The Acoustic Guitar Journey: Beginner Course
Welcome to your first step as a guitarist. This course takes you from never having touched a guitar to playing chords, riffs, melodies and short pieces in steady time, and to understanding what you are playing. By the end you will have built skills at about the level of the first graded guitar exams (Debut to Grade 1). It is not an exam course: it does not teach any exam board’s set pieces or tests, so finishing it does not by itself make you ready to sit an exam. Every lesson is designed so you can learn on your own. Just you, your guitar, and these pages.
Who This Course Is For
Section titled “Who This Course Is For”This course is built for the complete beginner — someone with zero musical experience who has never played an instrument. You do not need to read music. You do not need to know what a chord is. You do not need “natural talent.” You need a guitar, a pick, a tuner, a metronome, and the willingness to practise regularly (the full list is in START HERE).
If you have always wanted to play guitar but felt intimidated, this is where you start. If you already play a little and want structure, you will find a clear path here too.
Course Philosophy
Section titled “Course Philosophy”This is not a collection of exercises. It is a carefully sequenced programme where every concept is put to use straight away in something you play. The approach follows five principles:
- Learn by playing — You play rhythm and chord pieces written for the course from Session 1 and your first riff from a well-known song in Session 4. Theory always lives on the fretboard.
- Skills come back — Chords, scales and strumming return in later warm-ups and practice plans so that nothing tested has been left unplayed.
- Steel-string honesty — Acoustic steel strings make new fingertips sore. This course deals with that directly: one pain rule, playing-time limits for your first weeks, and breaks built into the early sessions. No pretending it does not exist.
- Your guitar, your music — Content references your specific instrument (the Saga SF-600C-BK) and draws its song excerpts from the music you love: Nirvana, Black Sabbath, and Hindi film songs sung by Kishore Kumar, with two songs sung by Manna Dey and two Iron Maiden recordings suggested for listening.
- A foundation at about Grade 1 level — The skills sit at about Debut to Grade 1 level and are closest to the RSL Awards Rockschool Acoustic Guitar syllabus. A few topics go a little beyond Grade 1 (the simplified F chord, hammer-ons and pull-offs, fingerpicking patterns, three-string moveable power chords), and some Grade 1 exam requirements are not covered. ‘What Comes After’ says which.
Your Guitar
Section titled “Your Guitar”You are learning on the Saga SF-600C-BK Dreadnought Cutaway Acoustic Guitar — a steel-string acoustic with a full dreadnought body and a cutaway that gives you comfortable access to the upper frets. The dreadnought shape produces a bold, full sound that responds well to both strumming and fingerpicking.
Steel strings are louder and brighter than nylon, and they demand more finger pressure — which means your fingertips will be sore at first. This is normal and temporary. The course manages it with playing-time limits and breaks in the early sessions. Soreness usually eases after two to four weeks of regular playing, and by Phase 2 most people can play a whole session in comfort. Skin differs from person to person: go by how your fingertips feel, not by the calendar.
The cutaway makes the frets above the 12th easier to reach. The sessions stay below that, so you will not need it during this course. For the complete setup and care guide, see Guitar Guide.
Course Structure
Section titled “Course Structure”The course is divided into 4 phases across 24 sessions, taken at one session a week (24 weeks, about six months).
| Phase | Name | Sessions | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | First Notes | 1–6 | Guitar orientation, first chords (Em, Am, E), single-string melodies, basic strumming, TAB reading |
| 2 | Open Chord Foundation | 7–12 | Core open chords (D, A, G, C), 3/4 time, the 12-bar blues, power chords and palm muting, strumming patterns, first Hindi film songs |
| 3 | Rhythm and Melody | 13–18 | Syncopated strumming, C major scale, fingerpicking, A minor pentatonic scale, hammer-ons and pull-offs, the simplified F chord and its small barre |
| 4 | Performance Ready | 19–24 | Arranging, improvisation, end-of-course run-through, final showcase |
Each phase ends with a showcase session that brings together everything learned, and a checkpoint that you take before you move on to the next phase (START HERE says how to use it).
Sessions 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17 and 20 have more new material than most, and each carries a note allowing a second week. If you use it, the course simply takes a little longer than 24 weeks. That is normal.
