Okay, so I just started picking up guitar a few months ago, practicing usually a couple of hours a day when I can, and I love it, so I'm trying to get some suggestions from some more experienced people to maybe help me out a bit.

#1: Tabs - I need some beginner/intermediate songs that I can learn on.
I'm looking for bands/songs that kind of fit the genre of Hurt, Red, Chevelle, and Tool

#2: Pedals - After trying it out for a couple of months to make sure that it's something that I'll keep doing, I want to start getting some pedals/effects.
I'd like to get some pedals that I can use to get some of the same sounds as the bands above.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

/e: Also wanting some suggestions on strings. I use super slinkies right now but they don't seem to hold their tunings very well when I change it up. guitar is an ESP LTD KH-202.

This post was edited by Metaknight on May 6 2012 03:32pm

aenima - tool
46 & 2 - tool
those are fun/easy songs to play and you can play for your friends and they'll like it cuz theyre easily recognizable.

as for effect pedals, i like the compression/sustainer by boss and the metal zone mt-2. Boss also has an amazing reverb/delay pedal that works great for beginners. As you progress with your playing though youre gonna want to get separate pedals for your reverb and delay.

the ibanez tube screamer is a classic distortion pedal, but Im not sure if you can get the right amount of distortion from it. Ive never played it, but its one of the most popular pedals out there as far as distortion goes.

dont worry too much about strings yet. I recommend starting out with a small gauge until you can build up your calouses before you move on to a heavier gauge. You get a much better sound from the heavier gauges in my opinion, but theyll tear your fingers apart at first lol.

Your guitar will have issues staying in tune until your strings properly "stretch out" so dont worry about it. Personally, I prefer the 'Blue Steel' Strings. They sound amazing and last forever if you take care of them.

good luck playing!

This post was edited by proSpinner on May 6 2012 08:25pm