Just Got Guitar And Need Help

[LeperMessiah26]

As ANY guitar player will tell you,its all down to PRACTISE!

Take things slowly,no need to rush anything..the hardest thing for me,was Barre chords..but that was when i was playing a different style of music..lucky for metal players you dont come across full barres to often

Bending..make sure you use 3 fingers..gives you more stability..unless your playing say,the 2nd fret..then thats a little harder.
ALways play the note you are trying to achieve first..say you are playing the 12th fret on the D string...fret the 14th first..hear what the note SHOULD sound like...then play the bend at the 12th..and bend till you achieve the note at the 14th...Having a Musical EAR,is crucial

Alternate Picking (Up Down) that all depends what you are comfy with...im not good at that at all really..and will more than likely play with downpicks,unless i have no option...if you want to study a great downpicker..just look at Hetfield..probably THE finest downpicker...also Scott Ian from Anthrax..both are scary players...
I would say though...practise Alternate picking..its a must these days.. especially for lead playing..where speed is important...its more fluid,and it will not tire your arm lol

For Alternate-pickers..see John Petrucci or Steve Morse..again..scary players,just so accurate.

Strumming Patterns..go for simple strumming songs..play along side them,and try and keep up with it..say Wonderwall by Oasis..not exactly a hard song to learn..simple enough strumming..and you can keep in the same position at all times..so no worrying about different chord shapes
Noel Gallagher..i know loads of people hate him..but he is a really really good Rhythm Player..very underated

Anyway..just Practise...pick something you cant do very well..and take the time to practise it..you said you played for 6 hours..so you have plenty of time to practise..then Jam along to your fav songs

Hope that helps

[Sish]

Bending..make sure you use 3 fingers..gives you more stability..unless your playing say,the 2nd fret..then thats a little harder.
ALways play the note you are trying to achieve first..say you are playing the 12th fret on the D string...fret the 14th first..hear what the note SHOULD sound like...then play the bend at the 12th..and bend till you achieve the note at the 14th...Having a Musical EAR,is crucial

I just learnt that tip recently (with playing the note you are trying to bend to before). Originally I thought a 1/2 bend was just bending 1/2 way up to the next string and a full bend was all the way to the next string The new tip has definitely helped my bends. I'm still having a few problems with bending and accidently getting sound from the string above the one i'm bending. Am I supposed to palm mute the strings above or is there a trick to the way you do it?

Also are there few types of bending, not just 1/2 and full bend, because in guitar pro i see there are different symbols for bends? And this may seem like a dumb question but are there down bends and if so how do you know when to bend down?

This is kind of why I really want a tutor, so I can find out this stuff instantly and get all my mistakes pointed out immediately and get told/shown how to rectify them. The problem with practising is that I don't seem to be improving my playing, for instance with speed I've pretty much reached an upper limit and don't really know what to do to get any faster. I also seem to be playing the same riffs/songs over and over again and avoiding learning new stuff thinking that i'll develop even more bad habits that would need to be rectified. I'd love to learn the full intro of Little Wing (i've got the first few bars down but don't want to go any further in case of wrong fingering or like I said before, developing more bad habits. As you can see i'm a bit of a perfectionist

[LeperMessiah26]

ive tought myself for 5 years now,and i cant take myself any further i dont think...i cant play lead fast..but then,i dont really want to..i have no aspirations to be Kirk Hammett..i wont be joining a Band..so i dont need to master the Guitar...i can play songs i like..but not perfect..mistakes happen..but im not bothered..thats what gives you character lol

Anyway,there are many different bending techniques..ranging from the ones you listed..to Pre Bends...Behind the Nut bends...Unison bends...probably more..

For bending down..i think the only way to do that,is with a pre bend...
Fret the string..bend to whatever pitch you want..but DONT Pick the string..it has to be silent..then Pick the string,and release the bend...i dont know of any other ways to Down bend a string

As for Tutors...if you want to..go for it!..only you can answer that one really..just make sure its a really really good tutor though..no run of the mill dude...and make sure hes competant of teaching you the style of Playing you desire...no point you wanting to play Metal..then get a tutor who isnt really good at Metal Style playing!!

My view of tutors is...whats the point spending 20/30$ per hour,for someone to tell you..practise this scale...practise Alternate picking...practise these chords etc...giving you timetables of when and what to study etc...it wouldnt have been good for me...but thats all down to the individual.

How long have you been playing may i ask?

[Sish]

How long have you been playing may i ask?

LOL, that's the embarassing part.

Ummm, I played classical guitar in primary school for just over 6 months around 9-10 years ago (still can't believe it was that long ago). I then went to high school and pretty much left the guitar gathering dust for 5 years. Then I somehow got a love for music again and re-learnt everything I knew on the classical (which wasn't much) but wasn't able to play the stuff I wanted on the nylon string so I went and got the electric.

So if you count from when I actually started it would be 9-10 years
But I'd probably consider it to be 5 years from when I picked it up again, but I still only have the skills of someone that has been playing for a year or less. For the amount of guitar I actually play I should be some full on guitar wizard by now but I spend too much time just doodling, making up riffs, and playing the same stuff over again (i.e. nothing else matters and stairway to heaven ) that I'm not getting any better as I mentioned before. Even so, with my poor skills I still love every moment of it

Dunno, there's just something about being able to express emotions through music that give me a buzz. I don't intend to ever play in a band, just for personal pleasure and the better I get the more pleasure I'll get out of playing the guitar. That might sound a bit crazy but that's just how it is for me.