Stuck in Intermediate Guitar? Get Out of the Rut!

You don’t know the fretboard

Advanced guitar players know what note is under their fingers. There are plenty of ways to learn the guitar fretboard, the worst of which is to just try to memorize it. Aside from being a miserable way to spend time, it’s unrealistic. If you‘ve ever tried to power your way through with this method, you’ve probably failed. Trying to make guitar progress that way is like trying to learn a language by memorizing the dictionary.

Instead, I recommend combining two approaches. First, learn to shrink the guitar fretboard with the technique that I teach in this video. This is the best way to learn the fretboard—but it will only help you if you actually do it! Even after I’ve taught my students this time saving method, I watch a lot of them go around in circles looking for notes, but not using the method! It’s easy, logical, and it works. Just be sure to follow each step every time you want to find a note. With time, you’ll go straight to any note you want on any string.

The second thing to do is discipline yourself to practice using barre chords a lot. If they don’t occur in the songs you’re practicing, make time to find and play some each day. A few minutes should do it. Every time you play one, say the name of it to ingrain it.

Playing barre chords is the best way to learn the 5th and 6th strings easily. That’s because every time you locate the root of the barre chord, you’re practicing finding that note. Pretty soon you’ll know those two strings really well. And once you know the 6th string, you know the 1st string, since it’s the same as the 6th. That means you know more than half the guitar fretboard, when you add in the first position. (I’m assuming that as an intermediate guitar player, you know the first position.)

If you learn to read standard notation on the guitar, you will also learn the fretboard. It’s just one more reason to learn to read music!

If you’ve been playing guitar for a long time and still don’t know the fretboard, it’s time to get this one done. Although it may seem it would take too much time, you’ll learn it quickly once you’ve committed to it. And any time you invest will pay you back many times over.

You’re missing some core skills

You can find out which core skills you’re missing by answering the questions on this page. When you do, you can follow the recommendations for specific books and tutorials that enable you to acquire those skills. They are your ticket into advancing your playing level! Once you fill in your education by learning or reinforcing one or more of the essential skills, you’ll start to experience movement in your playing. There are other ways for intermediate players to get unstuck, too. I’ve written about them in this article and you can find other similar tips online. But getting unstuck in this way doesn’t guarantee you’ll go beyond the intermediate level of guitar. You’ll need to work with the skills I’ve laid out in the charts on the skills page above.

When you’re ready to level up your skills, you can find the tutorials you need in the Virtual Studio. Look for the ones that are color coded green (for Level II) or blue (for Level III). Continue adding new skills until you can answer “yes” to the questions in Level II and Level III. Or, for efficiency, go to the Level II and III courses and work through any lessons that seem appropriate.

You haven’t gone beyond the basics in soloing

When you first start being able to jam with friends or recordings, you might have used the pentatonic scale. Jamming with one or more pentatonic scale patterns can be a real high, and you probably felt like you could create endlessly with them. In fact, it might be possible to do that—but it’s unlikely. If you want to solo over chord progressions that span different keys—or even if you just want your guitar solos on simple songs to be more interesting—you’ll need to expand your vocabulary of scales. At the very least, you’ll want to master the major scale, the natural minor, and the harmonic minor in all positions. Beware of just practicing them as scales, though. Instead, make your practice sessions work for you by using exercises that will enable you to know the scales deeply. (You can find those exercises in the Virtual Studio.)

Don’t expect to set the world on fire after spending a couple of practice sessions memorizing some scales patterns. It takes a good bit of practice time to know the scales inside and out. That said, once you begin working with your first major scale pattern you will start noticing improvement.

There’s more to creating interesting or moving guitar solos than pure manipulation of scales, though. To understand how such skills as listening, analysis, guitar technique, and creativity figure in to your success as a lead player, check out my book, Learning to Play Lead Guitar.

You’re missing some essential theory

If you’re a self-taught guitarist, you may have missed out on the music theory that will enable you to become a better guitarist. Of course, this can be your problem even if you’ve taken guitar lessons. You’ll realize that either you don’t have a grasp of any music theory at all, or the knowledge you have doesn’t include essential information, such as how chords and scales work together.

You can get the instruction you need in the Virtual Studio. To have all of the instruction plus worksheets, which are important, choose A Guitar Player’s Guide to Music Theory .

Your ear isn’t connected to your fretboard

Great players have highly developed ears. If you haven’t invested any time in ear training, it may be time to start. Can you easily play a melody that you hear—either inside or outside your head—on your guitar? Can you determine the chord progression of a song by ear? These are skills that you need to reach an advanced stage in your playing. The good news is, you don’t have to do all of your ear training during your practice sessions. You can practice throughout the day. Isn’t it great that you can actually become a better guitarist while you’re doing mundane chores?

The first thing to do before beginning ear training is to become familiar with essential theory. If you’re one of the many guitar players who resist music theory, you might want to read this article.

You haven’t expanded your listening

When you listen to new music, you get inspired to play new things—or to play the old things differently. Listening to live music is often the easiest way to expand your listening. There’s more excitement around a live performance, it’s easier to be open minded, and you may even tend to listen more deeply.

You’re staying in your comfort zone

There are lots of ways to break out of that zone, one of which is to venture into a new area of music. Maybe you decide to study writing or arranging music, for example. Or maybe you decide to investigate a different genre. Just look for things to learn that will open up new ways of thinking about and creating your music.

Another way to challenge yourself is to play with musicians who play at a higher level than you’re used to playing in. You might also push yourself to perform for a larger audience than you’re accustomed to playing for.

Just remember that if you want to move to the next level, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable. The best players have learned to seek discomfort when necessary.

You’re misdiagnosing your playing problems

If you’ve been an intermediate guitar player for a long time, you’re probably numb to one or more of the things that need repair. Or, it may be that you’re aware of a problem, but are unaware of the source of that problem. For example, you’re working on your right hand to clear up a problem that’s actually coming from your left hand. This is the kind of issue that may require the help of advanced guitar lessons with an experienced and savvy guitar teacher. You’ll be amazed at what a fresh perspective from a really good guitar teacher can do. When you’re stuck, you may not know what to ask, but don’t worry about that. Just find a good diagnostician and play for them.

You’re not practicing productive goal setting

Working with goals is about more than just meeting goals regarding practice time or adding random new skills. You’ve already logged in a lot of time in your practice sessions over the years and random skills are…well, random. You know how to set goals. What you need now are small, targeted, clear goals that feed into your larger goal. Without those, you’re unlikely to progress to the next level.

Now that you’ve read over the list, go back over it again and spend some time honestly assessing your expertise in each category. Write down what feel you need to do and what you’re ready to do. Are willing to start creating guitar solos without relying on the pentatonic scale or any other patterns that fall within your comfort zone? Will you use some of your practice time soloing over new or unusual chord progressions? Are you open to committing time in each practice session to deepening your knowledge of music theory?

It may seem it would take a lot of time to implement new practice routines, but it doesn’t need to. In fact, these routines are most effective when  you use them in place of the practice patterns that no longer serve you.

Have fun breaking free! Remember to check out the advanced guitar lessons in the Studio and any appropriate materials in the shop. And feel free to write to me with questions or to book a consultation!