Session duration: 50 minutes of lesson. In Sessions 2 to 6, put the guitar down for 5 minutes at the end of Segment 2 and again at the end of Segment 3. No stretch of playing is then longer than 15 minutes, and the session takes about an hour by the clock. From Session 7, take one 5-minute break at the end of Segment 3. In Session 24, where the concert makes Segment 3 longer, take it at the end of Segment 2 instead.
Session Format
Section titled “Session Format”Every session follows the same five-segment structure. The showcase sessions (12, 18 and 24) use the middle of the session for medley preparation or the concert; in Session 24 the concert takes 20 minutes and the reflection 10.
| Segment | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up and Stretch | 5 min | Loose hand movements, tuning, and a few minutes of warm-up playing |
| Technique Focus | 10 min | Targeted drill on a specific physical skill (strumming, chord changes, picking accuracy) |
| New Learning | 15 min | Main lesson — new chords, scales, concepts, or reading skills |
| Song Workshop | 15 min | Apply everything to a song arrangement, riff or course piece |
| Review and Practice Plan | 5 min | Recap, self-check questions, and the practice plan for the week |
This structure means you start with warm hands (warm hands move more easily), build technique systematically, learn something new every session, and finish by playing a piece of music.
Assigned handout reading and the recorded ear check come after the session and are not part of the 50 minutes. Each session that has them lists them at its end, under the heading “After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)”, with the minutes to allow. (One reading, for Session 14, is done before the session instead.)
Session Map
Section titled “Session Map”Phase 1 — First Notes (Sessions 1–6)
Section titled “Phase 1 — First Notes (Sessions 1–6)”| Session | Title | Key Topics | Song / Piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meeting Your Guitar | Guitar parts, sitting position, tuning with a tuner, holding a pick, string names (E-A-D-G-B-E), first open-string strums with the metronome | Open String Rhythm Exercise (course piece) |
| 2 | Your First Chord: Em | Fretting-hand finger numbers, how to press a string, the pain rule, Em chord, reading TAB, downstroke strumming | ”Em Groove” (course piece) |
| 3 | Adding Am: Two Chords | Am chord, Em–Am chord changes, the change test, changing chords in time with a metronome | ”Two-Chord Rock” (course piece) |
| 4 | First Melodies | Single-string picking, alternate picking, notes on strings 1 and 2 and on strings 6 and 5, reading TAB for melodies | ”Come As You Are” — Nirvana (intro riff, played slowly) |
| 5 | The E Major Chord | E major chord, major and minor, upstrokes and down-up (D/U) strumming, changes between Em, Am and E | Em to E major strumming study (original exercise) |
| 6 | Phase 1 Showcase | Review of Em, Am and E, the change test, strumming and picking; the first recorded ear test (major or minor); how to memorise a piece; checkpoint walk-through | Phase 1 medley: “Come As You Are” riff + Em to E major strumming study + three-chord exercise |
Phase 2 — Open Chord Foundation (Sessions 7–12)
Section titled “Phase 2 — Open Chord Foundation (Sessions 7–12)”| Session | Title | Key Topics | Song / Piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | The D Chord and Three-Four Time | D major chord, 3/4 time, waltz strumming pattern, D–Am chord changes | ”Scarborough Fair” (traditional; simplified, Am–Em–D) |
| 8 | The A Chord Family | A major chord, changes between A, D and E, the 12-bar blues form | ”12-Bar in A” (course piece) |
| 9 | Power Chords: Your Rock Foundation | Palm muting, E5 and A5 power chords, reading power chord TAB, single notes at frets 5 and 7 | ”Iron Man” — Black Sabbath (main riff, single-note version, simplified) |
| 10 | The G Chord: Stretching Out | G major chord, Em–G and G–D–Am progressions, the spider crawl, D D U U D U and down-up strumming in songs | ”About a Girl” — Nirvana (verse accompaniment, Em–G) + “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” — Bob Dylan (G–D–Am and G–D–C, simplified) |
