[Helm]

No I actually come from a non-metal background (I played classical for 4 years before even listening to my first metal record) so I learnt guitar in a completely different way to most "I wanna be James Hetfield" guitarists. I don't think I know more than 3 songs by other artists anyhow. I never cared for tabs and being a huge metal jerkoff guitarist. I care to be able to quickly and accurately play what's in my head at any given time.

It's not about running before walking. Chromatic practise comes before ANYTHING else. Making people struggle with chords is silly when they can't play eights of a meter properly, fret by fret, string by string. And yeah picking up music theory even before picking up an instrument is a generally good idea, but he didn't ask about that.

Adept, do you want to be a musician/composer or just play covers? That's the question I should have asked before my other reply.

And Militia, just so we're clear I'm not giving attitude as this amazing shredfest guitarist that solos his ass off at parties. I'm not terribly good, generally. But my approach works if you want to approach the guitar as an extension to one's compositional ability.