ok, so im offering fg or whatever^ ^, and im not really iso lessons. What id like is an educational outline or syllabus kind of deal, what to learn etc, no limit or whatever as far as creative licence with regards to how i learn this. idc if its excersizes, drills or whatever. i just want a 3+ month plan, can include songs or whatever i dont care. I can practice 2hr+ a day, and i dont need help to do that, im just getting stuck more and more cause i dont know what to do. I practice the same things, and i seem to be making very little technical progress. If anyone is really interested in helping me, i can offer 1k+ fg or whatever else, but it must come from someone i trust to give advice and also, i can give my whereabouts as far as current progress is concerned

plz pm me if u can help.

ive searched and searched already for a learning guide, but so far the best thing ive come across is the learn and master guitar series. everything laid out in order, taking logical steps, and thats what i need, but they dont make a volume 2. also, if you have any insight into how to learn technical things, i would be happy to have that information also, im sure some of you could type this kind of thing up in under an hour, and i would really appreciate the help

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Sep 27 2011 02:22pm

how long have you been playing guitar?

btw. i have the same issue.. its realy frustrating .
im in guitar now something like 3years
i do mostly just look up tabs and play them
i think thats not the best way to get better but i havnt found any other way..

Get a metronome.
Find scales online.
Practice different scales.
Start at a low BPM, increase speed whenever you feel comfortable.
DO NOT use down strokes only. Use alternate picking.

When you know each scales and you can play them all over your fret board, practice playing various scales one after the other (still with your metronome) to practice transitions.

When you know your scales through and through, practice chords and chord progressions.

That's really all there is to it.

i value this advice, but im looking for one more big thing, and thats how long is it supposed to take to make that kind of progress... i can see that scales and chord progressions cover a very large swath of musical ground, but can you be a little more specific with regards to the metronome bpm. Its just that I practice those things anyway, and h&p etc. But then I go to a song that should be easy and it seems that running through all those 3 note on a string scales doesnt help me at all, maybe its just the type of songs i play idk


/e to answer the other question i have only been playing for 6 months (week or two and itll be 6 months)

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Sep 28 2011 03:52am

i think it would be usefull to give a example..

Lets see, i learned the entire Learn and Master guitar book, which i d/l'd. Im on grade 3 of the rockschool thing, i finished grade 2 but i sort of stopped learning the songs when i got to grade 3, i may get back into it idk.

I can play 1979 by smashing pumpkins Luna by the same group, im learning the The Rose March by the same group, I learned Rose Parade by elliot smith, i can play that karma police song, and another song by the lemonheads, and taylor by jack johnson i have 90% down though it doenst sound right to me unless its recorded(its strang how it doesnt sound right as i play it), most of them i can sing along to pretty well but, theyre all easyish songs to begin with. Most of those songs i can play almost perfect, i still make errors here and there and i have trouble on the transitional parts or sometimes on the quicker picking shit i screw up occasionaly though im getting better about it, its just annoying cause i never know if i need to just slow down and practice, or its somethign technically wrong with how i play, i can always play it slow, then i start to get a certain speed and i screw up all the time, i still play slow to help though and occasionally it works, its normally just shit i overook, like i wait to long because i know the next part is difficult for me or i forget to remember where the next fret is thigns like that, alot of times i use my elbow too much and forget my wrist..

as far as scales go, i can play all the pentatonics pretty quickly, and i learned the 3 note on a string scales about a month ago.. and i can play them pretty well now too, but i cant h&p on those very well yet, I have a huge book of scales so im still learning how to move them around n shit and its kind of confusing, because the book talks about modes and things im not very familiar with yet.

as for more updates idk, thats about the extent of it. I mean ive learned alot of chords and things, everything up to 2chords and maj7 and maj11th etc chords, i still need some work though as far as the stranger chords go like sus2 chords etc

i guess its also safe to say i memorized all the fretboard pretty well, at least up to the 12th fret, its still difficult for me to do it on the actual guitar, cause i learned most of it using that fretboard warrior program and its easier to use that than an actual guitar, but i can identify like 100-120 differnt notes between open and 12th fret in 5 minutes i think. I memorized the 3rd 4th and 5th's of every note, and i can recall those very quickly, and the chord progressions like if you told me I IV V, i could figure it out for most keys in about 10 seconds or maybe less idk


/e i guess its also safe to say i may get myself a tutor very soon, the thing is money is tight and i dont really want to be spending 200$ a month on lessons, when all hes goign to tell me is practice :P, also theres the time issue, and the fear that i end up with someone who trys to milk me for 1-2 years worth of lessons when all i really want is a bit of advice on where to go from here, and how to get there. Worse yet, ill get someone who treats me like a 5 year old, and doesnt help at all.

plus, i really like moving at my own pace, sometimes its fast sometimes its slow, but if im paying for lessons ill feel obligated to play ALOT, every week, and i have alot of things to do now and then, its not that i wont practice alot, just sometimes its sporadic with regards to my schedule


i think next time im at the music place ill get a metronome, i usually just use the online one or just play with one altogether


sorry for wall of text but u asked

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Sep 28 2011 04:17am

The time it takes depends on your ability to learn and your dedication to practice really.

Realistically, knowing your scales perfectly takes at least a year if not more.

The bpm on the metronome is to both help you with your picking speed as well as conserving energy as you play your scales.

When you go slow, you can play each notes individually, but as you get faster, you'll be hammering on/pulling off more to avoid picking as much, etc.

As I said before, alternate picking is best. Scales aren't 3 notes, btw. They're 7+ depending on the scales. And assuming you do it right, you should play the scale forward AND backwards one immediately after the other.



And really, scales + chords = music. Once you master those and you start learning a song, you'll notice you're playing through a scale (probably not all the notes of the scale of course) or notice chords that you've done several times before, and considering you're already used to picking those frets are rather high speed (thanks to metronome practice), learning the song will be a piece of cake.


If you find yourself bored of learning scales and scales, take a few breaks to learn songs from bands that are known to have good guitar riffs like Symphony X. Play those with a metronome as well.

first are you learning electric or acoustic

and what are your goals. what do you want to be able to play / do

nice advice CMBurns