Early stage MTT advice?

Hi people, i notice that in the early levels of a MTT that quite often i struggle to get a good chip lead on my table, am i playing too tight? I limp with pocket pairs if theres a couple of limpers behind me, i will raise hands like KQ AJ in late position, and i will raise AK, AA-JJ's. ive never enjoyed suited connectors so i dont tend to play them unless theres a few limpers and im on the button for example. Am i being too tight? Its not usually a problem in some tournaments because i think my mid and high blind stages are good where i steal often and put pressure on my opponents, but ive just noticed lately that in some tournaments doubling up early on is a massive help otherwise, i find myself stuck around the stack i started with when the blinds are getting too high. Now i understand about making moves when my M is low etc and i often still manage to pull myself back into a average stack, but i was just looking for some strategies you guys use early on to build some chips early on, Thanks!

Your hand selection looks overly tight to me. From late position when the blinds are low, you can play a very much wider range. Mostly you will not hit a hand, but the cost to your stack is inconsequential in the early levels.

The success of this approach, however, is very much dependent on your post-flop playing skills. Beware of getting sucked into playing a big pot with second-best hand.

I would suggest you rethink your approach to suited connectors. In the early levels, they can often be more profitable than a big pocket pair. If you hit your flush or straight, the guy with a big pocket pair is likely to pay you a large chunk of his stack.

my strategy depends on how many are at table...6 or 9. i wil play a wider range of hands at a 6 handed table. i also try to never limp. limping only decreases your odds of having the best hand. the less people in the hand, the better your chances obviously.

I personally feel that you are playing about right. higher suited connectors are good to play like QJ, J10 and 109 but best from late position. Early on it is best to take stabs at pots with these and if you don't hit and offered strong resistance back off. As long as you can get good value with your big hands and the hit flops, I wouldn't worry too much about building a big stack early more important to keep making slow steady progress and play tight, it is good to get the donks out of the way and many times you can be the one who benefits from their over agressive early play. You can then loosen up in the middle stages some as your stack increases. The original chips are your most valuable so be very wise in protecting that base. Take full advantage of early opportunities and be very aggressive with your betting when you feel you have the nuts and make them pay for their draws hey when you have the cards cash in when you are doubtful go careful and back off if necessary as I stated earlier.

My biggest mistake in building a big stack early on has been when I get an early jump on the table I have a hard time resisting calling a preflop all in that I have triple covered only to find the guy finally has something and takes a good chunk to where I find myself giving away my progress. I only mention this as that may be something you are doing as well. We want their chips but going up against a pair with AJ you still have to hit to beat them and if they got the rockets well we can surely kiss those chips goodbye, sometimes it is better to pick your moves on your own terms. Now if you have a catagory 1 or 2 hand usually following them in will pay off but today I lost doing that with AKs and AKo within 5 hands early on. That sure wasn't helpful to my stack, lol! Still I would do that again as those guys were playing atc.

Never Ever open limp! Rarely ever limp at all.
If you have a suited connector on CO or button and a lot of people called in front i guess its ok, but if you want to win more pots be the raiser, if you want to win big pots be the raiser.