How much progress...?

I've been playing for 11 months now and I am curious to know how good some of you guys were at that time of your guitar learning. I intend
to start a band down here in central Florida in the next year or two because I am not a good student and I don't want to end up with a normal job. I want to write music.

Anyways, I am currently able to play some pretty tough stuff but I see some 3 or 4 year veterans playing stuff I cannot, so I dunno exactly how far along I am and want some input, please. Not only that but I tend to compare my playing to Synyster Gates because it makes me want to get much better. Not saying I have anything on him, just that I have no teacher and none of my friends who play are any good and he is basically my youtube teacher some of the time, when I get bored and wanna learn something new.


These are some of the more difficult songs I can play near-flawlessly:

Bat Country (A7X) - trouble with the sweeping part...got lazy and haven't improved on it in a while

Beast and the Harlot (A7X) - very end of the solo isn't fully up to speed yet, but it's very close

Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden) - with a good amp it sounds good, but my trills aren't perfect yet; fingers haven't built up enough strength

One (Metallica)- sounds pretty damn good

The Trooper (Iron Maiden) - haven't worked on it in a while but I got this song pretty much down about 4 months ago

Trashed and Scattered (A7X) - everything but some of the intro and the very end of the solo are good

Sounds like a band is what ya NEED dude. I'm in the EXACT same spot too except I don't know a bunch of songs, a lotta riffs,but no full songs. Move up to PA for a while we can jam n switch on rhythm and leads! lol.
Seriously though, I'd say go for it, because since you aren't at your "Peak" you will keep learning new things and keep getting better along with the band.

Ozz

Damn it, I was sorta hoping someone would say that. I really want to start one but I don't know anyone here. If I lived up there still, I'd take you up on that. Unfortunately, that's a long drive. :/

But yeah, I know what you mean on that. I know only like 5 or so full songs but lots of riffs and occasional solos, like the intro solo to Fade to Black but pretty much nothing of the rest of the song. What kinda music you into, Ozz? Metal?

i dont know ANY full songs lol. but i write alot of my own stuff

This is getting a little creepy man! Yes I LOVE metal, AND I know the acoustic intro part to "Fade To Black" lol.

@ BBT - Haha same here.

Well, let's hear it maestro.

In all honesty it's different for each person. It doesn't matter when you say you've been playing for 5 years or something like that. Because what really matters is how many hours and what you've been learning during that time.

What you should do in the mean time, is record yourself, listen to it, pick it apart and make it better.

@ Jazz - I know that was directed at cklein but thats basicall what I do cept I just rry to learn from my mistakes and improve each time I record.

Come the 25th of this month, I will have been 11 months, so I think to see how each of us have progressed, we should each post youtube videos of ourselves playing.

Yeah, that's what I mean when I say pick it apart; notice your mistakes.

Aterrell, I can't. I don't have a camera that records videos. Eventually I will though.

I was talking to klein, but thats a really good idea for a thread though, lol.

Oh, woops :P there's already a number of threads made for that.

I know it just sounds like I'm being a ***, but I don't have a way to record videos. Hopefully I will sometime in the near future but I dunno how long it'll be. But that's a good idea; picking apart what you need to work on. I've been doing that a but more recently and I dunno if it's as good as what I've been doing all along...learning new songs that get more and more difficult and going back to easier ones later only to find you can play them a lot better. I guess in combination they will work well.

Yeah, definitely keep at what you're doing. Learning songs is really important. But in time, you should start to understand the song, instead of just learning how to play it.

What I mean is to analyse it note for note, and know exactly what makes the piece. Know what key it's in, what scales are being used, what chords are being used, how the chords work with the scale and so on. Hopefully you get what I mean. If not, don't worry, this form is here for helping people out, so ask away.

You're better than me and I've been playing for 3 years

I feel that if i compare myself with other guitar player i just drive myself nuts. Don't know why, but i you want my advice:
Just play and give a crap about everybody else

Good advice from HeavyGuitar and Jazzmav.

I definitely have made a great improvement just check out my first topic.(about whammy bar)

Gotta give thanks to Afro he really knows his stuff.

Guitarslinger, Doz and Empirism have also cleared up a lot of my questions.

try playing my curse with one of ur friens if u have any that can play and jam out mega cool fun and slightly challengeing i was able to play that within my first 6 months but i have a natural ability and everyones different