What are the essential skills for the acoustic guitar?

Question:What kind of Chords do I need to know?
What scales?

I am more of a rhythm guitarist. so i really know how to strum with the chords well. So i need to work on more lead work. for example Guitar solos, riffs etc. Thats why i need to learn some scales. just name a few skills i should know to become a better guitarist thanks!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: What kind of Chords do I need to know?
What scales?

I am more of a rhythm guitarist. so i really know how to strum with the chords well. So i need to work on more lead work. for example Guitar solos, riffs etc. Thats why i need to learn some scales. just name a few skills i should know to become a better guitarist thanks!

Good timing. Play with a metronome. I'm mentioning this first because if you can play anything, you should be able to play it in time. Having good time will set you apart from the pack - and make studio recording much much cheaper. Painful experience - heed my words!

Flawless rhythm chording. Barre chords, power chords, etc.

Major and minor pentatonic scales. Most soloing is based on one of these scales or a variation thereof.

Record a chord progression, then play it back and practice improvising scales over it. You can do the same thing to songs on the radio.

Learning where the major and minor triads are on the neck will help you construct your riffs and solos.

My three biggest suggestions are to always record yourself, play with other people, and get a teacher if you can afford it.

Saul

I would learn the basics of Barre chords. Once you know those, you can play basically any chord. I would learn the panatonic scale because it is the most useful. Many solos in songs use the panatonic scale. Then I would learn the major and minor scales. All three can be applied to any key.

Ah the almighty lead guitar. The pentatonic scale is indeed used frequently in guitar solos. Scales are definitely essential, learn the fingerings on them properly. Learning to sweep pick and alternate pick is also a necessity. Well sweep picking is cool anyways, regardless if a ton of songs don't use it. Being able to bend notes well is also essential. Make sure you can clearly play notes, even if you're using heavy distortion. Don't let the notes ring out, only have one sounding at a time. A decent, fairly easy riff to try out would be the main one in Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses. Crazy Train has a memorable riff as well. Good luck, in my opinion lead beats rhythm anyday xD.