Originally Posted by: Pre1321I've played guitar for roughly 5 years and I am a decent player, yet I never learned about REAL music type playing. I don't know about keys, scales, etc. and I want to learn how to basically write solos over rythms I write. I have all along just played tabs and that was the extent of my playing. I want to take my playing to the next level and become a real musician. What steps do you suggest I take to acheive this goal, keeping in mind I have no experience except simply learning popular songs and playing along. Thanks for the help.

Dude.. 5 years and you don't know anything about scales?!

I've been playing for about 3 years now.. I have a Epiphone
Zakk "Bulls-Eye" Wylde Les Paul

When I started learning the song "For the love of god" with Steve Vai
I used 2-3 days to get down the intro- all the way to where he starts picking REALLY fast.. that would take a little longer for my fingers to get used to..