Here are some of the key differences between beginner and intermediate guitarists, and more importantly, how to work on each one if you feel you're lacking in it.
This isn't a comprehensive list, and it's in no particular order. Not having all of these doesn't mean you're still a beginner, and having one or two doesn't make you an intermediate. A label is just a label. I know people who've been stuck on some of these for a long time and have still got better at all sorts of other things. So treat it as a set of things to think about.
1. Left-hand pressure ▶ 1:03
When you first pick up the guitar, everything feels hard to hold down, and you can teach yourself to press far harder than you need to. Notes go a bit sharp, and across a phrase that tension becomes quite audible. Things sound clunky and don't flow.
The fix: take whatever you're working on and play it with so little pressure that you start to lose the notes. Then bring in a bit more until each note sounds without string buzz. Do the same with a C chord. You'll probably find you need far less pressure than you thought. Honestly, I need to keep working on this one too.
2. Reading tab properly ▶ 2:24
So many of my students struggle with songs just because they don't read the tab properly. They look at a whole line and try to absorb it at once. Read it left to right, one event at a time, and look up any symbol you're not sure of. Different people write things differently: some write 5b7 (play the 5th fret, bend it to the pitch of the 7th), others a 5 with an arrow and "1" for a whole-tone bend.
Also listen closely to how each technique is played. A bend is usually just a "b" or an arrow, but you can bend slowly, quickly, or push slightly past the note for drama, and a tab can't really show that. I can fly through a tab because I've got quite a good ear, but at the beginner-intermediate stage you probably can't get away with that.
3. One finger per fret ▶ 4:10
The 1, 2, 3, 4 exercise is often the first thing people play, then it gets left behind. It's really important, because it trains one finger per fret, and you want to be able to move that position around the neck.
Wherever I'm playing, my first finger takes the lowest note and fingers two, three and four take the next three frets. In the A minor scale, my range might be frets 5 to 8. When the scale needs the 4th fret, I move the whole range back to 4 to 7, and when it goes back up, I move back to 5 to 8 rather than overlapping my fingers. So when you change position, shift your whole hand and bring your thumb with you. Sometimes overlapping makes sense, but stick to one finger per fret as best you can.
4. Pick attack and dynamics ▶ 5:53
If I had to tell each of my students to pick harder or softer, most would benefit from picking harder. You get way more out of the instrument when you give it some energy.
Keep only a millimetre or two of pick showing, so you can attack hard without grabbing and twanging the strings. Then take a part you know and play it way harder. People underestimate their dynamic range, especially on rockier riffs. Record yourself gently, then really hard, and listen to the difference. You can always back it off.
Once you're picking harder, you need range. A strumming pattern at one level feels fine but flat. Vary how hard you hit, and even which strings you hit, and it changes everything. Dynamics are one of the biggest bang-for-your-buck improvements, because you don't have to learn anything new. Take a lick you know and emphasise a different note each time, then see how hard, and how gently, you can play it.
5. Keeping time without the record ▶ 9:15
Can you play a song in time without the track, to a metronome or your own internal clock? Record yourself and listen for where you speed up or slow down. It's very common to play the easy bits faster than the hard bits. If you practised at half speed, play the recording back at double speed (QuickTime and YouTube can both do this) and the timing problems jump out.
A good middle ground is playing along with the song slowed down, on YouTube at half speed or in an app like Songsterr, where you can loop a small section and even take the guitar out to play with just the drums.
6. Memorising songs accurately ▶ 10:49
Quite often a student plays me part of a song, goes away for a week or two, and when they come back I remember it better than they do, even songs I didn't know. I suspect ear training is part of that (I always recommend tonedear.com, and there's our own ear training tool), along with understanding how scales and songs fit together.
Two things help:
- Look away from the tab way sooner than you think you're ready. In that uncomfortable moment where you don't know what's next, actually think: did I go down with the third finger, or move down the neck? Only look if you really can't remember. Treat it like revising for an exam.
- Overlap the chunks you learn. If a riff is in groups of four notes, learn the first four plus the first note of the next group. Then learn that group plus the first note of the one after. The overlap glues the sections together.
7. String muting ▶ 12:37
When you play a single note, it should be the only string capable of ringing. On the 5th fret of the G string, the base of my picking hand's palm covers the low E, A and D strings, and the inside of my fretting hand's first finger mutes the B and high e strings.
Keep that as much as you can: picking hand on the thicker strings, fretting hand on the thinner ones. Stop at any moment in a lick or scale and check everything's muted. Funk riffs are great practice, Can't Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers in particular. When you get it right, it's like the dishwasher turning off: suddenly it's nice and quiet. Like dynamics, it's a multiplier.
8. Chord fingers landing together ▶ 14:18
Some students change chords quite quickly, but their fingers still land one, two, three. On harder shapes that'll be too slow. Two tips:
- Place the chord in reverse. If you put a C chord down with fingers one, two, three, go three, two, one instead. You're training the slowest part of your hand to go first.
- Lift off a little further each time. Place a chord you know, lift your fingers a tiny bit, and put them back so they all land together. Gradually lift further, keeping tension in the fingers. At first a millimetre might be all you manage.
A more closed hand position, fingers at a slight angle, tends to make this easier.
9. Not stopping, and catching back up ▶ 15:42
A lot of students either stop at a mistake, or carry on from the next note after it. Either way you're now behind the song. You have to let a note or two go and pick up exactly where the song is.
To train it, start parts of songs from odd places: halfway through, near the end, halfway through a bar. Loop them from there. Can you join in with a song you know at a weird moment? Once a mistake has happened, forget about it and jump back in.
10. Keeping your fingers close to the fretboard ▶ 16:35
I ended up with a bonus one. Whatever you're playing, especially lead, your fingers should stay close to the fretboard. The little finger controls a lot of your hand position: keep it close and everything else comes in.
The exercise: tap the 5th and 6th frets with fingers one and two on every string, down and back, with your little finger hovering over the 8th fret of the string you're on. It takes more tension than you'd think, and you'll feel that finger wanting to come away. Then slow down a solo you know and keep the little finger close. On bends, bring it up behind the third finger. I like to think of pushing the bend up a little with it.
Pick the two or three of these you know are weakest and give each one focused practice this week. Record yourself before and after and see how you get on.
