Any advance guitarists? What should I move to next?

[nintendokid]

Received a basic acoustic guitar for Christmas. It came with a book and I've been practicing the open chords for 2 months now everyday and I have every open chord down pretty good. However, I'm not sure what to move onto next. When you were first practicing, what came next after learning A, C, D, E, G major/minor/7 open chords?

Everyday, I usually just do chord progressions as fast as I can. I just feel like I should be moving on to a different lesson. What do I work on next?

[munch]

Are you taking lessons? If you find a good teacher you will progress really fast.

I say once you have open chords and barre chords down work on picking single notes and from there focus on string skipping. Do it slowly and build up confidence.

[nintendokid]

Are you taking lessons? If you find a good teacher you will progress really fast.

I say once you have open chords and barre chords down work on picking single notes and from there focus on string skipping. Do it slowly and build up confidence.

Barre chords? Since I don't know what you are talking about, barre chords must be what I should practice next. :)

I want/will/should get a teacher but being unemployed doesn't help. I'm actually looking forward to the summer so I can find someone to teach me (a certified teacher).

[munch]

Play an E-chord with your pinky, ring, and middle finger. Now, move down one fret and put your index finger over all of the first frets. That's a barre chord, specifically and F chord. Move that same chord down 2 frets and you're playing a G chord. That will sounds just like an open G.

If you move your middle finger away you have a G-minor. The same thing works with an A -chord, just don't touch the E string. I hope that makes sense.

[Javery]

I'd learn barre chords next (they're wicked easy if you can do the open ones) and then move on to fingerpicking and being able to hit any individual string (on the up and down stroke). You could simultaneously learn major and minor scales by doing this.

[munch]

After you do what javery says, learn Angel of Death by Slayer. Wicked easy.

[Matt Young]

Lots of lessons: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/

Barre chords: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/chords/barre_chords.html

[organicow]

I cannot stress enough the importance of playing with other people. Find yourself some other beginner musicians (drummer, singer, bassist, pianist, etc) and start playing together. Learn some cover songs and practice them; eventually, try to write some of your own (simple, nothing fancy).

Simply having others to play with will accelerate your learning by a large margin. It will help you to learn pacing and tempo, as well as helping you to become comfortable changing chords on-the-fly.

I started playing guitar 18 years ago (I was 11), and almost quit after about a year. But, I started playing with a bassist and drummer right after 8th grade and once we learned some Misfits, Metallica, and early Soundgarden songs...it was on. We had a set's worth of songs within a year and were playing all the parties and such by 10th grade. Rock stars!! Not really...

Seriously, good luck, and find yourself some players!

[nasum]

I'd say your next step is to do some scales and begin learning to read sheet music.
Afterwards your best bet is to start playing with some people. When you have a bunch of absolute beginners playing together its a little rough, wait until you have a pretty good idea of how to play.

[crazytalkx]

Scales! Once you learn some basic scales it'll be easy to improvise depending on what key the song is written in.

[munch]

I'd say your next step is to do some scales and begin learning to read sheet music.
Afterwards your best bet is to start playing with some people. When you have a bunch of absolute beginners playing together its a little rough, wait until you have a pretty good idea of how to play.

Learn scales, but you don't have to learn to read sheet music. Tabs will do just fine.

[nintendokid]

Thanks for all of the advice.

[keithp]

You already know what your next step is!

Write a song, get a hit, and get RICH!!!

I'll be your manager.......

[Matt Young]

Learn scales, but you don't have to learn to read sheet music. Tabs will do just fine.

Agreed. Scales are the very basis of lead guitar.

Tabs are great, and learning to read music is not a necessity to play, but it is extremely helpful if you intend to compose your own music.