Lead Guitar Course - Level 1 (Lessons #1-4)

Learn a common chord sequence across the guitar neck using diverse shapes and power chords to create fuller tones, and plan chord placements for intro, chorus, and outro.

practice power chords across the neck using shape-based patterns, transpose by two frets or a whole tone, and apply octave concepts with backing tracks and delay for leads.

Hold the pick like an extension of your finger, with the index finger and thumb on top, then try different picks to find what works for you.

Develop natural picking control through exercises that mimic real songs, emphasizing a normal, effortless feel and coordinating both hands while applying 1-2-3-4 beat divisions to riffs and solos.

Download a free metronome app on your phone and set it to 90, or adjust to 80 or 70. Practice the exercises slowly to improve accuracy, then increase speed.

Practice exercise number one focuses on right-hand picking for one note per string in eighth notes, with left-hand relaxed, breathing, and variations like skipping strings and two notes per beat.

Practice exercise four reinforces four notes per phrase at steady tempo, emphasizing alternate picking and right-hand control to vary dynamics, tone, and phrasing for expressive guitar playing.

Lead guitar course level 1, exercise six, trains left-hand technique and faster right-hand picking with alternating picking for smooth, precise practice.

Develop speed on your right hand through exercises 5–8, moving from one note per beat to four notes per beat without stopping, and master transitions to triplets and sixteenths.

Build exercises nine to twelve around the minor pentatonic scale as a core guitar skill. Practice five-finger exercises around this scale to develop technique and improvisation in jazz guitar.

Perform exercise nine: play one note per beat on the penultimate scale you just learned.

Exercise 10 builds pentatonic scale awareness across positions 1 to 3 and demonstrates how different right-hand technique changes the sound.

Learn a riff across two strings from exercises 13–16, using a left-hand fingering pattern 2–5–7–5 and alternating notes for a comfortable technique.

Exercise 14 introduces a distraction element in the lead guitar practice, with the speaker contemplating reducing from four to three.

Learn to riff on beats 13 and 14, double the speed for beats 15 and 16, and practice four notes per beat to advance your lead guitar technique.

Learn the muting technique with your right hand to stop unwanted strings from ringing after picking, lightly touching the strings to keep only the desired notes clear.

Practice these exercises slowly and patiently to master alternate picking. Progress by gradually increasing speed while paying attention to right-hand technique and muscle use, and stay disciplined, perseverant, and relaxed.

Master practical lead guitar basics: notes, octaves, and power chords on the neck. Learn a theory to identify keys, scales, and chords in songs, enabling improvisation and soloing without charts.

Learn major, minor, and diminished chords, and practice two movable shapes rooted on the sixth and fifth strings for lead guitar chords across the fretboard.

Discover how major, minor, and diminished chords form from a single shape, adjust fingering to switch quality, and practice transitions among major, minor, and diminished shapes.

Learn how major keys arise from the major scale by using major on 1, 4, 5; minor on 2, 3, 6; and diminished on 7 to form guitar chords.

Discover the main chords of G major—G major, A minor, D minor, C major, A minor, and F# diminished—and how they create a major-key progression on the sixth string.

Apply major and minor chord concepts to string 5a, using power chords and octave fingering to form major, minor, or diminished shapes, and learn about the tritone’s tense sound.

Practice with a metronome to play between each chord, moving through major keys to memorize and master the chords.

Learn to identify and use the major-key chord shapes (major, minor, diminished) to write songs and identify keys. Inside every major scale you will find a minor key.

Explore the relative minor and hear how major scale chords relate to their minor counterparts. See how the scale of G major connects with related chords.

Review essential lead guitar concepts, including locating yourself between song sections and recognizing chords, to create solos and lead lines for everyday playing.

Learn to solo and improvise with the pentatonic scales, exploring the minor and major pentatonic through two core shapes, two backing tracks, and essential phrasing techniques for engaging solos.

Explore the pentatonic scale and why it sounds so good for soloing. Showcase its versatility across genres and why players use it as the main tool for soloing.

Master the first minor pentatonic shape with root on the 6th string e, using the 1–4–1–3 finger pattern and transpose to g minor or c minor on the corresponding chord.

Explore first shape with the root on the a string, practice a minor chord across strings, compare minor seven variations, and play the pattern starting on the a string (3-4-1-4-3).

Explore soloing over major pentatonic backing tracks to sound melodic and singable, while noting major and minor ideas and octave ideas to make your phrases musical.

Explore simple, musical phrases while focusing on fundamentals and pentatonic fluency, switching between minor and major ideas in back-and-forth jam sessions to build versatile guitar ideas.

Join a jam session in A major as part of the lead guitar course level 1 (lessons 1-4). Focus on the major key and the jam session style.