Guitar learning path thoughts
Last updated: July 13, 2024
This is in the works! Would you like to help flesh it out? Let's do it!
Certainly some good stuff here, but we have some other ideas on how to order this. Let’s go over it and make a plan.
Guitar Learning Levels
Level 0: Basics
- Learn how to hold the guitar & pick
- Learn the different parts of the guitar
- Learn basic strumming (up and down strums)
- Learn how to pick & fret single notes
- Learn the names of all six strings
- Learn basic guitar maintenance (tuning)
- Learn what a note is, and which notes make up a chord
- Learn what a key is
- Learn basic intervals (half step vs. whole step)
Level 1: Beginner
- Play basic open chords: E, E minor, A, A minor, G, C, D
- Strum in time, count, and play different note values
- Basic guitar maintenance (changing strings)
- Recommended songs to learn:
- “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield
- “Wagon Wheel” by Darius Rucker
- “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple
- “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes
- “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath
Level 2: Getting Cooler
- Learn right-hand technique of alternate picking
- First position pentatonic scale (minor pentatonic scale)
- Learn all notes on the fretboard up to the 5th fret
- Learn what syncopation is and how to count different beat subdivisions
- Recommended songs to learn:
- “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- “Running Down a Dream” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
- “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals
- “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC
- “Hurt” by Johnny Cash
Level 3: Rock Stardom
- Second position pentatonic scale (major pentatonic scale)
- Bar chords (F major, B minor, others with fifth and sixth string roots)
- Minor and major versions of bar chords
- Know all the notes on the fretboard
- Start soloing over backing tracks
- Recommended channels: “Now You Shred”
- Samples to solo over:
- “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits
- “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos
- “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd
- “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin
Level 4: Advanced Techniques
- Learn all 5 positions of the pentatonic scale (3 new ones)
- Learn major and minor diatonic scales
- Learn to play seventh chords (major, minor, dominant, half-diminished)
- Play seventh chords with roots on the fifth & sixth strings
- Play with bends, vibrato, hammer-ons & pull-offs
- Natural & pinch harmonics
- Music theory: How to build scales, triads
- Learn how sevenths apply to triads
- Recommended: Get a guitar instructor
Level 4.5: Harmonizing the Major Scale
- Learn to harmonize the major scale (core word scale, order of triads)
- Learn the Nashville Number System
- Familiarize yourself with common chord progressions
- Learn the functions of different chords
Level 5: Expert Techniques
- Learn the modes
- Learn all the intervals
- Learn the CAGED system
- Learn the arpeggios within the CAGED system
- Identify triads within the CAGED arpeggios
- Learn major seventh, minor seventh, dominant seventh, half-diminished arpeggios with fifth and sixth string roots
- Add the seventh to your CAGED arpeggios
- Learn the theory behind the modes
- Use chord tones in a solo or melody to accentuate chords already in the song
- Learn about compound time signatures
Level 6: Mastery
- Understand chord extensions beyond the seventh
- Focus on adding 9th, 11th, and 13th to your chords (heavy jazz concept)
- Learn the melodic minor scale and its modes/arpeggios
- Learn the harmonic minor scale and its modes/arpeggios
- Learn the diminished scale (mode of the harmonic minor scale)
- Lessons often stop at this level