Beginner to Intermediate Guitar Player: Bridge The Gap!

How should you be practicing on guitar as an - almost - Intermediate guitarist? This lesson will answer that question and explain how I think Advancing Beginner guitarists should practice and why it's so important to get it right!

🥉 If you've been following my Beginner Guitar Course, you're probably nearing the end of Grade 3; that means you're now an Advancing Beginner! You’re ready to consolidate all the great stuff you’ve learned as a Beginner guitarist before moving on to the Intermediate grades.

But before we discuss your practice routines, let's explore the difference between Beginner and Intermediate guitar players.

What's Beginner Guitar Practice Like?

Beginner guitarists need a lot of guidance. They need to be shown what to practice and for how long, when to move on to new material, which songs are appropriate for them, and so on. But the further along the journey you travel, the more independent you want to be. You'll realize the style of music you enjoy the best, the things you're good at, and the skills you want to develop.

Part of the transition from Beginner to Intermediate grades is developing this independence. The transition starts in the Advancing Beginner grades, which is Grade 3 in the JustinGuitar System.

Beginner Grade 3 Guitar Practice

Grade 3 is the bridge between Beginner and Intermediate stages. In this grade, I want you to consolidate your current skills and develop autonomy. You can do this by assessing yourself and asking yourself, "What do I like? What am I good at? Am I ready to move on?"

This is a tricky transition. You must start making decisions, which can be daunting! So let's look at some simple guidelines to help you structure effective practice routines and stay inspired for the long haul.

💡 Complete Practice: If you'd like more information about structuring your guitar practice, check out my Holistic Practice Routine lesson. We cover how to practice all the different areas of guitar in a way that’s nicely structured, but hopefully not too structured. :)

Practice The Music You Love

It's okay for beginners to dabble around in Country, Folk, Rock, and Pop to develop their skill sets and improve as guitar players. But the better you get, the more you need to focus on the music that gets you going! What will inspire you to keep playing guitar? I often find that people try to learn songs they think they should know rather than the songs they really love. That isn't great for your inspiration!

Ask yourself: "When listening to music, what do I really love? What's going to excite me to play guitar?" Every technique or knowledge you later acquire should focus on helping you play that music.

🙃 One of the biggest mistakes in my early guitar journey was learning things that I thought guitarists should know. The Harmonic Minor Scale is the perfect example! I spent far too long learning it, far too early - I didn't know when to use it, yet I spent ages running those scales up and down. And it was all pretty pointless. Okay, I do use it from time to time. But unless you want to play Jazz or Neo-Classical Rock, there's simply no point learning it.

You need to get clear on the music you love and your end destination, then work backward and decide what you need to learn. Having a refined taste in music makes this process easier. If you've got a really broad taste, you have more options, and you might find it trickier to choose! Trying to focus on too many areas means your progress will be less visible, and your learning will be thinly spread.

I suggest you narrow your focus a little for this part of the journey: focus on one style, genre, and skillset for now. You can broaden it or switch styles later on. :) This focus will help you set a goal and determine a path.

🔥 Want to master your guitar routine? Check out Effective Practice, my free 14-lesson series on how to make the most of your practice sessions.

You Can't Practice Everything

There's a great saying: "as our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." In other words - the more you know, the more you know that you don't know.

At the beginning of the guitar journey, it all seems pretty easy. You go through the steps and learn what you're told to learn. But at some point, you lift your head up and see that there is so much more to explore in all directions! It can be pretty overwhelming when you realize how much there is out there. But take comfort in the fact that you won't try to learn it all. Nobody does, except for a few outstanding guitarists in history who are amazing at a number of styles. So you have to start making choices! If you could be great at one style, which would it be?

😉 I know I'll never be a great Flamenco guitar player. I'd love to be, but it'd take a whole lifetime, and I'd have no time for anything else. So while I love the style and play it in the garden in the summer as a little hobby, I'm pretty hopeless at it. I just don’t have enough time to get good! The same thing goes for Jazz guitar. I'd love to be an amazing Jazz player, but I just don't have the hours.

This depends on your motivation for playing too. If you want to be a professional guitarist like a studio player, a theatre play, or an artist or songwriter, each of these has a different skill set. If playing guitar is a source of comfort for you after a hard day's work and you want to play a little of everything, that's totally fine too.

I find that most people enjoy the journey more if they notice they're progressing. And for that, having a goal, even a short-term one, is really useful. Choose one thing to focus on for now. You can even change it halfway.

💡 The guitar journey is like planning a holiday! You might decide to go hiking in Switzerland then change your mind and go wine tasting in France. Your destination changed, but the important thing is that you still had a destination. You didn't just aimlessly drive around the countryside. Same goes for learning guitar - always have a destination to reach.

