Often guitarists spend too much time just learning licks and stopping there. If you just learn a lick here and there, do you know what you have? Well, you've got a few licks.

But what good is that … really?

You want to learn FROM the lick.

In other words, you should know:

• What scale is that lick from?
• How is it used?
• Over what changes can it be played?
• Over what chords can it be played?
• How can I vary that lick to turn that one lick into twenty licks?
• How can I use the lick in a musical context?

Answer those questions, my friend, and you'll have armed yourself with the necessary tools to take your playing to the next level.

Unless you want to be relegated to playing the stock chords all day long (A, D, E, etc), knowing a large vocabulary of chords is absolutely critical.

Being able to play a lot of different chords proficiently and knowing how to embellish them is a difficult task, but so worthwhile.

Doing so will open many doors and allow you to embellish and decorate your playing with all kinds of new musical melodies, rhythms, and endless song writing possibilities.

Embellishing chords is a great way to spark new ideas and infuse new life into old progressions and songs. Having chordal options makes it fun and exciting not only for the guitarist but also more musically interesting for the listener.

Knowing a large catalog of chords is the first step. Next is being able to play solid rhythm.

Music is more than just soloing, it is also about rhythm and meter. As a guitarist you will be playing rhythm 90% of the time. Solos are very small sections of songs and in the end its the song that will be remembered.

Some guitarists think they can just concentrate solely on soloing and improvisation. But they are in for a huge surprise first time they start playing with a band or jamming with other people. Your lead playing will pretty much only ever be as good as your rhythm playing. Your rhythm playing is huge so don’t overlook it.

The problem with tablature and just learning scale shapes is that you don’t learn the notes that make up the chords or the scales. Don’t rely solely on tablature; otherwise you're just learning finger position, fret numbers, and shapes.

Try not to become too dependent on tablature. Tablature only tells you what fret number to play, it does not tell you the note that you are playing or the notes that make up the chords. Tablature is a fun way to learn songs so certainly use it and have fun with it, but don’t fall into the trap of using it exclusively and not taking the time to develop your ear.

Along with tablature, learn the notes on the neck and which notes and intervals make up each chord. So keep developing your ear so you eventually wont need tabs.

Too often players will learn dozens and dozens of scales, but they don’t learn how to use them and when to apply them. Learning a scale by itself is not enough. Knowing when to utilize the scale, and over which chords, is just as important. Knowing all the scales ever created in the history of music will do you absolutely no good unless you know how to utilize them and under which musical circumstances to apply them into your playing.

Knowing your major scales in all positions across the neck will help give you so many additional tools for lead playing and improvisation. Too many players just stop learning scales after they learn the Pentatonics. Knowing the major scales up and down the neck will be the springboard to knowing the modes of the major scale, relative major and minor, and many other important concepts. So learn those major scales in all positions. Don’t stop after learning Pentatonic scales, keep pushing into new territories and you will push yourself to that next level of lead guitar playing.

That's it. Which ones will YOU use to push your guitar playing forward?

Hope these help and rock on!

David from NLG