[NoobToPro]

Hi there.
I have decided to take up electric guitar.
As far as I know, all lead electric guitartist played songs mostly by fingerpicking right?
Hmm.. after reading lessons in this forum, what i wanna know is that when we fingerpick a particular song, how do we know which string to pull from a particular chord?
Cause when i search for tabs/chords in ultimate-guitar, it did not tell me T R I M (as taught by kirk's lesson) or P I M A (by fretsource lesson) in their tabs.
So how am i supose to know which string to pluck if its never stated?
Pleease help me in terms of words/images.
Thanks A LOT in advance.

[allthumbs]

Experience. Your fingers learn what is a comfortable placement. Many players do in fact use a pick, hybrid picking or finger style. Probably a pick is the most popular.

[NoobToPro]

Originally Posted by allthumbs

Experience. Your fingers learn what is a comfortable placement. Many players do in fact use a pick, hybrid picking or finger style. Probably a pick is the most popular.

Hmm i dont realyl get you.
Im not asking about the pick style to use.
Im asking that how do i know which finger to pluck which string?
Those tabs did not tell us which string to pick by denoting things like T R I M or P I M A, which tells us which string to pluck.

[allthumbs]

I was responding to your statement "As far as I know, all lead electric guitartist played songs mostly by fingerpicking right?"
I am not getting you either. Are you asking which finger to pick a particular string with or which string to pick within a chord?

[NoobToPro]

Originally Posted by allthumbs

I was responding to your statement "As far as I know, all lead electric guitartist played songs mostly by fingerpicking right?"
I am not getting you either. Are you asking which finger to pick a particular string with or which string to pick within a chord?

Hmmm.. im not sure..
wait, i rephrase my question




e|--------------|
B|--------------|
G|--------13-12-|
D|-10-10--13-12-|
A|-10-10--11-10-|
E|-8--8---------|


How do i know which string to pluck and how do I know in what pattern must I pluck the string?

[AX7221]

I agree with what AT was saying. For playing lead guitar it's more common to use a flat pick than to finger pick. With respect to which fingers you'll have to figure that out yourself. It boils down to doing what is comfortable for you, and the more you decide for yourself which finger to use the better off you will be to come up with patterns of your own.

(I just saw your post when I submitted this one)
That is something that's ideal for using a pick. But you can still use your fingers, and some people will prefer to use their fingers b/c of the difference in sound. For my preference if i was to play that with my fingers I'd use my thumb, index finger and middle finger, but I usually don't finger pick something like that, so IDK if that is a good or bad way to do that.

[allthumbs]

e|--------------|
B|--------------|
G|--------13-12-|
D|-10-10--13-12-|
A|-10-10--11-10-|
E|-8--8---------|

Those are all power chords. Because they line up in vertical rows, they are all played at the same time. As Ax said, you can strum them with a pick or your thumb. You could also pluck them with your thumb and 2 fingers. It is part of how you choose to develop as a player. Any of the above ways is ok.

[NoobToPro]

Hmm another question,
must a lead electric guitartist use Tabs?
Can it use chords to play a song too?
If it uses chords to play a song, can you tell me how they determine which string to pluck?
Cause i see many lead electric guiatrtist, they seldom strum, they will choose a few string to pluck.
So if its a G chord, how would I know which to pluck?

[allthumbs]

I think you would be best served to go to the lessons forums and check out the lessons on scales, chord construction etc. You need a basic understanding of these things before you can even think of playing lead. It sounds like your trying to run before you have learned to walk.

[tender crisp]

Try this pattern:

G- Thumb on 6th, then Index on 3rd, middle on 2nd, index on 3rd, ring on 1st, index on 3rd, middle on 2nd, index on 3rd...that pattern works for 4/4 time...for 3/4 time, take off the last 2 "plucks"

C- Thumb on 5th, index on 3rd...

D- Thumb on 4th, index on 3rd...

A- Thumb on 5th, index on 3rd...

...and so on for any other chord shapes...just remember to start on the root and you can fingerpick any of the notes that make up the chord.

[LeeB]

As AT said... maybe Kirks lesson on Travis picking might be a good start????? Too bad we do not have the lesson on "House of the Rising Sun" anymore I thought it was perfect for an intro to arpegiating chords either with a pick or your fingers... or you could strum the chords in 6/8 time....

[NoobToPro]

Hmm...
Cause I've been playing acoustic for quite a while already.
By using acoustic guitar, im always using strumming for chords like D/UDU etc on different type of chords for the songs.