Having a focus means you can direct your energy toward it. You can always change your mind later if you get fed up! Without a direction, you wander around and return to your starting point. You look back years later and wonder how you haven't progressed.

While pursuing your goals, you might find a style you love and want to learn for the rest of your life. :)

Identify Your Strengths & Weaknesses On Guitar

We've all got different strengths. Some of us are naturally better at rhythm guitar but struggle with improvising. Others have a great sense of time but have trouble finding melodies. Everyone has their own skillset. So here's the key question: are you going to perfect your strengths or polish your weaknesses?

Playing to your strengths is usually better if you want to be an artist and define your musical vision. Figure out your strengths and put all your energy into developing them so you become great at that one thing. On the other hand, if you want to be a general guitarist, like a player in a cover band or pit band, or a session player, you'll need a broader skillset. You'll learn to play more things but at a lower level.

If there's something you love, focus your energy on it, and you'll find you get much better at that one thing.

🌟 I know lots of incredible guitarists that excel in their field! They're amazing at it, and that's why you've heard of them. But they struggle in other areas! They might be incredible at fingerstyle but can't really play a Blues. They might be an incredible Jazz guitarist but can't play Metal for toffee! There are lots of famous guitarists who compose great solos but can't improvise, and it doesn't matter! That's not a criticism - it's what you expect.

You've got to decide if you want to go broad or narrow. Will you focus on a few things and do them really well, or will you do lots of things to a decent level?

I'm the latter. I can do many things reasonably well, but I don't excel in one area. This stops me from being a famous guitarist like Tommy Emmanuel, Brian May, or Mike Dawes. These guitarists have excelled in one area, so they're the ones you've heard of!

Customize Your Guitar Practice

A common example of this strengths and weaknesses thing is our playing speed. Many older guitar players don't feel they can play fast enough. This is to do with age - when you're young, you have faster twitch fibers in your muscles and can quickly learn to play fast.

You'll need to spend more effort and time on it if you're in your forties or fifties, but it's still possible! You need to decide whether you even need to play quickly or not. If the music you love doesn't involve fast guitar playing, there's no need for it.

🤔 How Fast? I think it's good if you can play faster than necessary so that you can play with ease and comfort. Let your tastes guide you - if you want to play Pink Floyd, then you don't need to play fast lines.

Another point is whether you want to use a pick or play fingerstyle. Some people find fingerstyle much more comfortable than playing with a pick; others find it awkward. If you find using the fingers way more natural, then focusing on finger style is totally okay.

If you want to play Metal guitar really fast, you'd be best learning with a pick. But that didn't stop Jeff Beck! I'd never have taught him to play Rock with his fingers, but he's the greatest of all time. How wrong would I have been? Mark Knopfler seems to do pretty well too!

Like Chris Buck and Ariel Posen, the new blood seems to go for a hybrid approach - pick and fingers. That's fine too. You don't have to stick with one or the other forever, but it's good to have an idea to guide your journey in the short term.

Enjoy Your Guitar Practice!

The most important thing about making a practice routine is that you enjoy it. If you don't, you'll find it much more difficult to get your bum on the seat and practice. If you struggle with motivation, you need to think about your practice routine and change it so that it's inspiring to you.

I've been playing guitar for over 40 years and still only practice things that inspire me to play in the studio. I think about what I still really want to do on guitar and what inspires me to learn. Jeff Beck passed away recently, so I might spend a couple of hours fumbling my way through Nadia and doing a bad job, but I still really enjoy it! I'm doing something I've always wanted to do on the guitar.

💡 If I'm upstairs on the sofa or playing with my daughter and some time opens up, I need to feel motivated to dedicate that time to guitar practice. If I picture myself running scales up and down, playing arpeggios in thirds, practicing Jazz harmony, and learning altered scale positions, there's absolutely no way I'll get my bum on the chair. No chance!

It's mostly about songs because that's what inspires me. I dip into many different genres to keep my bum on the seat and fuel my motivation.

People give up practicing guitar because they forget why they love it. They see an article online like Here are The 20 Things Every Guitarist Should Practice and they start practicing the Harmonic Minor Scale in 20 different positions, playing arpeggios, changing between them... it's no wonder they get fed up!

If you like Bebop, you'll need to know all that stuff, and learning it will inspire you. If not, there's absolutely no point in learning it.

So make sure that your practice is inspiring and that you enjoy it every time you do it. And if that means not having a routine and learning random songs, then that's your practice routine. Along the way, you might find technical areas or knowledge that need work, so those songs will guide the other areas of your routine. :)

I hope you follow these tips. If you do, you'll play guitar for a long time and still love it - like me! I really hope this helps you create an inspiring practice routine.

💬 How is your Grade 3 journey going so far? Join the discussion and let me know!