after 20+ years of playing i've finally learned something simple which has improved my leads ALOT. actually 2 things. most of ya'll will laugh but maybe some younger folks might find this helpful.
backing tracks. yes, i just started using them and it is amazing. playing the solos over and over and experimenting with differnt' starting and ending points. really exploring the fretboard and figuring out what works and does not. by practicing with these tracks my leads have become less stale than usual.
modes. mainly dorian. no, i haven't memorized all of them and probably never will because i'm lazy. i concentrate mostly on the bottom 3 strings. i mainly stay in the pentatonic box shapes and play the same boring stuff over and over. by adding some shapes on the bottom 3 strings from the dorian mode i find it easier to create melodic phrases.
these are just a few things that helped my soloing. stupid maybe, but they sure did help.

my question. what are a few simple things that helped you develop into the riff master that you are today?

Hi Jeebus

I know what you mean 99.9% of my noodling/practice is without backing tracks.

Been running thru this dolphin st lick today and as you can hear when Rob does it with the BT it sounds awesome. (hes a bit more accurate than me too lol)

http://www.dolphinstreet.com/guitar_vid ... son-90.php

...Al

I've been using Backing Tracks for a long while, and have found them to be not only helpful, but they make playing more enjoyable. Because of the generally high quality foundation that they provide. I also seek out lyrics from old songs and pick up some good finger picking licks from some of the real oldies that are available.
Check these two.
(Sam, Chatmon)
http://youtu.be/00Son9T4_u0
(Johnny, Shines)
http://youtu.be/RCRFDmZ6oKQ


----Danny,

I really got into backing tracks in February of '08 when I bought my first Fender G-DEC 30. Using the amp's built-in stuff was good, but it was adding backing tracks into the amp that really turned me loose. Of course, now I use backing tracks all the time when I am playing out - don't have to pay a bass man or a drummer, just me and Rick slingin' guitars! And with the new G-DEC 3 Thirty amp I can take along 400 backing tracks on one little SD card, which makes handling requests pretty darned easy.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

Interesting. Hmm.

Ain't a riff master; am a melodic guitarist who drifts from genre to genre in the music room, alone.

It'd be more difficult than it's worth for this picker to find a backing track selection which is easy to dial up a backing track first for, Moonglow," then "Night Train," "Desifinado," "I Need You" (Beatles), "Take It Easy," "Minuet In G," "The Sound Of Music"...

...ergo, sticking with the backing tracks playing in the head while picking.

Best of fortune.

Glad you've found a method to help your lead guitar playing jeebus.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Learn the entire minor in all positions. I learned it by starting with something like a G minor starting at the 3rd fret then extending up to the 5th for that upper box, then the 7th. I wrote all the notes on a paper to cover the entire fretboard and learned the shapes up and down from the root fret. Once you know the shapes relative to the root fret (root fret is my term...I know virtually nothing about music theory...), you can do the same for any key.

Next, which is so cool, and so basic and everyone who learns music theory knows (which means not me), is to use relative minors for major keys. I printed out a little diagram in a circle with the major key on the outside and the relative minors on the inside. Ok....so here's the cool thing. If you are in a key, go to the relative minor pentatonic and it's the same notes as that major.....so you can major solo using a minor pentatonic! Boom....you're covered for both minor and major keys now. It only took me 45 years of playing guitar to learn this. I literally learned it a month ago.

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2002 mim Telecaster
Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster
Mexican HSS Stratocaster
6 non-fender guitars
2 kids (not for sale)
1 wife (uh....no comment)

Got my daughter a full size Casio keyboard that has full midi playback possibilities. Been thinking of putting some bass tracks down to practice solos over. This post just cinched it.

Thanks Jeebus.

I noodle around with backing tracks but found that the best way to improve my lick library is to learn the classics. (Licks that is)

I pick a genre of music, find a song that inspires and intimidates me and learn it note for note. When I can play it through and get sick of playing it I know I've got it. As I learn the songs of different artists I find myself borrowing some of their style and incorporating it into my own technique. I don't want to get stuck on one particular artist or style. I combine scales like you did with the minor pentatonic and dorian.... I skip notes in the scale and change the root as I go as in root A third, seventh. Next root B third, seventh. Next root C# third, seventh and so on till I'm back up to the A an octave higher. Then I'll do it backwards. Makes my brain work.