notes. So if your note was C, D, E, F, G, A and B then your Ionian note will be C-major. The other important scale in the Major scales is the major pentatonic and it is one of the most popular one too because without it lead guitar playing is incomplete. The different pentatonic major scales include A, A#, Ab, B, Bb, G, G#, Gb, F, F#, E, Eb, D, D#, Db, C, and C#.Let us take a look at a comparison chart that has C Major, C-Chromatic and Pentatonic scales:

• Chromatic C C# D D# E F F# G G# A Bb B
• Major C D E F G A B
• Major Pentatonic C D E G A