Hello, im fourteen years old and 2 months ago, on my birthday i picked up the electric guitar. I have fallen in love with playing and i have learned a handful of songs. Being that i have a taste for hardcore rock/metal, i play mostly that stuff and know how to play about ten songs with the touphest being enter sandman by metallica (excluding the solo). To this day i would realy like to know, after two months of playing and having fun, am i progressing fast enough?
Also, im at a dead end as where to go next. I've tried to learn the minor pantonic scale because its been said it will improve your soloing. But i have a tough time understanding and all i really know is u start and end on the same not. If anyone could also give a simple solution to this if there is one i would be very grateful. Also, if you have ANY advise to help me get going a little faster, i would greatly appreciate it.
Welcome to the musical madhouse. You're doing just fine.
Learning the pentatonic scale (minor and major) is a great idea.
Try sorting through Scaling the Heights. It's a great introduction to the scale and to the pentatonic scale.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
The two main bits of advice I can give you are these.....
(1) practice regularly - 30 minutes daily is better than one 4 hour session once a week. You might also wanna run through difficult pieces just before going to bed - your brain will 'work on them' over night and it helps everything siink in and become second nature.
(2) make sure you spend more time practising than playing.All of us fall into this trap - you spend more time playing the stuff you know well and little time practising new stuff and then wonder why you're making no improvements.
Guitar isn't like maths - how well you're progessing isn't simply calculated from how many tunes you've learned in a 2 month period, or anythin quantifiable like that. Basically, I'd say you're progressing well enough if you're practicing new stuff on a regulasr basis and have the motivation to learn more as well as enjoying the process.
I took longer to learn some Hendrix tunes than some of my mates did. But I also sudied those tunes on a deeper level than my mates, so I got more out of it by putting more time into it. I still go back to tunes I learned ages ago, and try to tweak them an improve upon them. Which one of us (me or my mates) progressed faster? Well, that's a trick question; neither of us progressed faster, we progressed differently. They ended up with a bigger repertoire of tunes, while I ended up with a stronger understanding of how the feweer tunes I'd learned fit together and work. Both ways are valid, but trying to asses our respective levels of progress is a pretty difficult thing to do.
hth
First of all, welcome to Guitar Noise! :D
Second of all, take a look at our Lessons section. You probably ought to start with Absolute Beginners just to make sure that you understand the fretboard and get a good grounding in chords and timing.
From there I would go to the Beginner section. There's a wealth of information there that will help you tremendously (and keep you busy learning for quite a while!).
I think that learning the rhythm part of 10 songs is not bad at all for only 2 months in. Just remember that you can't learn it all in a day, that you will become frustrated and want to throw your guitar in the trash every time you hit a plateau (and there are plenty of plateaus to hit!), that patience is a virtue and practice is the key!
The lessons here on Guitar Noise will definitely get you headed in the right direction! Just start at the beginning and work your way through! We're all here to help however we can!
Good luck!
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-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-
"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Thanks to everyone who has givin me any sort of advise :)
I have realized that patience is probably my worst aspect as i want to get things learned and learned well, but from your guys advise, i know im going to have to keep on going to get to the results i want to be. I guess sometimes the best thing is just having some comfort from people to let you know your on track
well thanks again
Welcome to GN.
......... I have fallen in love with playing .......
That's what it's all about. Number one in my book. You're doing great.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
It's great you love playing, and i know how frustrating it can be when you WANT to do something but simply lack the skills to do it (for instance, playing the solo to Enter Sandman or something)
Stick with it, cause when it comes its a great feeling (until you want to go to the next level
:lol:)
Tom
If you learned to play Enter Sandman after just 2 months I'd say you are doing great. I've been playing for 5 yrs or so and only learned that song a few months ago (not that I ever tried it before) and although the rhythm is not real difficult to be able to play it correctly at the right tempo in 2 months is great! I love the opening riff to that song the way it builds.
Keep doing what you are doing and you'll be fine. If you can get your parents to pay for some lessons that will really help with getting a better focus on what you should be learning.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
My friend, I cannot offer you any advice on that, yet I would like to stress something. You have just started (as many of us have years ago). Please take learning guitar SLOW and learn the RIGHT way. Don't consider this a single day out surfing in California.
Yea, yea, I know, grown-ups talking s---. I know, old people are all about caution. But that's the best thing I've learned in my 40 years of living and only 6 years of playing. I've seen many players who have never learned one WHOLE song.
Nevertheless, I am so glad you are learning. My son is 13 and trying too. I hope you spend many hours with your guitar. Still, it's NOT a race! All kid think it's a race to be the next big thing. Practice when you can and just know you are getting better ever day.
On a downer, make sure you tune before you play/practice. Cobain didn't but I still like his music.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
