How can I get better at guitar at this point?

[bassdrummer2333]

I can read tabs, play basic chords, play and sing alot of songs while playing power chords, can do pinch harmonics also. What are some more technical stuff things I can learn to get better, sweep picking is alot farther down the line I think.

[TD-McInnes]

get a book of scales/modes and make your self do them. super boring but it really will help you. make sure you use that pinky too.

learning theory is something else i suggest.

[bassdrummer2333]

Yeah I'm taking theory in high school, my teacher is awesome he is letting us bring in our guitars

[The Boathouse]

You know basic chords? Start finding new inversions. Stop playing powerchords entirely. Those are positive steps forward. Whatever the chord SHOULD be in that key, play the whole chord, not the powerchord. Scales & modes as someone else suggested, are vital to soloing. Practice, practice, practice your scales to get your speed up. Learn jazz.

[OveriseFan]

You know basic chords? Start finding new inversions. Stop playing powerchords entirely. Those are positive steps forward. Whatever the chord SHOULD be in that key, play the whole chord, not the powerchord. Scales & modes as someone else suggested, are vital to soloing. Practice, practice, practice your scales to get your speed up. Learn jazz.

Seriously?

You should never give up anything entirely. (Unless we're talking about technique, or some other thing where bad habits can dwell.) There's situations for power chords, and when used effectively, they can contribute in part (or even entirely!) to interesting/different progressions.

[thatsignant]

Yea really, the entire "alternative rock" genre is basically built on powerchords. But yea learn your scales. If possible, record some basic chord progressions and practice soloing over them.

[The Boathouse]

Haha, but you don't NEED powerchords. I'm sorry I said "always," but there's no excuse, 90% of the time, to be using root-5th-root chords, when there could be 3, 4, 5 other notes in the chord in reality. That's just where I stand. I know that there are situations where powerchords could be a useful tool, but contemporary music is so dominated by ONLY powerchords, that it might be helpful to shun them a while and come back to them with greater understanding of structure, substitution theory, etc.

[thatsignant]

Yea I understood your point, they are basically worthless when beginning to learn guitar, i guess it just came out wrong

[downtotheriver]

I got better at guitar by learning the Maylene and the Sons of Disaster CD.

I basically learned the whole thing in a few months and after that I moved into learning August Burns Red stuff...

I suggest finding a band you can manage and try to learn a lot of tracks off their cd and then continue to learn harder songs until you become very comfortable on guitar with difficult riffs.

[bassdrummer2333]

are there alot of maylene tabs? they seem to be a good band to make you better