Playing fast licks and shredding may sound a lot of fun… I like that stuff too but you don’t want to obsess with playing fast notes. That’s one problem that a lot of guitarists have… they obsess with playing fast just to try and impress people. If you really want to impress people and melt faces with your guitar playing, why not focus on phrasing? I’ve explained what “phrasing” is before. “Phrasing” means sounding musical… like someone singing a song. If you wanna impress people… make people feel goosebumps over your playing, you have to make your lead guitar playing sound like it’s singing a song. This is what made Satriani, Hendrix, Jeff Beck and SRV so great ’cause they were good at “phrasing”. This is one thing I need to get worked on. Trying to improve my “phrasing”. This is why I’m just starting to record my own rhythm playing and jam leads over it so I can practice my “phrasing”. Shredding is nice but it’s over-rated. 

I’m so glad that I decided to take lead guitar seriously and take learning music theory too. Music theory really does help and it does help you become a better lead guitarist. I’m learning a lot. I’m starting to learn how to apply scales to chord changes and key changes and all that stuff. I’ve learned the CAGED system and learned how arpeggios relate to that. Learned how pentatonic scales relate to the CAGED system. Thanks to the two “Fretboard Theory” books by Desi Serna which I recommend to every guitarist out there. Those books are really helping me.

I have all the chops and techniques I learned in lead guitar like hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, bends, vibratos, double-stops, etc. — I can play all the licks well… I just need to get better at the ear training and improvisation part which that is also getting worked on.

The key to improving ear training and pitch is memorizing the sound of the notes in your head. I’m trying to do just that and getting better at that as well. It’s a struggle but if you don’t give up, it’ll pay off.

I’m getting kind of bored of acoustic guitar and kind of wanna focus on electric more. I wanna start writing some of my own rock n’ roll songs sometime down the road. Not metal but maybe hard rock, yes. I don’t have the singing voice for “metal” even though I love the genre. I’ll just play just regular original hard rock kind of in the likes of Led Zep, Soundgarden and Sabbath maybe.  

My guitar playing is kind of Jimmy Page-like a little bit ’cause I spent many years listening and studying his playing. Other than Led Zeppelin, I have listened to many other of Page’s projects. I’ve listened to his playing for many years. 

Yeah, I’m taking lead guitar very seriously. Playing along with a metronome and trying to memorize the sound of each note. Learning scales and all that stuff. 

I’m very “serious” of becoming an actual musician. I’m having fun learning and practicing. 

If I wanna get backing tracks for my original rock songs… maybe I’ll just forget the MIDI bullshit and get real musicians. I’d like to collaborate with other musicians for my songs sometime down the road. 

Kev