Scales are the key to advanced-level guitar playing. Here are the steps to mastering your scales and turning them into shreddin' lead guitar:

1) Learn and memorize each of the five pentatonic and seven diatonic scale patterns. Needless to say, this isn't going to happen overnight. Play each pattern straight from the lowest note of the pattern to the highest note of the pattern and back again. Don't do anything tricky with the pattern. Play each pattern starting as low on the neck as possible (open string or first fret), play the pattern across all six strings and back, then move up one fret and repeat the same pattern. Continue to move up one fret at a time until you've played the pattern at every fret you can comfortably play. Consider this one "round" of playing a pattern. It may take you 10 or 20 or more rounds to even begin to become fluent with the pattern. Personally, I put in hundreds, probably thousands, of rounds of each scale pattern over the course of a few years in my teens and early twenties. In all honesty, that's what it takes.

2) Then start working on the patterns using exercises – the kind that have you play sequences of scale notes that are not just playing straight from the lowest note to the highest note. Exercises like this can be found on the net, and there are dozens of them in my course, Logical Lead Guitar, demonstrated on DVD and written out in tab and notation. These exercises help you to become fluent playing the scale patterns in a non-scale-like fashion. And this is the all important bridge to actually being able to play lead guitar.

3) Next, begin doing what I refer to as "puzzle locking exercises." Scales fit together in one key up and down the neck like puzzle pieces, so you have to work on sliding from one scale pattern into the next pattern without going to the wrong fret. That's why I suggest these "puzzle locking exercises." There's a ton of them in Logical Lead Guitar, on DVD and in tab and notation.

4) Learn a melody – something really easy and familiar, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" – in each of the scale patterns. No matter which melody you choose, you'll find that it's probably easier to play that melody in some scale patterns than others. After you've attempted enough different melodies, you'll usually find that there are certain melodies that work best in each of the five pentatonic or seven diatonic scale patterns, and not quite as well in the other patterns. And at first you might think that there are only a couple of patterns in which most melodies can be played very easily, and most of the other scale patterns are not so useful. But with time – and with the exploration of more melodies – you'll find that every one of the patterns has its strong points.

5) "Noodle around," as I call it, in each of the scale patterns. Plan on doing a lot of this, if you really want to become fluent at improvisation – creating your own unique solos – instead of simply knowing how to play other guitarists' solos. By noodle around, I mean that you should spend five or 10 minutes straight playing any and every simple, or even silly riff or melody that you can find in one pattern. Then choose another scale pattern and do it again for five or 10 minutes. You can easily do this unaccompanied, or you can put on a CD of some song by your favorite artist and play over the top of them. Really, you should use both techniques to really learn your chops. Actually, after you've done this a few times and have begun to feel comfortable doing so, it becomes kinda fun!

6) After doing plenty of noodling around in each of the patterns, you should have begun to find specific licks that work really well only in one specific pattern. You need to catalog these licks, at least in your mind, if not by writing them down (in tab or sheet music) or even by recording them so you can refer back to them in the months ahead.

7) Begin learning solos from your favorite artists, as close to "note-for-note" as you can. Use any resource you must to get the solo correct in the beginning – free tab off the Internet (many, if not most of these, are incorrect, however); the very accurate songbooks published by companies such as Hal Leonard, Mel Bay, Warner Bros., etc.; DVDs, such as the awesome Signature Licks series by Hal Leonard; or even from a teacher or friend. And here's a hint: If you are closer to beginner lead guitarist than expert, don't waste your time trying to run before you can walk. Whether you want to or not, you really need to learn simple, slower solos before you're going to be able to tackle something by Joe Satriani or Eddie Van Halen or Metallica or Avenged Sevenfold. Don't bother trying to fool yourself, you're just wasting time. Learn a couple of simple solos, then move up to intermediate solos, then start working on the harder stuff.

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There are a lot of different methods of learning how to play guitar, and all of them are important and crucial for the mastery of the instrument. Most people learn to play by using sheet music, or tablature, and this is definitely a necessary skill to learn for growth and development. There is something that a lot of guitarists may not take the time to learn, and that is how to play the guitar by ear.