However, I heard that a lead electric guitartist, seldom strums. What a lead electric guitartist do is that they fingerpick.
So I starts to wonder... Just by looking at chords like Am, C, G, etc etc, how would they know which to fingerpick? and how do i learn ?

[NoobToPro]

Hmm let me give an example.

Bon Jovi, It's My Life.
Tabbed by Sebastian Lapidus, sebaslap@yahoo.com.

IT'S MY LIFE

intro:

e|--------------|
B|--------------|
G|--------13-12-|
D|-10-10--13-12-|
A|-10-10--11-10-|
E|-8--8---------|

verse:

e|-----------------------|
B|-----------------------|
G|-----------------13-12-|
D|-10-10-10-10-10--13-12-|
A|-10-10-10-10-10--11-10-|
E|-8--8--8--8--8---------|
PM_____

pre chorus:

e|----------|
B|----------|
G|-5--------|
D|-5---3----|
A|-3---3----|
E|-----1----|

chorus:

e|---------------------------------------------------
B|---------------------------------------------------
G|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-----------------------8-8-8-8-8-
D|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5--6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--8-8-8-8-8-
A|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3--6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--6-6-6-6-6-
E|--------------------4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4------------

e|---------------------------------------------------
B|---------------------------------------------------
G|-8-8-8-8-8-------------------5-5-5-5-5-5-5---------
D|-8-8-8-8-8--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--5-5-5-5-5-5-5-6-6-6-6-
A|-6-6-6-6-6--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--3-3-3-3-3-3-3-6-6-6-6-
E|------------6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6----------------4-4-4-4-

e|-----------------------------|
B|-----------------------------|
G|---------------------------5-|
D|-6-6-6-6--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--5-| X 2
A|-6-6-6-6--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--3-|
E|-4-4-4-4--6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6----|

intro again

chorus again

solo:

e|----------------------------------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------
G|-7-b7-(it's repeated a few times)--5------b10-12(X4)
D|-------------------------------------8-10-----------
A|----------------------------------------------------
E|----------------------------------------------------

e|-----------------------------|
B|-----------------------------|
G|-10-8-10p8-------------5-----|
D|-----------10------1---5-----|
A|---------------1-3---3-3-----|
E|-----------------------------|

This is what I found on ultimate guitar for the song Its my life.
If I wanna play as a lead electric guitartist, how would I play it?
Hmm i believe if you all give me an example for this song, I would be able to get it.
How do i fingerpick or strum so it sounded like how bon jovi plays it?
Also, refer to this video ^^
YouTube - It's my life

[cshude]

OK- first off-- the great majority of lead guitarists use a pick- they do not fingerpick. There are some, however, who do (Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler are a couple who readily come to mind). Fingerpicking is used predominantly as an acoustic technique.

As far as reading TABS go, one of the limitations of that format is that there is no good way to show timing (i.e. you don't have quarter notes, 8th notes, etc) so if you don't already know how the song is supposed to sound, then you're out of luck. TABS give you the notes to play, and they rely on you to already know how the song goes.

Since you're already familiar with Ultimate-Guitar.com, check out the lessons page on there for beginners:
For Beginners | Lessons @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com There are a few lessons for beginner lead guitar. Although you have been playing acoustic for a while, you are now looking at a different beast, so to speak, with the electric and playing lead. So, back to the basics to make sure you fill in the gaps for your current knowledge. You also may want to check out the lessons on how to read TAB on that site as well.

Bottom line is that when it comes to lead guitar, if you're planning on learning to blister the snot out of the strings, you're going to need to learn how to use a pick rather than just your fingers.

And how do you play that song? One note/chord at a time, just like every other song
Like I said, the notes are there, you just need to play them in the right rhythm.

[NoobToPro]

Hmm alright, so we use a pick to pluck for a electric lead guitartist.
I guess all electric lead guitartist needs to learn tabs?
For as far as I know, the number on the tabs refer to which fret right? So that means when it say 5 on a D string, it would means pressing the D string down at the 5th fret and picking out that D string.
But what happens when tabs like this?
e|--------------|
B|--------------|
G|--------13-12-|
D|-10-10--13-12-|
A|-10-10--11-10-|
E|-8--8---------|

10, 10, 8 on D,A,E string. I press string D, A on the 10th fret each and string E on the 8th fret and strum all the 3 strum down?
Then the 10-10-8 would means on down strum on all 3 string?
So after playing that 2 times, i would strum 1 times down on string G, D and A with string G and D pressed down at 13th fret and string A pressed down at 11th fret and strum another down strum?