Hey Friend,

Most of the questions and challenges I get asked about are centered around chords - learning them, changing between them, getting your hands to form them. The second most common topic I get questions about revolves around guitar soloing.

For example, John wants to know about "soloing and scale connecting to different scales."

Kevin says, "I can't find a way to make my own riffs and licks. I also need to break out of the box scales."

Now I'm not an expert when it comes to soloing. I'm not a shredder, and my sweep-picking sounds like I'm hacking away at my guitar neck with an ax. I'm never going to win a Guinness World Record for my speed. But I do know the fundamentals - the starting points to give you a strong foundation.

And I know how to get you thinking about ways to increase your creativity and, as Kevin puts it, "break out of the box."

Over this week, I will address some of these topics. 

For those of you who aren't interested in becoming lead guitar players, don't worry. What I will share over the coming days applies as much to you as to the lead guitarists. The topics I'll cover will help you understand melody, chord structure and how progressions work, so don't tune out this week thinking you can take a break!

If you're already past basic soloing and want to learn advanced techniques and accelerate your playing, you should take a look at Paul Gilbert's Rock Guitar School. This dude is famous in his own right for his prolific playing, but he's also played alongside some of the biggest artists in Rock like Joe Satriani and John Petrucci.

At ArtistWorks, you have access to one of the great guitar players of our time. You know what they say, if you want o up your game, hang out with people that are better than you are. I know this is true, and this is your chance to get direct feedback from one of Guitar World's "50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time."

We'll get started on the basics tomorrow!

Peace~

Dave