Hello all! This is my second article for PJ’s great web site and I would like to re-introduce myself to those who didn’t get my first article. My name is Tony Alfano and I have been playing Rock guitar for about 35 years and I actually make a living doing it. My band plays about 125 dates a year, travels across the country and gets to open-up for some of the greatest performers in the entertainment business. About 2 years ago, I began thinking of how I could “get the word out” and let all guitar players know that if they wanted to take their guitar playing to the NEXT LEVEL and wanted to reach for the stars, the time to do it is NOW! If you will allow me to show you exactly how I did it, you too can follow my method and catch your stars. My dream was to play music full time. 12 years ago that became a reality for me. I don’t know what you do for a living or what you may be studying in school, but I can tell you as sure as I’m breathing, that if you want to be a better guitarist or even a full-time guitarist ...You can do it and I know that I can help you reach your goals. There are many courses out there, but none that are interactive, downloadable within seconds, recorded with Vintage Gibson and Fender guitars and written by a Full-time, touring musician who has performed with The Beach Boys, The Temptations, Jan & Dean and opened for Faith Hill, Ray Charles, Tim McGraw and on and on. The leads in my course are the leads that I used to build an arsenal of solos, riffs and licks and got me my full-time guitar playing position traveling the world. Read On! PART I: “ROCK & ROLL 101" I believe that a very important part of learning how to play great lead guitar, is to know about the artists who played them. My leads course: Guitar-leads.com will give you many of the greatest guitar leads ever recorded. You can go to my web site to get my archived newsletters and get some free leads. This month’s Guitar icon is a true innovator of guitar leads and guitar “TONE” development and when you want to jump to the next level of playing, getting a good guitar TONE is an important part of that growth process. This great player is the leader of the 70's supergroup BOSTON: TOMMY SCHOLZ. Not unlike the inventiveness of Les Paul himself, Tommy not only gave all guitar players the wonderful “Triple-Tracked-guitar-leads” sound but also gave us a new guitar tone which everyone works so hard to copy. With hits like “More Than A Feeling,” “Smokin’” and “Long Time” Tommy not only wrote his own songs but played all the wonderful solos on his first album. By 1995 it had sold over 15 million copies in the U.S. alone, making it the highest selling debut album of all time, and second-highest selling album of all time (behind Michael Jackson's Thriller at 24 million). (Tommy also has a Masters degree from M.I.T. and invented the mechanism for the Polaroid camera and the TONE monster GUITAR accessory the “ROCKMAN & POWER SOAK!” And now, the fun part of my course: Learning one of Tommy Scholz’s solos. PART II: “LEARN-A-LICK” Here’s the part where we will have some practical fun and begin learning your 1st lead in your arsenal of leads necessary to get you to your NEXT LEVEL of lead guitar playing. In this section, let’s look at the EXACT way to play the guitar lead tablature for LONG TIME.

III: “TRUE ROCK STORIES”

In this section, I would like to take you “behind the curtain” and let you in on some of the wonderful experiences I’ve had with some of the legends of Rock and Pop music. (I’m telling you this stuff for one reason only. So that it will encourage you set your goals and objectives and then work towards them. “Go for” your dreams: weather it is to be a better guitar player, play some great leads or go pro! If I could do it..so can you!)

The year was 2002 and I was playing a gig with my group in Las Vegas. One particular night we were to back-up the great Billy Swan. His great Number 1 Hit Song from the 70's was "I Can Help." The only problem was my group had never played this song before and it was no I-IV-V progression song. As a matter of fact, there is a pretty difficult guitar intro to the song. So I had to scramble. I went to the local record store and managed to find a compilation which included his song on cassette tape. I bought it, drove back to the hotel, borrowed a tape recorder and tried to learn the introduction. I say “tried” because it was played too fast to figure out. I worked on it for a solid hour, rewinding the tape over and over and when I got it close enough, I half-heartedly surrendered my self to the fact that I wouldn’t get it right.

If there were only a way to 1) slow down the speed of the lick and 2) not change the pitch when slowing it down! Well, that was impossible. Just then, a mad thought hit me. Was it possible that this opening salvo was a series of Augmented Chords played by single picked notes? I took my guitar out and YES, YES, YES...I GOT IT!

That night when I got on stage and played that opening riff with Billy on stage, he looked at me and just smiled. After the show I asked him to autograph my LP which I had brought me. This is what he wrote on my album:

It felt so wonderful to get a compliment like that from a Performer who had a number 1 record and who also wrote songs recorded by Mel Tillis, Conway Twitty, and Waylon Jennings, worked for ELVIS and was in Kris Kristopherson’s band as well. I tell you this story because I want you to know that even a guy or girl who teaches themselves can live out a dream. Billy’s song “I Can Help” became a song in my lead arsenal. My entire course is made up of these interactive solos and leads. There’s no other course like it. You can be playing tough solos within minutes of downloading the course.

If you have not checked out my course, I strongly encourage you do so right now and check out the free samples. I look forward to sharing more great moments, leads and solos. These are my learning tools. They single-handedly got me to where I am today - playing guitar and earn a living doing it. Do you want to jump up to the next level? My course will help you do that.

Thanks

Tony Alfano
Creator/Musician
www.guitar-leads.com