Getting Better At Guiter

[Dr. Mumbo]

Ignore my typo in the title.

So I've been playing the guitar since February this year and since then I've been playing steady and teaching myself. In the post your music shit thread I noticed a trend of almost everyone that posted playing the guitar, most of which longer than I have. I'm at I'd say an intermediate level, and from here it's been harder to get better. As of right now my only practice method consists of constant play. I'm willing to bet that most of you that have been playing longer are much better than my current playing level and I'm curious as to how you practiced to get as good as you are today. Any tips would be appreciated.

[Kenneh]

Hey dude, nice to see newcomers to guitar.

I've played for about half a year, and I'm kinda good at it. I used to practice about 2 hours a day, and never went to see a teacher (except for my dad, he taught me 4 chords and I went on my own from there) because I hated them. So I learned from the internet and yea, I guess I did a pretty good job because I'm better than most (if not then all) the guitarists in my school in soloing.

I got my skill from the computer keyboard, yea people were wondering how a nerd like me got so good at guitar.

Anyway, theres a bunch of cool tips/tricks/guides at www.ultimate-guitar.com , visit the site and take a look around and you'll get better.


Also, practice these songs for fun.

Bon Jovi - You Give Love a Bad Name (including the solo)
Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock
Bullet for my Valentine - Hand of Blood
Cannibal Corpse - Hammer Smashed Face
Aerosmith - Dream On
Trivium - Dying in Your Arms
Avenged Sevenfold - Strength of the World


Have fun dude.

[DamnDude]

There are so many factors that you can technically speaking be good at, but it depends on the style, you hardly need tremolo picking in neo-classical songs, same as you hardly need sweeping in rock, nor finger picking in metal (hardly in each category).

So what style are you trying to play?

EDIT: Practice alternate and eco picking intensively, it saves you alot of trouble when learning new, fast songs.

[Assassin]

Play, play and play. I have been learning everything on my own for 3 years, and it does get harder the better you get. I'm now practicing soloing and playing faster, and it's really hard to improve. The more you play, the better you get.

[thadood]

Yep. Playing is ALL you can do to get any better. www.cyberfret.com has a lot of good little tips and tutorials to help you with different techniques and whatnot. I've been playing for 8 years and I still have issues with "inside" alternate picking, which is standard alternate picking, but rather than picking from opposite sides of the strings, you're picking in between the strings.. don't know if that makes sense or not. Does to me.

Anyway, I got to get going. My band has a weekend tour.