Beginners Advice

Hi there Kris,

I've been a silent member for coming up to about a year now...

I've been playing for about 18 months using Troy Stetinas Metal\Rock\Thrash books as instruction and for the last year have been picking up heavy metal rhythm exercises from yourself and Pavel from GMC. However i thought it was time to ask for some help.

Since playing ive mainly focused on power chords in most of there forms and a few 2 or so basic Scale shapes and i find that most of the bits that i sit down to write are very one dimensional through lack of theory and not being able to apply any normal open chords etc to get a more of a dynamic feel to what i write.

Basically i was wondering whether you could guide me in the right direction to getting my theory knowledge improved... Are there any links that a theory beginner like myself should read first? I find theory very daunting and have thought about getting a 1 to 1 tutor once a week to slowly knock it into me.

Ive managed to pick up power chords and 1 note rhythms quite effectively and my stamina and timing arnt to bad at all...however i really need to sit down and learn the basic open chords and be able to piece together in my mind how to go from one chord or progression to another effectively. I dont want to be simply another guitarist that copies his idols work and churns out an alternative version as his own!

Do you know any simple open chord rock songs that i can start with to get me playing ive been an avid fan of megadeth, symphony x, skid row, iced earth etc.. so my preferred style is very obvious however most of these bands barring symphony x dont really use many conventional chords so i need to look outside of my box to aquire the skills. I hope you can shed some light on my situation... I think with the right links and a bit of advice i can apply my finger dexterity and timing to open chords as long as i can start with the v.basics and work up until those skills are as developed as my other skills.

Thanks for listening to my huge post and i apologize for the sheer noobness of it.

Cheers.