If you’re an intermediate guitar player or striving to become one, this guide provides you with a structured approach to advance your skills. It’s especially useful if access to teachers or resources is limited. Let’s start by reviewing what a late beginner guitarist should be able to do. If you’ve mastered these, you’re ready to level up.
Late Beginner Checklist
To progress to the intermediate stage, you should have already achieved the following:
Knowledge of Open Chords:
Be familiar with basic open chord shapes (e.g., C, G, D, E, A) and how to transition smoothly between them.
Understanding and Using Pentatonic Scales:
Know the pentatonic scale patterns and how to use them in improvisation or songwriting.
Basic Power Chord Shapes:
Understand power chords and how to use them in riffs and chord progressions.
Rhythmic Knowledge:
Have solid rhythm skills, including playing up to 16th notes accurately.
Basic Key Knowledge:
Be able to identify and write in different keys.
Basic Lead/Melody Playing:
Play simple leads or melodies at least at 300 BPM.
At this stage, the focus is to start making music and building a foundational understanding of musical concepts. Most guitar players remain here, which is fine if you’re content with basic skills. However, if you’re ready to dig deeper and advance, read on.
Stepping Into the Intermediate Level
To truly become an intermediate guitarist, you’ll need to expand your skills and deepen your understanding of several key areas:
Lead Playing
Speed and Smoothness:
Aim to play lead parts at a comfortable and consistent speed of at least 500 BPM.
Focus on smoothing out your technique and ensuring precision.
Guitar Phrasing:
Begin exploring phrasing concepts, such as bends, vibrato, slides, and legato techniques.
Chord Knowledge
Extended Chord Shapes:
Learn chords like sus2, sus4, and various 7th chords.
Barre Chords:
Master barre chords across the fretboard to unlock new tonal possibilities.
Triads:
Understand three-string adjacent triads and how to use them in progressions.
Chord Progressions:
Experiment with combining these chords to create more dynamic and interesting progressions.
Scales and Modes
Diatonic Scales and Modes:
Expand your scale knowledge beyond pentatonics to include diatonic scales and their modes (e.g., Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian).
Learn the chordal harmony associated with each mode and how to integrate these into your playing.
Integration:
Practice connecting diatonic scales with your existing pentatonic knowledge to create fluid solos and melodies.
Rhythms
Advanced Rhythmic Patterns:
Internalize all 16th note patterns and basic triplet patterns.
Learn six-tuplet rhythmic shapes.
Time Signatures:
Be comfortable playing in common time (4/4), waltz time (3/4), and compound time (6/8).
Your Next Steps
For those looking to map their journey into intermediate guitar playing, this guide should serve as a valuable reference. Keep practicing, exploring new concepts, and building upon these foundational skills.
About the Author:
Chris Glyde is a guitar player dedicated to progress. If you’re looking to make more progress
check out more of his articles and his website for his Guitar Lessons in Rochester
