HOW TO G
ETTING STARTED WITH… LEAD GUITAR
Learn the best scale in the world and an easy technique for effective blues and rock solos
Playing a guitar solo can seem bewildering for the less experienced guitarist. With 22 frets and six strings, how do you know where to start? Guitarists make this manageable by using scales, sets of notes that sound good together. By far the most useful scale in blues, rock, indie, and metal guitar is the minor pentatonic. It contains only five different notes. In a blues or rock context, you’ll find it’s hard to go wrong if you stick to them. For authentic lead guitar, you’ll also need to hammer on and pull off. To hammer on, you place your fretting finger onto the string with enough force to sound the note without picking the string. Pull-offs are similar, but in reverse: as you remove your finger from the string, pull slightly sideways, causing a lower note (either one you’re fretting or the open string) to ring out. Using overdrive makes this easier.