Any suggestions on where to go (YouTube) to learn some lead guitar technique?  
I have been messing with my electric for years and have only been able to increase my speed a little.
Let's say we are playing a straight rock or blues groove at 100 BPM.  I want to be able to play 8th not triples lead riffs for one measure.  My left hand can't move fast enough.  
So, do you have a suggestion on how to start learning this outside of practicing scales? 
Is there some kind of picking technique where I don't have to pick each note that speeds things up?
 
Thanks for helping.
Rimshot
 

Jimmy, I'm waiting to see if any Danzi video training videos pop up. 😄

I'm no speed demon either, put it can do a fairly descent short run for a couple bars. I am really only picking about half the notes when I do this and picking up the others with hammer ons and offs.

I can help with that Jimmy. 
 
Part 1 
1st start by isolating your right hand - Do a strum with the strings muted. Create a triplet rhythm
SLOWLY at first accenting on the down and up stroke on the beginning of each triplet.
            Count  One - trip - let  Two trip - let   Three trip - let  Four  trip - let
            keep you right hand in strict up down stum only
Do this for about a minute or till you tighten up. Take a full minute off then do it again
Work it til it becomes a groove. Do the same for the exercise below
 
2nd - now do this with each individual string. Make sure you right hand is relaxed. Don't tense or tighten up. Start from the high E string and work your way the low E string and back. Count  One - trip - let  Two trip - let   Three trip - let  Four  trip - let etc
 
3rd - Do a tremolo on say the G string. Start a medium tempo and slowly speed it up. Do it as long as you can. Take a minute break then do it again.
 
This is the 1 st step in the process. To really permanently improve you have to work at it every day even if only 15 min at a time but every day. I can show you how and it's not hard to do but don't expect to see improvements in 2 weeks. Don't set goals just incorporate into your guitar playing. You will improve beyond where you ever expected possible.  
 
Part 2  is working your left hand fingers in the same rhythmic way. Let me know if you want me to go on

What Bill wrote. Starting slowly is king. You are building muscle memory. When your fingers already know where to go, they don't have to wait for your brain to tell them.

Thanks Bill for the steps.  I will work on that!  
Thanks Robert for your comment.  I needed that as well.  
 
 

hammer-ons,
then pull offs.
 
practice them simply at first,
using the 1 and 3 finger across 3 frets (whole steps)
do it all the way across the fretboard, high to low, then low to high
 
then switch from fingers 1 and 3, to fingers 2 and 4
 
then try doing a stretch. instead of using fingers one and 3, try fingers 1 and 2.
 
then, fingers 2 and 3...
3 and 4, etc...
 
 
this is to build strength.
 
 
 
once you can do this well,
try linking 3 notes together on one string, moving up and down, using hammer ons going up, pull offs going down.
 
this is just an exercise to get your fingers in the mood to do the faster stuff later.

Hi, Rim. I am in the process of setting myself up to offer private online instruction (as well as some other more general instructional material for the masses). I just got my camera yesterday and am about to dig out/organize my notes/files. It'll take a bit for me to get set up and test things out but I will be looking to take on a limited number of students for personalized lessons. If you are just looking for speed I could certainly help with that and I'm sure we could get you going with only a few modules that you can study at your leisure.
 
Cheers.

PS: I do far more than the metal stuff I've posted here. I've just been doing that because it's easier to write and mix for me as I learned Sonar and general production. I do blues, blues rock, classic rock and general rock like a fiend which is what I'm assuming you are probably going for. I've also been casually studying jazz recently and have done quite a bit of country and folk (but the latter two I've mostly worked in a rhythm guit/vocal capacity and let others do the lead work... I still understand it though and my methods cover all styles).
 
Not really a sales pitch. Just letting you know the option is there. Cheers.

Advice: Learn/google proper "economic picking". Ideally you'll want to pick as many notes as possible and learning these techniques will help you strike your starter notes when you do actually want to "slur" more effectively so the hammer on/pull offs ring out properly.
 
When slurring, and in general, you need to obey proper fretting technique with your left hand. Keep the tip segment of your finger at as much of a downward angle toward the fretboard as possible. This means the last nubbin' of your finger should be as close to a right angle in relation to the fretboard as possible and make sure the TIP of your finger is what is being pushed into the fretboard. Not the pad. I see this very often where someone is not using the tip and it leads to sloppy fretting, poor/uncontrolled bends/vibratos and it generally slows the player down. It also mutes the other strings unnecessarily so they aren't as accessible when they need to be. This can be difficult (and sometimes painful) at first. The natural instinct is to use the heel of the thumb as the counterpressure on the back of the neck to successfully fret notes but this restricts the fingers from moving freely and will make people straighten their left hand fingers out which means they aren't fretting with their fingertips... they fret with the pads. The only time you should be using the pads of your fingers is when fretting more than two strings at a time (like a barre). For proper counterpressure from the back of the neck for fretting single notes/doing leads do NOT use the heel of your thumb. Use the pad of the thumb above the second knuckle (the last segment of the thumb where the nail lives). This will force the palm of the hand off the back of the neck of the guitar and allow the fingers to curl toward the fretboard so you can use your fingertips. If this is not how you already play it will be foreign, weird and possibly hurt but the muscles will develop if you stick to it and practice some scales this way. As you move between the top to bottom strings allow your thumb to change position so you are getting the best counterpressure. It is difficult to describe in words but it should become apparent as you play scales or arpeggios across the strings.
 
Also keep your fingertips as close to the fret as possible (without actually being on top of the fret). The closer you are to the fret the clearer the note will be. This is particularly important when "slurring" (hammer ons/pull offs). If you "hammer on" too far away from the fret it may not cause the string to vibrate as aggressively as it could making it sound dull. If you intend to "pull off" from that poorly vibrating string the second note may not sound good either because the string is already going lifeless (unless you aggressively do your "pull off" but then that sounds unnatural, takes extra strength which might slow you down for the next note in the passage and is easily avoided by simply not allowing the bad fretting to occur in the first place). In the case of pull offs, if the second note isn't fretted properly then again you will end up with a dead sounding note... in fact likely more so than the hammer on note.
 
The point? Developing your technique so that you are a) using your fingertips and b) keeping those fingertips as close to the fret as you can helps make your playing more defined (which IMO opinions is far more important than playing fast) and helps with speed because of the natural design of the human hand (ie: it moves faster that way and forces the palm of the hand off the back of the fretboard which is very limiting), it is more ergonomic, it allows hammer ons/pull offs two be properly and efficiently executed and it frees up the mind from the mechanics of playing to focus on your next move (instead of forcing your hands to muddle along and getting frustrated at the tone being produced).
 
Both of those also help immensely with sweet sounding bends and vibratos (however with vibratos you get a little more leverage if you move the string SLIGHTLY more toward the pad of the fingertip... that technique can be viewed by watching BB or Albert King videos).
 
One final note... practice scales. Get a good scale book and practice the ever bleeding poop out of them with and/or without a metronome. It really is the best way to develop speed and agility.
 
Cheers.

Also learn chord arpeggios. Not sweeping Yngwie crap. Just how to take a chord, any chord, and play the I, III and V in sequence in first position and then in various formations on the neck. Those are generally the "sweet spots" (but it varies on the type of music you are doing and the chord but I, II, V is a good jumping point/failsafe). Then as you noodle around your scales you can gravitate toward those notes to land on or bend up to. That kind of familiarity with whatever chord you are plugging over top of builds confidence which leads to more calculated licks and speed.