Need some guitar playing advice...
 

I've been playing for almost 30 years now and have never really developed any "chops". Some of it is a lack of ambition...well, most of it is a lack of ambition...and some of it is just a natural lack of manual dexterity (I think).

I'm kind of stuck in a rut and I want to learn how to really play lead guitar - I'm not talking about Yngwie Malmsteen/Marty Friedman/Joe Satriani shit, but I would like to learn to play lead well enough that I could play some Dio songs or whatever.

So for somebody with my background and 3 decades worth of bad habits, what's the quickest way to do it? Private lessons? Books? Youtube?

Do something i never had the patience to do, learn to read tab.

I always just wanted to do my own thing and pick up riffs by ear, and that works to an extent, but if you REALLY want to learn to play lead as quick as possible, i'd say tab.

Dio (at least Holy Diver) can be played with power chords.



give it a go; same fingering possition just at different places on the neck. if you leaern the corresponding 'power chord' to your standard 1st position chords, you'll be surprised how quick you'll pick it up.

also , make sure the song isn't tuned down a 1/2 or full step or anything frfom your standard E tuning, other wise you'll drive yourself nuts (unless you plan on tuning your guitar down, which is easy)

I can't remember Holy Diver is tuned down.
ACDC is also great to play along with. primiarly your first position chords.

ROFL

I know how to play 5ths dude. I've been playing rhythm guitar for 3 decades.

I thought it was pretty obvious from my post that I'm wanting to learn how to SOLO.

I can read tab.

I can't play half of the stuff I can read though.

I'm wanting to improve speed and dexterity.

ROFL
Oh. lol

what kind of music do you like/listen to?

I don't think you're understanding.

I can play the rhythm parts of pretty much all of those songs.

I can't play the SOLO.

Dio, Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age, Muse, Deep Purple, The Darkness

That's some of it.

Are you starting off reeeally slow as you learn the riffs? its just muscle memory, getting all of the tiny muscles in your fret hand to respond.

I would just go at a snails pace, very gradually trying to build your speed... once your able to keep time with a given song and go reasonably note for note, your hand should be dextrous enough to do just about anything.

Once you're able to play complicated riffs from tab, you'll know the scales and configurations to make up your own, more complex riffs.

Thats about the best i've got, as you know guitar is just SO much about taking the time, almost nothing will ever come easy... time and practice.

Zeppelin?
Ozzy (post Sabbath?)?

...trying to think of others that have good challenging solos, but not impossible etc.

I'm right there with you man. Can you at least wail through scales?

You're just like me, pretty damn good on rhythm but NOT a lead player, unless its just screams, noise that fits the song and basic blues stuff.

try to legatto your way through a scale. so 1 pick per string, then hammer on through the rest of the notes on that string, and do the same thing on the next string etc.; return with 1 pick strick an used pull offs.

a lot of speed comes with that technique. ie, not picking every single note etc.

learn Hot For Teacher intro. :)
even theh rythym has a cool legatto to it.

Flying in a Blue Dream by Satriani has some good challenges, but not impossible.

Shot in the Dark by Ozzy is another cool one/fun solo. challenging.

Bark at the Moon too.

Yeah, I know quite a few scales. But they all end up sounding like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" because I can't just rip through them like I want.

Yep. I can play some solos, like some stuff from AC/DC and Kiss and stuff. I just never learned how to really shred.