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Lead guitar (also known assolo guitar) is a musical part for aguitar in which the guitarist playsmelody lines,instrumental fill passages,guitar solos, and occasionally, someriffs andchords within asong structure. The lead is the featured guitar, which usually plays single-note-based lines ordouble-stops.[1]Inrock,heavy metal,blues,jazz,punk,fusion, somepop, and other music styles, lead guitar lines are often supported by a second guitarist who playsrhythm guitar, which consists of accompanimentchords andriffs.
The first form of lead guitar emerged in the 18th century, in the form ofclassical guitar styles, which evolved from theBaroque guitar, and Spanish Vihuela. Such styles were popular in much of Western Europe, with notable guitarists includingAntoine de Lhoyer,Fernando Sor, andDionisio Aguado. It was through this period of the classical shift to romanticism the six-string guitar was first used for solo composing. Through the 19th century, the classical guitar would find prominence inchamber music ensembles, used for melodic accompaniment, as well as being used in solo composures. These styles would spread into America by the mid-19th century, and would influence early "parlor music".
Through the later 19th century, Steel Strings began to appear, particularly byMartin Guitars, and by the 1880s thePiedmont Blues style was emerging in the rural south. The Piedmont guitar style would become a heavy influence onRagtime music, which in turn would influence emerging blues styles in the early 20th century. Through the 1910s, blues guitarists includingWillie Brown andCharley Patton began pioneeringslide guitar techniques, which would become a staple of theDelta Blues. These techniques would be built upon heavily through the upcoming decades and through theGreat Depression by such artists asTommy Johnson,Ishmon Bracey,Robert Johnson, andRobert Wilkins. Through this period other forms of blues guitar developed often with heavy ragtime or piedmont influence. Among the most prominent of these guitarists includeBlind Blake, andBlind Willie McTell the latter playing with thumb and metal finger picks on aTwelve-string guitar to better replicate the sound of thepiano. Piedmont and ragtime guitar styles also provided a foundation for earlyCountry Music guitar styles with such musicians asMaybelle Carter,Sam McGee,Bayless Rose,Frank Hutchison heavily developing these styles.
Through the 1920s, the emergence of earlyjazz and swing guitar styles appear with virtuososEddie Lang andLonnie Johnson, the latter with a heavy blues influence. Lang used a plectrum pick while Johnson played with both finger picks and a plectrum. LaterDjango Reinhardt would rise to prominence, playing in theGypsy Jazz style. These guitarists are still often considered the greatest innovators of their styles. At the same time,The Delmore Brothers would pioneerflatpicking guitar through rapid-picking melodic solos which would greatly influence many future guitarists inbluegrass, earlyrock and roll, andcountry music.Robert Nighthawk became the first blues musician to record with an electric guitar and would greatly influence such greats asMuddy Waters andElmore James.
Through the 1940sMerle Travis would greatly develop thefingerpicking techniques pioneered by guitarists like Maybelle and McGee, and develop a style of his own based upon the thumb solely providing the bass line, and the index finger solely providing the melody. This style would be the foundation for many future guitarists includingChet Atkins,Scotty Moore,Doc Watson, andEarl Hooker, though many used two fingers rather than just the index as Travis had done.
To create lead guitar lines, guitarists usescales,modes,arpeggios,licks, andriffs that are performed using a variety of techniques.[1] In rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop contexts as well as others, lead guitar lines often employalternate picking,sweep picking,economy picking andlegato (e.g.,hammer ons,pull offs), which are used to maximize the speed of their solos or riffs. Such "tricks" can employ the picking hand used in the fret area (such astapping), and even be augmented and embellished with devices such asbows, or separate electronic devices such as anEBow (electronic bow).
Some guitarists occasionally use skills that combine technique and showmanship, such as playing the guitar behind their head or picking with the front teeth. In ablues context, as well as others, guitarists sometimes create leads that usecall and response-style riffs that they embellish with stringbending,vibrato, andslides.
Jazz guitarists integrate the basic building blocks of scales and arpeggio patterns into balanced rhythmic and melodic phrases that make up a cohesive solo. Jazz guitarists often try to imbue their melodic phrasing with the sense of natural breathing and legato phrasing used by horn players such as saxophone players. As well, a jazz guitarist's solo improvisations have to have a rhythmic drive and "timefeel" that creates a sense of "swing" and "groove". The most experienced jazz guitarists learn to play with different "timefeels" such as playing "ahead of the beat" or "behind the beat", to create or release tension.