It’s very important to develop a good ear, along with learning how to read music. Learning to play by ear will give you a greater depth of understanding about guitar and how music sounds, and will also help you to identify chords and scales you hear musicians using without needing the sheet music for that particular piece.

In order to begin learning how to play the guitar by ear, you need to have a basic knowledge and understanding of music. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a master at reading sheet music, but that you should understand some of the basics of music theory. Some basic knowledge about chords, chord progressions, and how chords and scales work together will be very helpful in learning how to play the guitar by ear.

Another important skill you’ll need to develop when learning to play the guitar by ear is patience. Learning to play by ear can be very difficult and time consuming; it requires a lot of practice. In order to perfect your sound, you’ll have to repeatedly play the same chords, riffs, and solos time after time. This may seem tedious at times, but the results are well worth the effort you put into practicing.

One of the greatest resources available to help you fine tune your ear is to play along with your favorite CDs. Dig out some of your favorite albums and begin to learn how to play the songs you like on those CDs. One of the greatest ways to learn is to mimic the guitar legends you idolize. By playing along and trying to copy their sound, you’ll grow in your technique and also sharpen your ear.

Learning to play guitar by ear has a lot of benefits that can help you grow as a musician. It enables you to develop a deeper understanding of how to play, as well as how music fits together. Playing by ear also helps you out tremendously if you should happen to join a band and play with other guitarists. 

We have an awesome article for you that's going to blow your mind and challenge you to reach new heights with your guitar. We encourage you to try new things that you may have never thought of before!

In this edition:

Have you ever felt like you've been playing in a box and you keep getting that same old sound that everyone else already seems to have? Today is the day that you can change the way you think about playing your guitar for the rest of your life as we take a look at altered tunings.

Who ever said that we had to play in the same tuning for the rest of our lives? The fact of the matter is that altered tunings can give you a tone that's simply unmatched by standard tuning and virtually impossible to achieve if you don't use those altered tunings.

We're going to show you how altered tunings work, why they are so effective, how you can tune to them using your standard tuning, and what you can play using them! That's enough information to keep you going for a year!

Tunings That Keep You Swooning...

Why new tunings are cool.

Over the last few months, I have talked a lot about getting yourself out of the trap that many guitarists typically fall into at one time or another. The solution to pulling yourself out of that ditch varies from person to person but for me, altered tunings have helped me grow as a musician.

Believe it or not, even the editor of a guitar site can get into the same monotonous groove over and over again. Recently, I started playing in other tunings other than standard. As a classically trained guitarist, I was very much bent on standard tuning because theoretically, everything you need to get the sounds you want is there.

However, what I have learned in recent months is that it's not necessarily what you can do with standard tuning, rather, what tones and chords you can't get by using it all of the time. Alternative tunings offer a new, and often easier method of playing chords and a very rich tone that is unmatched.

I mention chords for an important reason. You may have noticed that the guitar isn't laid out in a fashion that allows for easy access to every single chord combination. According to theory we can achieve incredible sounding chords but the problem is having the technique to stretch that far. Some of those chords are often impossible for any of us to play. Tuning your guitar to different tones bridges that gap between theory and technique, allowing us to play new chords.

Altered tunings involve playing around with the notes that your guitar is currently tuned to. For example, standard tuning is what you're probably tuned to at the moment and your six strings from top to bottom are tuned to the notes E, B, G, D, A, E. An altered tuning will use different notes in our musical vocabulary and replace the notes in standard tuning.

There's really an unlimited array of alternate tunings to choose from because you can tune your strings to form any chord you wish. For example, tuning in open g will allow you to play a G chord simply by strumming your strings without any fret work!

You could do this with many other chords to get a lot of new sounds. These sounds form the building block for new music to be formed and is a lot of fun to explore with. Later in this lesson, we'll play around with new ideas evolving around using chords as your open tuning.

How you can achieve them without a tuner.

One of the many reasons why people choose not to tune their guitar using alternate tunings is simply due to the fact that they don't know how to tune their guitar to those notes. If you have a tuner that simply is made for standard tuning, you'll find that it's very inaccurate to use. You'll want a chromatic tuner for any alternate tunings you may wish to use. However, a much easier method is learned by the notes on your guitar neck.

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