How to Determine Your Guitar Skill Level
Practising guitar regularly is the best way to improve your guitar playing skills, but it's a good idea to know your current guitar skill level so that you can decide which areas to focus on.
Knowing how to determine your guitar skill level is not too difficult, but can go a long way towards helping you to get better. If you're struggling to make progress with your guitar practice, it's also a good way to take stock of where you are right now.
In this guide I'll look at four broad guitar skill levels: beginner, proficient, intermediate and expert. Your own skill level might not fit completely into one category, as you might be better at some techniques than others.
Mastering all of the common guitar-playing techniques takes some technical knowledge and plenty of practice, especially if you want to play different music styles on the electric guitar such as rock, pop, jazz or blues.
Beginner
As a beginner, you're just starting to practise guitar regularly and start to develop the basic skills required to play the instrument.
Don't expect too much - this stage is about gaining some fundamental technical skills and knowledge, as well as becoming comfortable with the guitar in your hands. Playing songs will come later as your abilities develop naturally over time.
Hold the guitar
Find a comfortable, neutral position that allows you to hold the guitar correctly. You should not look at your fingers as you play - this might sound impossible at first, but adopt this approach from the start and you'll develop a more natural playing style more quickly, with less strain on your neck from trying to peer down at your guitar while practising.
Understand guitar terminology
Start to build your vocabulary in certain areas, such as the parts of an electric guitar and related equipment like amps and pedals. Again this will grow over time, but if you see an unfamiliar term, take a moment to look it up and build your knowledge.
Read music / notation
Reading sheet music can start very basic, until you become more fluent. Guitar tabs are an easier alternative and are popular with many players - instead of a music stave, they use a visual representation of the guitar's fretboard.
Know how to play notes
Playing single notes is the first real step towards physically playing the instrument. At this stage it doesn't matter if you hit a wrong note, the point is to get more confident about how to find each note and how the fretboard helps you to adjust the notes you play.
Basic strumming
Try strumming a rhythm across the strings of your guitar. This is a great way to create a backing track when singing, without needing to pick out a complex tune. Using a guitar pick can make it easier to strum more smoothly, without getting snagged on a string.
Proficient
As you become more proficient or intermediate, you should have a natural but quite basic playing style - you can hold the guitar properly and play individual notes, or strum a rhythm, so now it's time to hone those techniques and expand on them.
Play chords
Chords are combinations of notes that sound good together, and a great way to make your guitar playing sound more sophisticated. Learn about the different types of guitar chords and you can change the style of your playing quickly and easily.
Play to a metronome
A metronome is a small device with a pendulum that tick-tocks to a regular rhythm. You can go at your own pace and gradually get faster, but it's a great tool to help you play at a consistent speed and spot where you're slowing down due to a lack of proficiency in a particular technique.
Play major / minor chords
Switching between major and minor chords can change the emotion of a piece from positive and happy, to melancholy and unsettling. Practise both and you'll gain proficiency in musicality and understanding how to influence the feelings of your listeners.
Identify notes on the fretboard
Remember, you should not need to look at the fretboard to find the right notes - to play comfortably for long periods, you need to stay in a neutral, non-stressed position. With regular practice you should find you don't even need to think about it anymore.
Alternate strumming
Alternate strumming allows you to strum your guitar on both the downward and upward strokes, by slightly changing the angle of your pick. This is a common technique for electric guitar, to create a faster backing track, but it's also possible on acoustic guitar.
Complete simple songs
When you're ready, start to put it all together to play a full song. You may have already played tunes by picking out individual notes, but with greater proficiency, you can become more fluent - think of it like writing with joined-up handwriting, rather than single letters.
Intermediate
By intermediate level, it's fair to consider yourself a fully fledged guitar player. From here on in, it's about improving your skills, rather than developing them from scratch. Some advanced techniques might be new to you, but on the whole you have everything you need to play songs already under your belt.
Play rhythm and lead guitar
Find people to practise with and try taking different roles. Rhythm guitar is more about playing chords, while lead guitar picks out more of the melody. You might feel confident in both roles, or you could feel a natural affinity with one more than the other.
Know alternative chords
This is about developing your musicality and the ability to swap one chord for another, without changing the overall song - or deliberately to alter the tone of the song in some way. If you're struggling with a specific chord progression, it's also a way to subtly switch to a chord you find easier to play at speed.
Know simple chords and arpeggios
An arpeggio is when you play the notes of a chord in sequence, instead of all at once. You can play the notes in ascending or descending order, or alternate between the two (which is a great way to instantly play the Stranger Things theme tune!).
Lead techniques - picking, bending, sliding, vibrato
More advanced lead guitar skills change the sound of the guitar using a variety of methods. Like an opera singer, vibrato literally 'vibrates' around the note, while bending and sliding are ways to smoothly alter the pitch, instead of ending one note and then picking a completely different one.
Expert
Expert level is what we all aspire to and it should come automatically with regular practice and some commitment to learning new guitar skills and methods. If intermediate level is the equivalent of joined-up writing, expert level is where you really start to hone your handwriting and add some flourish to your guitar playing.
Play songs in alternate keys
Once you're confident playing songs, start to transpose them into different keys. That could be major or minor, or just pitch-shifting the song to suit a male or female singer. You never know who you might be asked to jam with!
Develop solos
Lead guitarists in particular are often expected to include a solo in their performance. You could learn this by heart in advance, or improvise it - but even improv is often based on a few favourite notes, chords and progressions, to give it a consistent sound no matter how long the solo lasts.
Improvise and interpret existing pieces of music
Try playing music from ear, rather than needing somebody else to write the sheet music or tabs for you. You don't have to get it spot-on, just recreate the general sound of a piece of music and people will recognise it. As you become more masterful, you should find you are able to do this in real-time, allowing you to improvise based on unplanned requests or to join in with others playing or singing around you.
Performing live
Ultimately, learning guitar to an expert level is a precursor to playing live. You may busk in the street or play for friends and family at intermediate level, but as an expert you're ready to play as part of a band for a paying audience - you'll never stop improving, so don't judge your first appearances too harshly! There's always next time to get it note-perfect.
Looking to Improve Your Guitar Skill Level
Whatever level you're at, professional tuition can help you to improve your guitar playing skills. Bryan will offer an honest, expert opinion on your strengths and weaknesses, with a focus on developing your guitar skill level naturally instead of getting bogged down in technicalities.
If you're interested in playing rock, jazz, pop or blues guitar, or you don't have a specific genre in mind, Bryan can help you to focus your practice sessions and get out of any bad habits you've already picked up - getting you to expert level faster overall.
Get in touch with Bryan to upskill your guitar playing, no matter what your skill level is
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