GUITAR
THINK YOU’ RE AN INTERMEDIATE GUITARIST? | David Harsh
Are you a beginner guitarist or an intermediate guitarist? How do you know for sure? Welcome to an article and video that will help you objectively evaluate your current skill level. Scan this article, and then, set aside 33 minutes to go through the accompanying video, and you’ ll have some valuable information about whether you’ re an intermediate guitarist or not. This will show you what kind of guitar opportunities might be good to pursue for collaboration, creativity, worship leading, and more.
I’ ve divided this tool up into two main segments – mental skills and motor skills. A good guitarist is well-rounded and has the ability to hear and think through concepts, as well as to articulate them with their hands. We’ ll focus on 8 mental skills and 8 motor skills, for a total of 16 skills with 1 point for each skill. Based on how many points you accumulate, you’ ll discover your score out of 16, and then we can evalu
Here are the 8 mental skills I’ ll help you assess as you watch the accompanying video:
1. Can you identify a Major or minor chord by ear? Can you determine if it’ s neither?
2. Can you identify chord progressions by ear, using the Nashville number system?
3. What about chordal inversions? Can you determine if the root, third or fifth is the lowest note of the chord, whether Major or minor?
4. Rhythm is an important aspect of music to make sure we’ re all on the same page for. Identifying strummed rhythms and counting them out can be super illuminating.
5. In terms of time signatures, can you determine whether a song is in 4 / 4( common) time or something else, just by listening to it?
6. What about key signatures? Can you navigate the Circle of 5ths and locate which Major or minor key has a certain number of sharps or flats? Have a look.
( I invite you to watch the video for answers to these four key signatures.)
In terms of fretboard knowledge, can you identify the open strings by note name, as well as key points on the fretboard? Understanding the names of notes( regardless of register) can really anchor us as guitar players.
Speaking of, if we place a capo on the guitar and play a shape“ above” it, are you able to identify which chord is actually being played? See this diagram as I ask you three questions.
• If I place my capo on the 2 nd fret and play an A minor shape, which chord is this, actually?
• Also – Capo 3 – G major shape – which chord is this?
• Lastly, Capo 6 – E minor shape – do you know the chord?( See the video for answers.)
Now, we switch over to the 8 motor skills, for which a guitar is required.
I invite you to play an ascending open G Major scale, referencing notation, tablature or a fretboard chart.
Then, try the closed-voicing ascending G Major scale with 3 notes per string.
Open chords( demonstrated in the video) are essential.
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