what next? - after beginner chords

What's the best next step after learning all the easier chords? Should I continue filling out my chords (and move on to some harder ones - all of which I learn by playing from Fakes and chordpro), or should I be tring other things?

I don't know much about the higher fretboard (above the 4th fret), and I don't know movable chords. Should I practice scales all over the board, various chords up and down the fret? Are there good songs to learn for this work, or just scale & chord practices?
I know: (and maybe a few more)
A C D E F G
Am Dm Em
A7 B7 C7 D7 E7 G7

I do have a teacher, but she's a music major w/ emphasis on piano - I'm searching for a guitarist, but they're hard to find.

Thanks!

Yeah, try learning as much chords & scales you can. These are the musical alphabet that will make you construct (at least understand the construction of) musical phrases.

Almost all chords are movable, sometimes you need to make a barre to move a chord , which is laying your fretting hand Index over a certain frett for more than one string.
If you do it on all 6 strings it's called full barre.

I'll give you some examples.

Let's take the Emaj chord from the open position, this would be

e-0
b-0
g-1
D-2
A-2
E-0

So you know that this pattern makes a major chord with the roots on both E & e strings, so what happens if you moved the same pattern up some fretts? you just altered the root, which will give you a new major chord.

Let's say you moved it up 3 fretts, you'll have a Gmaj chord now. (roots are on both E & e strings, but now on the 3rd frett which is a G)
You should make a full barre to play this chord, some people like to make a half barre and frett the Low E string with their thumb.
(I don't know if you already know this basic stuff, so please excuse me)

e-3
b-3
g-4
D-5
A-5
E-3


You can make the same with every other chord/scale pattern, just take care where the roots are in order to be able to name new chords , and move them up & down the frettboard.

ahh... so the dreaded barres are next for me ;) I'll have to try some practicing on these tonight...

I am just beginning on scale work as well - but it's not nearly as fun as chords because they're not immediately applicable to songs. (Learn some chords and I play some songs :))

Guitarists usualy tend to learn chords first bec they apply to the music faster, but when you find yourself more into soloing, you'll have to many scales to learn then. ;)

But it's ok anyway, you can just focus on chords for now, and you'll find yourself into learning scales sooner or later.

And the Barre chords ain't so dreadfull, very soon you'll find them very natural. you couldn't play the major scale naturaly the first time, right?

Also find some theory stuff about building chords from scales, they realy help.

And the Barre chords ain't so dreadfull, very soon you'll find them very natural.

That's for sure!! I partially barre for an F chord (index finger sideways on the 1st and 2nd string) - it got much easier after I used it in a few songs!

At least it sounds like I'm on the right track... I'm also working on transitions (I'll be putting together an exercise for some of the harder transitions - like G to B7).

So...

1) New chords (Barre)
2) Smoother (tough) chord transitions.
3) Scales (7 Major scales then minor and other modes)

Making smooth transition will always be a good challange, cuz when you can make a transition perfectly smooth , you are in total controle of it and you can make it sound as smooth or as harsh as you like , enabling you to put dynamics into your playing.
Which is more interesting and powerful than playing everything just straight forward.

Also, to help with the barre chords, when i was starting out i was told to roll my index finger on its side. This allows for better pressure on the string causing all of the strings to sound. When you first start out some of the strings may sound muted and this is probably because the string is in that area of your finger where the knuckle is and it is not allowing you to put proper pressure on the string. Rolling you finger on its side will fix this.

Also when playing barre chords, think of your index finger as a movable capo, and then it may be easier for you to think where other chords on the guitar are (this is with an understanding that you know where all the notes are on the guitar). For another challenge after you master barre chords in the E format (as desicribed above by SLY), try to learn bare chords in the A format. Play an A:

e-0
b-2
g-2
d-2
a-0
E-0

Easy enough. Now move that up two frets and lay your index finger across the second fret. Should look like this:

e-2(x)
b-4
g-4
d-4
a-2
E-2

You use your 3rd finger (ring finger) to barre the b,g,and d, and you use your first (index) finger to barre the E,a,and e. I put an x in parentheses next to the e-2 because it is hard to get that string to sound, a lot of professional guitarists dont even play this note when they play barre chords in this format. So if you can't get the e string to sound don't be discouraged. Also, just like any other barre chord this can be moved up and down the fretboard to produce otehr chordes.

You can always try to learn some riffs first so that you can get the feelin´, faster finger movement, alternate pickin... So learn some Metallica/Ozzy stuff. Plenty of awsome riffs.

Sounds like you have a good grasp on things, keep at it and you will be good in no time.