Can someone tell me how good my guitar progress is?

Question

these are the songs i can play perfectly after 3 months of having a guitar ( i got it at the end of June)

-The Intro for Seven Nation army by the white stripes
-The Intro for Come as you are by nirvana
-The Intro for smoke on the water by Deep purple
-The Intro for Juice box by the strokes
-The Intro for heart Shaped box by Nirvana
-The Intro for Hells Bells by ACDC
-The Solo for Smells like teen Spirit by nirvana
-The Intro for Stairway to heaven by Led Zeppelin
-The Intro for Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne-
-The Intro for Freedom by Rage against the Machines
-The Intro for HeartBreaker by Led Zeppelin

Can someone please tell me if im doing good how good i am what i can do to get better and what songs to learn next i dont want really hard songs i want something that's about at my level. (NOTE: I learned the songs in the order they appear and i can only play the intro for Stairway to heaven the really easy way without any chords)

Answer 1

Sorry to burst your bubble, kid.

You don't play those songs "perfectly" at all. You might be able to play the intro riffs or the solo - but if you don't know the chords and can't play the song all the way through from beginning to end including the rhythm guitar backup part, you really DON'T know the songs at all.

If you were playing with a bunch of people (trust me, you're going to want to do that someday) and someone said, "hey lets play "Smoke On the Water" -- I sing it in the key of A" and you learned it in -- I dunno -- key of D -- would you be able to transpose it into the key of A or would you have to sit out and not play on the song because you can't figure out how to transpose it? Or if you were jamming on "Come As You Are", and in the middle of the song the singer looks at you to take a guitar solo -- what do you do? Or if you were jamming and somebody says, "Let's just do a 12-bar blues in E" -- would you know what they were talking about, or what to play, or how to improvise a guitar solo on the spot?

These are the kinds of skills you need to work on - transposition, improvisation, rhythm guitar backup, being able to figure out the chords just by hearing the song and being able to improvise a lead guitar part that sounds reasonably decent even on a song you've never played before. These are not beginner skills by any means but they're essential if you actually want to make music with your guitar someday.

Before you go on "learning" any more songs, I would strongly recommend that you learn chords -- in various keys, up and down the neck -- and finish learning the songs you've already started working on. You need to know the chords for each song, all the way through, verses, chorus, and bridge, and the rhythm strumming or picking pattern for each song all the way through, and if you could learn the guitar solo that would be good, or even better if you could make up your own guitar solo based on the chords of the song. THEN, maybe you can say that you know each of those songs perfectly.

You're actually doing OK for 3 months of progress but don't get ahead of yourself. You're better off learning 1or 2 songs completely from start to finish than half-assedly learning 10 or 12 intro riffs and nothing else.

Answer 2

For three months You are doing GREAT. That being said, I am somewhat disturbed by the fact that everything you know is the intro only. If you are avoiding learning chords, then you already know what you have to do next. LEARN SOME CHORDS. It goes without saying that you can't play any songs if all you know are the intros.

Answer 3

you could learn the whole songs
cause if you ever get a change on stage
you dont want to be up there playing 50 intros and soloss, learn some full songs

Answer 4

3 months huh? That's kinda like me but can u play chords yet? it looks like most of these are just riffs and aren't chords. Ur doing alright though. It took meages just to figure out how to strum up.

Answer 5

impressive I like that "smoke on the water" one especially hmmmmmmmm time to worry more about enjoying it than progress I think play some music on the radio, get a slide, a knife or a bottle, improvise along, I enjoy that sometimes also trade songs with friends, get music books the thing is to enjoy it, play music YOU like, how and when you like it

Answer 6

You should really try to learn the whole song, not just intros- that would be a step forward.