I would strictly advise you not to bother too much about the scales. Just learn the chords and the basics of lead guitar (if you wish).
Learning scales is definitely useful but highly boring. I would rather advise you to try to play most of the tunes by ear after you've got down the basic chords and have learned a few songs.
Playing by ear will make you absolutely fall in love with your guitar ( or for that matter any other instrument) because that is the way to express yourself in the best manner possible. It takes lot of patience but it's totally worth it.
When I started to play guitar, the biggest mistakes I made were the following. So here are some tips regarding those:
1. Learn all songs by tabs ( like Guitar pro). It's faster but you are just training yourself to be a parrot. Just use tabs initially . When you are comfortable a bit, start working from your ear.
2. Practicing using finger exercises - NEVER do those. All the exercises you need will come to you naturally when you play. Doing finger exercises will make you go to sleep and you will son begin to hate your guitar. Take my advice on this even over John Petrucci.
3. Learn how to strum properly - Watch Youtube videos on how to strum using the mute strum method. It's one of the techniques that changed my strumming totally. It's basically the process where you learn how to mute the strumming in between the strokes. It gives your strumming a real rhythmic chug-chug-beat-like feel.
4. If you wanna play fast solos, take one part and practice it SLOWLY first. This is even true when you are playing chords which require a fast change or are tough to play. Go slowly because it is fastest way of playing fast. I almost wasted an year trying to learn fast by playing fast. It was good enough to fool people who did not about guitaring much ( the girls) but when it came down to playing in front of experts or even for my own satisfaction, it always failed. So the word is TIGHT. Learn to be tight, even if it takes time.
5. Don't use any bullshit like a metronome. Leave everything technical away. Music is about your natural expression.
6. Don't learn songs exactly as they are - Learn to put your own innovations in the songs to make them sound your own.
7. Play a tune in your head and the try to get it on the guitar - This is one of the fastest ways of becoming advanced to the degree that you can jam with anyone anytime. Keep practicing this and soon the moment someone plays any tune, you'll be able to join them play stuff in an instant.
8. Invest money in a good and expensive guitar. Music is all about quality.
I know mst of the advice I gave you is totally against what guitar teachers usually teach. But I am giving you this sort of advice because I know the only way to love guitaring in the long term is to be able to use it for your own genuine expression. Everything should feel natural, not like some predefined method.
Hope this helps you. Cheers.
Learning scales is definitely useful but highly boring. I would rather advise you to try to play most of the tunes by ear after you've got down the basic chords and have learned a few songs.
Playing by ear will make you absolutely fall in love with your guitar ( or for that matter any other instrument) because that is the way to express yourself in the best manner possible. It takes lot of patience but it's totally worth it.
When I started to play guitar, the biggest mistakes I made were the following. So here are some tips regarding those:
1. Learn all songs by tabs ( like Guitar pro). It's faster but you are just training yourself to be a parrot. Just use tabs initially . When you are comfortable a bit, start working from your ear.
2. Practicing using finger exercises - NEVER do those. All the exercises you need will come to you naturally when you play. Doing finger exercises will make you go to sleep and you will son begin to hate your guitar. Take my advice on this even over John Petrucci.
3. Learn how to strum properly - Watch Youtube videos on how to strum using the mute strum method. It's one of the techniques that changed my strumming totally. It's basically the process where you learn how to mute the strumming in between the strokes. It gives your strumming a real rhythmic chug-chug-beat-like feel.
4. If you wanna play fast solos, take one part and practice it SLOWLY first. This is even true when you are playing chords which require a fast change or are tough to play. Go slowly because it is fastest way of playing fast. I almost wasted an year trying to learn fast by playing fast. It was good enough to fool people who did not about guitaring much ( the girls) but when it came down to playing in front of experts or even for my own satisfaction, it always failed. So the word is TIGHT. Learn to be tight, even if it takes time.
5. Don't use any bullshit like a metronome. Leave everything technical away. Music is about your natural expression.
6. Don't learn songs exactly as they are - Learn to put your own innovations in the songs to make them sound your own.
7. Play a tune in your head and the try to get it on the guitar - This is one of the fastest ways of becoming advanced to the degree that you can jam with anyone anytime. Keep practicing this and soon the moment someone plays any tune, you'll be able to join them play stuff in an instant.
8. Invest money in a good and expensive guitar. Music is all about quality.
I know mst of the advice I gave you is totally against what guitar teachers usually teach. But I am giving you this sort of advice because I know the only way to love guitaring in the long term is to be able to use it for your own genuine expression. Everything should feel natural, not like some predefined method.
Hope this helps you. Cheers.