Getting good at guitar

[stolat]

see, that's why i love this board.. rather than people going "wow, you're fucked man" people actually encourage you lol?

i just basically fuck around with the guitar until i either hear something that sounds good and then try to improve upon it to try to make it sound better.. or until i hear something familiar and try to figure out what it is.. so now i can play bits and pieces of random famous songs.. like the intro to Dream of Mirrors by iron maiden, scom intro, one random solo from the middle of don't cry, i can use power chords and slide it up and down the neck to mimick black sabbath and some metallica songs, etc..

what i'm MOST proud of myself for is the fact that when i FIRST got into guitar, my friend got into bass as well.. and as soon as he got good (and he picked up FAST), he taught himself Anasthesia (pulling teeth) by metallica which is just a big bass solo on their kill em all record.. i told my friend "hey man, wouldn't it be cool if i could play that on the guitar?" i looked everywhere on the net for GUITAR tabs of anasthesia but since it's a bass song, there weren't any.. so i'm REALLY proud of the fact that I figured out how to play at least some of it on the guitar just by ear. that and I taught myself how to play a bit of some Beethoven by ear..

playing things by ear is basically all I can do at this point without proper guidance

Keep working on that GIFT man! You are truely blest! 

[IDGAF]

he taught himself Anasthesia (pulling teeth) by metallica which is just a big bass solo on their kill em all record.. i told my friend "hey man, wouldn't it be cool if i could play that on the guitar?" i looked everywhere on the net for GUITAR tabs of anasthesia but since it's a bass song,

hey you know that you CAN play off the bass tabs. because the first 4 strings on the bass AND the guitar are EADG so you can play the bass tabs, just on only the EADG strings of the guitar...

but ear training is cool too

[ben9785]

man i started playing guitar when i was about 11 or 12. i'm 21 now. i started learning classical and by the time i got my electric and started trying to learn rock songs i would have been 17 or 18. only just recently in the last few months have i begun to play half decent solos. i can't really shred very well, i don't know many scales or things but i suppose my speed in soloing has picked up considerably compared to how i was, say, even this time last year, if not later.

generally, being able to pick out melodies to songs, no matter how simple, without any tabs or notation is a great progression in your ability. i also feel sure that my dramatic improvement was attributed to the fact that i stopped listening to one style of music and i listened to EVERYTHING.. i mean everything outside of rock/metal.. mainly jazz, and blues.. even a bit of bossa nova.
actually, i like to listen to alot of instrumental jazz, the slower style from back in the 50s or 60s like Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson etc.. and yknow some of the people i listened to weren't even guitarists; they were pianoists or saxophone players.. i listen to the way they phrase notes and perform solos, and i 'took' their approach and applied it to my playing, jammed along to the cds, and it helped me alot.. maybe it's an unconventional approach to 'rock' guitar playing but hey it worked for me.. and it also gave me a better understanding of Robin Finck's soloing approach, which isn't typically 'hard rock' shredding etc, but has phrasing and emotion which is very similar to old blues or jazz players..

[stolat]

Everything and everyone around you is your teacher! 

[2112]

Michael Romeo started at 18 years old, and it went quite well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG2804ggsI0 mr Michael Romeo.

A guitarist that has played since he/she was 10 years old doesnt have to be better than a guitarist that has played since he/she was 16.

Its all about how hard you practice and how you practice.
The person that has played since has the experience and might feel more at home with the instrument.

You will never be like Buckethead. Because we are all individuals. You will be a new whatever your username is.
Incooperate the playing with your personality etc etc

[Dont Try Me]

Everything and everyone around you is your teacher! 

Yeah, that's the way I see it too. Just practise allot, listen to all kinds of different music and styles to find out what you like most. Listen to live boots, for example, Jimmy page's playing... helps allot too...at least it worked for me a bit!

joy, practise, patience and feel.