In this video
This Wednesday bonus stream covered lead guitar lines and late 60s blues rock songs. I started with "Seven Nation Army" - the solo uses the natural minor scale, which is minor pentatonic with one added note. The key technique is that over-bend up at the 17th fret, and it's a great example of playing a memorable melody rather than just running through scales.
"Apache" by The Shadows got attention because it's such an iconic instrumental. The lead line follows the chords - when it's on F, the melody plays F notes; when it changes to G, the melody moves to a B note from the G chord. This demonstrates how lead parts often target chord tones rather than just playing scales blindly.
I covered Green Day's "Holiday" which uses octaves with that first finger muting technique - you're actually strumming all six strings but only letting string five ring out. It's in the weird key of A-flat but once you understand the pattern it becomes manageable.
For Guns N' Roses and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," I demonstrated the woman tone - neck pickup with the tone control rolled all the way down, then compensating by reducing bass and increasing treble on the amp. This creates that whining, sustaining sound that Slash uses constantly.
Cream's "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love" both showcase this tone beautifully. The "Sunshine" solo mixes major and minor pentatonic and has that train whistle bend where you bend the G string while keeping the B string stationary. Finished with Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" and "Voodoo Child" which use shapes three and four of E minor pentatonic - the middle part of the neck that nobody ever plays but Hendrix made absolutely essential.