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dopenose

anyone here who plays guitar, how long did it take you to shred? ive been playing for a little more than 2 years and all i do is play other people songs well and make up boring ass chord progressions, any advice, besides practicing alot cause i already do that.

 

Skyline

Get private lessons. Theres also books at places like guitar center or your local music store that may help you in some specific areas, or just pick up books with just licks you can play.

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defeatedhorizon

give it time... it will just come to you one day.

DaDornta

Just sit around and start picking and combining cool feeling fingering. I dunno, I just mess around untill I get like two notes in a row that sound good, then i find another and another till I have a little riff.

Once I got the hook, then I'll figure out some complimentary power chords for a verse/fill. Then i'll usually modify the riff somehow, somtimes using the note of the chord progression I spun off the original riff as the bass line.

Creating a cool sounding riff and then building and building is a very cool thing...it's to bad im practically talentless musically...

Thats why I like to freestyle and flow...

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Experience Haze

I've been playing guitar for about, a month now and i think im gettin pretty good. For only playing on nights and maybe an hour per night, not even every day i can play jingle bells but i havnt memorized it yet. I think i got some talent

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Beatlejuice

Practice, practice...and then practice a little more. Your progress on guitar directly reflects the amount of time you spend playing. I've been playing for about 6 years now and I have gotten quite good without ever taking lessons, but I already had musical training on the saxophone. Lessons will definitely speed up your progress if you have the money for them.

Throw away your picks. This makes more sense for acoustic guitarists. I've always firmly believed that you have much more potential with 5 fingers than with a pick and your other fingers.

There really isn't a whole lot you can do to get better besides practising. Keep at it and you will reap the rewards.

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DonkeyPunch

Best advice I can give you is to start playing along with types of music you haven't jammed to before. What type of stuff do you listen to? I'm guessing stuff like Weezer, going by your name. Bust out some jazz, a little country, prog-rock, anything at all will do. Nothing helps the creative process more than diversity, and you will be introduced to new progressions, styles, picking attacks, ... Give everything you can get your hands on a try, no matter what type of preconceptions you have. Also, instead of playing along with the guitars on the songs, try to mimmick either the piano, an active bassline, a horn section, or the vocals themselves. Hell, even play along to movie soundtracks and commercials. Inspiration can be found in the strangest places.

edit: Another great exercise to help you get a better mastery of the fretboard is to play in complete darkness. You'll get a much better feel of where everything is very quickly, which is a great help when you want to improvise your own stuff later on. Also, so long as it doesn't freak you out, playing in complete darkness is pretty damn cool, and gives you a sense of tunnel vision that lets you zone in on your playing very well. Good luck!

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imported_Ilúvatar

even though its already been stated, practice till your fingers and your hand is killing you!!!! this can not be overstated.

also there is nothing really wrong with playing other peoples songs. although if you just learned by picking up your own licks, you will be better faster. but learning stuff like nirvana will give you a basic sense of how the fretboard works. after your able to tear through a lot of their songs, move on to someone else you like, after that move on. each time you master a certain riff, the better you will be able (1) judge the distance between the frets (2) a better understanding between the relationship between certain notes (3) (and a very important one) the more you will enjoy playing. and with the more things you liked to play, the more time you will fit into a session then more of the three reasons above and more stamina to play for extended periods of time.

nothing is wrong with playing things you learn and not things you come up with yourself. because the more you learn, the better you will be able to come up with things on your own.

That's true, but you can't get the same sounds from using your hand. a pick has a better attack on the strings than your fingers could give. and also its much easier to use your hand. If you learn with a pick you have so much more control over how your hand moves in the end.

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Experience Haze

is it easier to memorize songs as you get better? and how long did it take you to plays songs without hesitating(sp?) between strings?

defeatedhorizon

i think its easier to remember songs as you get better because you know the guitar so well. once you know your guitar back and front.. (which i think takes years) is when things really take off.