The Missing Ingredient – Lead Guitar Playing

I started playing guitar in 67, when I was 12. I was steeped in the styles of Clapton, Page, Hendrix, Farner, Blackmore… Later, during the 80s, another generation of guitarists emerged that took the guitar to another level. I was never really sold on the athletic aspect of those players as much as the “feel” players of the 60s and 70s. There was more of a sense of melody. Bends, slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs were used, but to enhance a melodic idea.

Fast forward to the 90s, when all the emerging guitarists seemed to want to rebel against quality itself. Don’t get me wrong, the songs were ok, but nobody cared about actual skill on the guitar any more. Well that decade passed and now with the net and everything, people are listening to just about every style. But guitarists are learning from tab a lot. The only problem with that is, if you learn a song from tab written by a 20 year old, and it’s a song from the 70s, he won’t have all the minute details of a player who was actually alive in that era. For me, I’m very picky about some of these details. There’s “doing” it, and then there’s completely understanding where it came from, and nailing every aspect of it. Authenticity is what it is, I think.

After teaching people certain solos by some of the 70s guitarists such as Clapton and Hendrix, I started seeing that some of the hammer-on/pull-off combinations were giving most people trouble. I set up a series of steps to overcome each one of them. Hence the book/DVD Classic Rock Rudiments for Lead Guitar.

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