Am I at a decent position with my guitar playing?

Question

I have been playing guitar for about a year now, I only learn by myself, no tutors, only tabs and videos. I don't really no any scales, only one, basically I've learned everything from experimentation and tabs. Is this good, or have I simply wasted my time?

Answer 1

You have to start practices your scales and chords pronto! What song scan you play do you feel confident with your alternate picking. I think my first year i pretty much figured out what i had to learn. My first year i struggled soooo much but your not in too bad of shape. If i were you i would look up some chord theory and really undersatnd what your playing. Look up what notes make up chords and how to manipulate all the chords. Once you know this you can form every chord possible. You have to learn scales you relaly have to. So just start off with a Major scale lets just say G major (miy personal favorite) and a penatonic minor scale. Once you know those two scales in G/Gm memorize them in A/am and then c/Cm and so on. Learn the keys so you will be able to jam with anyone. Your not in bad shape you just gotta turn it around. If you really want to become a great guitar player you have to know this stuff like the back of your hand. If you just play every now and then i guess you can learn tabs and have fun with it. Most people want to impress everyone and be the best they can be so i say learn as much as you can early (your second year) because if you learn it now your much better off. Dont get stuck being just a tab lookerer lol. Try to tab out songs yourself by ear. LEarn Learn. Learn. Practice. Practice. Practice. Good Luck.