Another aspect of the jazz guitar style is the use of stylistically appropriate ornaments, such as grace notes, slides, and muted notes. Each subgenre or era of jazz has different ornaments that are part of the style of that subgenre or era. Jazz guitarists usually learn the appropriate ornamenting styles by listening to prominent recordings from a given style or jazz era. Some jazz guitarists also borrow ornamentation techniques from other jazz instruments, such asWes Montgomery's borrowing of playing melodies in parallel octaves, which is a jazz piano technique. Jazz guitarists also have to learn how to add in passing tones, and use "guide tones" and chord tones from the chord progression to structure their improvisations.
In the 1970s and 1980s, with jazz-rock fusion guitar playing, jazz guitarists incorporated rockguitar soloing approaches, such asriff-based soloing and usage ofpentatonic andblues scale patterns. Some guitarists use rapid-fireguitar shredding techniques, such astapping andtremolo bar bending. GuitaristAl Di Meola, who started his career withReturn to Forever in 1974, was one of the first guitarists to perform in a "shred" style, a technique later used in rock and heavy metal playing. Di Meola used alternate-picking to perform very rapid sequences of notes in his solos.
When jazz guitar playersimprovise, they use the scales, modes, and arpeggios associated with the chords in a tune's chord progression. The approach to improvising has changed since the earliest eras of jazz guitar. During the Swing era, many soloists improvised "by ear" by embellishing the melody with ornaments and passing notes. However, during the bebop era, the rapid tempo and complicated chord progressions made it increasingly harder to play "by ear". Along with other improvisers, such as saxes and piano players, bebop-era jazz guitarists began to improvise over the chord changes using scales (whole tone scale, chromatic scale, etc.) and arpeggios.[2] Jazz guitar players tend to improvise around chord/scale relationships, rather than reworking the melody, possibly due to their familiarity with chords resulting from their comping role. A source of melodic ideas for improvisation is transcribing improvised solos from recordings. This provides jazz guitarists with a source of "licks", melodic phrases and ideas they incorporate either intact or in variations, and is an established way of learning from the previous generations of players
In a band with two guitars, there can be a logical division between lead and rhythm guitars, although that division may be unclear.[1] Two guitarists may perform as a guitar tandem, and trade off the lead guitar and rhythm guitar roles. Alternatively, two or more guitarists can share the lead and rhythm roles throughout the show, or both guitarists can play the same role ("dual lead guitars" or "dual rhythm guitars"). Often several guitarists playing individualnotes may create chord patterns while mixing these "harmonies" with mixedunison passages creating unique sound effects with sound alteringelectronicspecial effects such as doublers or a "chorus" effect that over-pronounce the lead significantly sometimes to cut through to be heard in loud shows or throw its sound aesthetically both acoustically or electronically.
In rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop contexts as well as others, the lead guitar line often involves melodies (as well aspower chords from the rhythm guitars) with a sustained, singing tone. To create this tone on theelectric guitar, guitarists often select certainpickups and use electronic effects such aseffects pedals anddistortion pedals, or soundcompressors, ordoubler effects for a more sustained tone, anddelay effects or an electronic "chorus" effect as well as electronicreverb andecho for a reverberant sound.
To attain this sustain effect guitarists often usetube amplifiers such as those fromMarshall orFender.[3]The tube effect comes from the way amplifying tubesdistort when pushed to the limits of their amplification power. As the guitar signal'swaveform reaches the amplifier's limits, amplification decreases—rounding off the top of the waveform. This amounts tocompression of individual wave cycles, and is pleasing to the ear.
High volume can induceaudio feedback, which a guitarist can control to dramatically increase sustain. By holding the guitar at a certain distance and angle from the amplifier speakers, a guitarist can create a continuous, undecaying sound. Electronic special effects that useeffects loops can artificially reproduce this. Other effects that embellish lead guitar tone and pitch include thevibrato bar which physically alters string tension,slides, andwah-wah andunivibe effects.
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