When it comes to learning such new skills patience will be your guide. It is important to progress slowly one step at a time though we all want it now without the effort so it is very easy to get frustrated which will take away your concentration. Try first really slowly to master a clean picked run, pay attention to precession of the notes picked.
Even if it is very slow that is fine. It is simply one step at a time, but those steps should be dealt with properly.
When slowly you are sure then take the speed up just a notch and try the run again but the same rules will apply practice until it is right and only then move on to the next speed level. If you falter you will have to go back to the first speed and progress through the levels again.
Do Your Research
This is the fun part of improving. In order to grow as a good all round player, even though you may have a favourite genre or style you frequently want to play, it's great to try and great a lot of different musical influences around you. So try and get to small gigs or jam sessions so you see many different players. And get fresh a outlook on your playing.
This will give you new ideas and you will see how people approach their playing in different ways. You may be familiar with 12 bar blues but everyone has their own different slant towards the way it is played.
Jamming with people will force you to improve you ear for keys and pitch etc and you will be playing ideas which very often will be original and inventive. Jamming helps to try and be interesting and push's your ability to greater improvement.
Practice is best on a consistent regular basis ideally at least once a day of organised guitar playing. Improvement will be speeded up with directional, structured best practicing techniques. Try and break down your playing into sections which might include for example warm up exercises, basic scales, simple chords, ear training and tuning methods. Add to this list as your playing improves and grows.
http://www.guitarscale.co.uk/guitar_lessons_beginner.htm
