1 yr down
 

I've been playing guitar for a little over a year and I'm in need of advice. I'm a self taught player that didn't have the patience to learn chords or the boring things that goes with playing. Instead I jumped right in and started learning the songs that I love. I started learning Iron Maiden songs and other metal bands and can play the songs except for the solos (maybe because I'm not skilled enough or haven't taken the time to learn and practice the solos) so I'm basically a rhythm guitarist. What songs should I be able to play with a year under my belt?

to be quite frank i find your outlook on guitar rather frustrating.

there is nothing worse for a person with creative potential than benchmarking his own performance by the works of others. not only does it pigeonhole you in a particular style but it impinges upon your own means of personal growth and discovery. for me, playing guitar is an inwardly expository experience, i cannot imagine what it would be like to entrench myself in seeking some external guide for self-improvement.

if you feel like there is some stratified scale to developing your guitar skills, you can never know enough, and you can never be good enough. rather, understand that music is a constant process of discovery and self-exploration and that your performance should be uninhibited by external evaluation.

If your looking into solo's you might want to learn a few of the basic scales.
For example:

Pentatonic scale
Major scale
G scales

... just to to a feel for where to play what notes [based of eachother] and improve your speed along the neck.

I think you might have wanted to go through learn just the basics of the chords and notes. I realize tabs are easy, but those are the types of things that will help you improve.

I have to agree with satan.Id rather know what im playing rather than be all: put first finger here second over there and third on these fret thingys.The answer to your question is:you can play any songs that you put time and effort in,oh and has to be TAB, because thats all you really know.

playing music is not a sport / competition.

you should be able to play as many songs as you like after a year, especially if you're ignoring chords and solos. that leaves what... power chord riffs and muted open strings? keep in mind, self imposed ignorance of the basics will go a long way in keeping you OUT of most band situations.

as for solos, no one is born 'skilled enough' to just play it, practice is called practice for a reason. it's up to you to do it in a way that's entertaining to yourself. no one else is going to fret the notes and pluck the strings for you. it's just a matter of trying it out, seeing what parts of the solo you can nail, which ones you screw up, then trying do screw up a little less everytime until you're nailing the whole thing.