The intermediate guitarist, who is he? He’s the guitarist you want to aspire to when you first start out on your guitar journey. Plays lead and rhythm with ease, can learn a fairly complex song in a short time, is able to wail over most things in pentatonic bliss and seemingly has it all figured out. So isn’t that a professional guitarist? In a word, no. This level of skill is a great place to be but is also a dangerous place to be. You might not think it but this is where the dreaded plateau happens and that my friends, is the enemy of mastery. Believe me, I’ve been there.
As an intermediate guitarist, you’re likely experiencing a range of emotions and frustrations when it comes to continuing to improve your skills. The dreaded plateau as an intermediate guitarist is a common occurrence; but it can also be a place past being disheartened. When you rest on your laurels you start to stagnate. The hunger for learning dries like a raindrop on a sun soaked window and very quickly you stop progressing. This is the problem with any level of skill competence and if you let it, this will very quickly sour that skill set. The good news, however, is that there are a number of things you can do to overcome this and continue building your guitar skills. I’ve identified 6 ways things you can do as an intermediate guitarist today to bring that fire back to your playing and reignite your passion. So, without further ado, let’s dive into them…
#1 – Learn (some) music theory
You’ve probably heard those music purest’s and old school musicians say things along the lines “well, Hendrix/Beck/[insert legendary guitarists name here] never knew theory so why do I need it?”, which is a surefire way to never learn any music theory. Don’t get me wrong, I strongly fell into this camp for most of my formative years when I was levelling up every other day. Fast forward 10 years though and I was still playing the same things. It wasn’t until I learnt grade 8 music theory that I had a crash course in all the things that I was missing out on. For the first time I had an understanding behind what I was doing and why it sounded good which really helped to propel me forward as a guitarist. You don’t have to dive into grade 8 level theory, but so long as you know the fundamental pieces of why things work in popular music, you’ll be halfway there. I’ll be sharing the best bits of theory to stimulate in an upcoming article so stay tuned!
#2 – Practice With Purpose
Yeah I know, you just want to pick up and play, and that joyous want is so important to have as a guitarist. However, you’re likely reading this because you’ve only done that for several years and now you feel stuck. So, I’m going to propose something counterintuitive, start implementing a practice routine. I know what you’re thinking, that sounds really dull and isn’t going to help me…but have you actually tried it? What’s holding you back as a guitarist..are you not as fast as you’d like? Is your rhythm playing a little sloppy? Are you uninspired to solo over things because you’re stuck in pentatonic hell? Identify what’s holding you back and where you actually suck. Don’t worry, you won’t be announcing it from the rooftops, but being honest with where you weaknesses are will help identify where you can challenge yourself. After that, start with 15 minutes every other day for a week or two working through this problem. If you do this right, I guarantee you’ll start to find new inspiration to pull you out of plateau purgatory.
#3 – Diversify Your Skillset
Maybe you’re a blistering lead player a la Paul Gilbert, or you’re a juggernaut of a rhythm player like James Hetfield. Wherever your strengths lie, have you really hit the ceiling on your limits or are you playing it safe by sticking to what you know? Things really got put into perspective during my plateau when I revisited things I used to find difficult and still hadn’t quite got them down. And not only that, listening to other genres and realising I actually hadn’t a clue when it came to playing them really was a blow to the ego. Once I started focusing back in on the things that excited me as a guitarist and what I still had to improve on to get where I wanted to go, I got to work and things started to actually improve. So I encourage you to revisit that Megadeth solo you never quite learnt, get to grips with how to actually use arpeggios in your lead playing or implement exercises to improve your speed. Whatever you focus, once you get to work you’ll realise there are so many things that you can improve on that’ll reignite that flame of passion.
#4 – Slow Down
But I want to get faster? I know, it’s counter intuitive but the minute I broke down those impossible solos and rhythm parts I could never get, it allowed me to finally learn them flawlessly. Start slow, break things down and play it half speed. You can easily do this on YouTube these days by clicking the cog in the bottom right when hovering over the video and changing the playback speed. Once you have it down, up the speed just a little a play through it again. You’ll soon realise you might not have known things as good as you thought. By doing this though, just a little bit each day, you’ll find you can actually make huge strides in your accuracy whilst getting faster at the same time.
#5 – Start Recording
Following on from the last point, is your playing really up to snuff? Invest in some recording software if you haven’t already (there are plenty of free options out there) and then start recording yourself. Whether you create a basic chord progression to solo over or start to write your own songs, really listen back and see if there is anything that stands out with your playing. Maybe you’re getting string noise when you’re shredding it up, or you aren’t quite fretting those chords correctly, whatever it is, it’s better to know you’re doing it than not. And when you do, don’t get disheartened, we all have our little quirks when playing so use this as fuel to tighten things up. Steve Vai says he’s only ever focused on what he’s good at and made himself great at it and then ignored the rest. And who are we to argue with him?
#6 – Staying Motivated
How do I do that when I feel uninspired? Get out of your normal music habits. Remember that pure rush you’d get when you first started playing and you were discovering new band after new band? Circle back to that. By rekindling what got you excited in the first place you can rediscover that passion for music. But what if that music doesn’t excite me anymore? Simple. Diversify your musical intake and mix up the genres you listen to. Always a classic rock lover? Try some Motown for a change and listen to a different type of melody. You may realise a different approach to your lead playing if you recreate melody lines from different instruments and genres. Saxophone lines have a wonderful fluidity that can really help shift your mindset when moving around the fretboard, same with vocal lines.
In conclusion, plateauing as an intermediate guitarist can be frustrating, but it’s not insurmountable. By identifying what excites you and where your limitations are, you can turn that lack of passion into a new source of inspiration. Keep these things focused when playing by implementing new exercises and bits of theory into your practise routine, alongside playing for fun. Once you start seeing feedback, you’ll start to realise you can still become the guitar player you’ve always wanted to be.