Help I'm lame at guitar!

[CladInShadows]

I can't say for sure if anyone here will be able to answer this question or if I'm even posting in the proper forum, but since I am in college these days it is difficult to A) find a teacher to get guitar lessons from and B) find reliable transportation to and from lessons. So, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a book or video that I might be able to learn from. My hope is to gain some skills in playing lead. I would consider myself an intermediate guitarist because I don't need to learn the basics really anymore. I'm looking more to improve my speed and technique as well as learn scales and soloing. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. And if you think this should be in a different forum, just let me know...

[stonepiano]

recommendation:

Collaborate! Play with others. watch what they do. You can bury yourself in books and videos but playing in bands has helped me immeasurably in learning the nuances of the instrument.

[Light]

The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick

Beyond that one, the important thing is to find a good method book, and also a good book on conteporary harmony (traditional harmony is usless unless you want to play classical guitar). There are probably thousands out there which would work, so I won't recomend a particular book. Remember, though, that buy the book does you no good. It is practicing what is in the book that is helpful.

Also, as said above, get out there and PLAY. What you can do in your bedroom means nothing unless you plan on never leaving the house. Play with others. Music is like sex, much better in groups of three or four (well, I think so ) than alone.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[Scottgman]

I'm not sure what you mean by the basics. Scales are about as basic as it gets and if you don't know the Major/Minor scales (at least) then you do need to study the basics.

Having said that, the best advice has already been mentioned: jamming with people. Since you are in college, I would bet the farm that there is a bass player, drummer, or another guitar player within 1-mile of your residence. Hook-up with one of them and play often. Also, if you have any way of recording yourself, then you have at least one other guitar player to jam with . Record a simple chord progression then solo over it many times and try different things.

My advice for improving your lead playing would be to just focus on the first position of a scale. You can get a lot of mileage out of that first position. Of course, this is just to get started-- if you only play the first position for the rest of your life, your lead playing will get pretty boring. The other scale positions are different flavors of the same notes.

Here is a good website to learn scales and chords:
http://www.looknohands.com/chordhous.../index_rb.html

For instance, say you want to learn A minor. The natural minor scale is also known as the Aeolian mode. So click on A and then Aeolian and it will show you all the notes on the fretboard in the key of A minor. My advice would be just to focus on the first position (starting at the 5th fret) until you get comfortable with it.