getting faster at lead guitar

Definitely a metronome, patience and dedication.

Then find specific speed building exercises (which can be incorporated into scales so you learn them at the same time).

Start out slow and work your way up.

Take a simple scale eg a G major scale starting on the low e string 3rd fret and start to play it very slowly. Say 80 bpm in 1/4 notes ie for every beat you will move to the next note of the scale.
I know this is quite slow but it's only when you slow things down that you'll actually see what mistakes you are making. Use alternate picking and ho,ld the pick correctly.
This is important bit...Try to keep each finger of your fretting hand less a few mm above the fretboad. You'll proabaly be surprised at how hard it is to do after so many years of doing it wrong. it's only when you can do this properly that you should increase the tempo of the metronome by 5 bpm each time. When (after a few days/weeks of practise) you get to 160 bring the metronome back to 80 and start the scale with 1/8 notes this time ie two notes per click and so on until you get to 160 then bring the metronome back down to 80 and do the scale with 1/16 notes ie 4 notes per click.
I know this is boring as hell but if you are serious about playing fast you should incorporate this into your practise schedule every day ,,,even if it's just for 10 minutes.

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Take a simple scale eg a G major scale starting on the low e string 3rd fret and start to play it very slowly. Say 80 bpm in 1/4 notes ie for every beat you will move to the next note of the scale.
I know this is quite slow but it's only when you slow things down that you'll actually see what mistakes you are making. Use alternate picking and ho,ld the pick correctly.
This is important bit...Try to keep each finger of your fretting hand less a few mm above the fretboad. You'll proabaly be surprised at how hard it is to do after so many years of doing it wrong. it's only when you can do this properly that you should increase the tempo of the metronome by 5 bpm each time. When (after a few days/weeks of practise) you get to 160 bring the metronome back to 80 and start the scale with 1/8 notes this time ie two notes per click and so on until you get to 160 then bring the metronome back down to 80 and do the scale with 1/16 notes ie 4 notes per click.
I know this is boring as hell but if you are serious about playing fast you should incorporate this into your practise schedule every day ,,,even if it's just for 10 minutes.

This is very good advice. I don't play guitar I am a bassist, but this is exactly how I work on speed. Although I go through all the modes of the G Major scale while doing it. You will not see overnight success with it but in the long run it will improve your playing ability and speed. I spend about an hour and a half on scale work alone before moving onto another technique I am trying to master. I would also encourage you to try to incorporate triplets the further along you progress.