| 11 | The C Chord and Song Building | C major chord, G–Em–C–D progression, song sections (mukhda and antara) | “Ye Shaam Mastani” — Kishore Kumar (refrain chords, simplified) + “Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas” — Kishore Kumar (lead-in + refrain chords, simplified) |
| 12 | Phase 2 Showcase | Review of the seven open chords, the change test and the strumming patterns; checkpoint walk-through; medley preparation | Phase 2 medley: “About a Girl” verse accompaniment + “Iron Man” riff + “Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas” refrain chart |
Phase 3 — Rhythm and Melody (Sessions 13–18)
Section titled “Phase 3 — Rhythm and Melody (Sessions 13–18)”| Session | Title | Key Topics | Song / Piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Strumming Mastery | Syncopated strumming, accents, the muted strum (chk), loud and quiet strumming | ”Paranoid” — Black Sabbath (verse riff, simplified) |
| 14 | The C Major Scale | C major scale (one octave, in open position: the open strings plus frets 1 to 3), note names on the fretboard, how to practise a scale | ”Mere Sapno Ki Rani” — Kishore Kumar (opening lines, simplified) |
| 15 | Fingerpicking Foundations | p-i-m-a finger names, plucking-hand position, the alternating-thumb pattern on Em, Am, C and G, arpeggios | Em–D arpeggio study (original exercise) |
| 16 | The Minor Pentatonic Scale | Hammer-ons and pull-offs, A minor pentatonic scale (open position), improvisation introduction | Question-and-Answer Melody Study (with a hammer-on and a pull-off; written for this course) |
| 17 | Barre Chord Introduction | F major chord (simplified, strings 4 to 1), the two-string barre, changing to and from F | ”Roop Tera Mastana” — Kishore Kumar (refrain chords, simplified, using the simplified F) |
| 18 | Phase 3 Showcase | Review of the two scales and the Phase 3 techniques, changing between pick and fingers; checkpoint walk-through; medley preparation | Phase 3 medley: “Paranoid” riff + Session 16 melody study + fingerpicked chord progression |
Phase 4 — Performance Ready (Sessions 19–24)
Section titled “Phase 4 — Performance Ready (Sessions 19–24)”| Session | Title | Key Topics | Song / Piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Song Arrangement Workshop | The parts of an arrangement (intro, verse, chorus, ending), combining a single-note melody with strummed chords, notes at frets 5 and 7 | Arrangement study in E minor (original exercise) |
| 20 | Smells Like Teen Spirit | Moveable power chords (F5, Bb5, Ab5, Db5), loud and quiet sections, a palm-muted verse, muted strums | ”Smells Like Teen Spirit” — Nirvana (simplified power chord arrangement) |
| 21 | Expressive Melody Showcase | Slides, expressive melody playing, the D minor chord, moving between melody and chord sections | Showcase Study in A minor (melody + chords, written for this course) |
| 22 | Improvisation Workshop | Building phrases, call and response, a solo over a 12-bar blues in A minor using the A minor pentatonic scale | Blues in A minor with your own solo |
| 23 | End-of-Course Run-Through | Scales, chords, reading and ear checks at the course tempos; what a Grade 1 exam asks | Run-through of three pieces |
| 24 | Final Showcase: You Are a Guitarist | A concert of three short pieces from memory, recorded; course review | Your choice of three course pieces |
Skills Progression Ladder
Section titled “Skills Progression Ladder”| Skill Area | Phase 1 Complete (Session 6) | Phase 2 Complete (Session 12) | Phase 3 Complete (Session 18) | Phase 4 Complete (Session 24) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chords | Em, Am, E | + D, A, G, C, E5, A5 | + simplified F (strings 4 to 1) | + Dm and the moveable power chord shape (F5, Bb5, Ab5, Db5). No full barre chord |
| Chord changes (the change test) | Em-Am and Em-E: a new chord every 2 beats at 60 BPM | G-Em and G-D: every 2 beats at 60 BPM. C-G: every 2 beats at 50 BPM | C-F: every 4 beats at 80 BPM | Em-Am, G-D and C-G: every 2 beats at 70 BPM |
| Strumming | Downstrokes; down-up at 60 BPM; D D U U D U at 65 BPM | + waltz strum in 3/4, palm muting; D D U U D U at 75 BPM | + accents, the muted strum, the syncopated pattern at 65 BPM | All five patterns used in pieces; loud and quiet sections |
| Picking | Single notes on strings 1 and 2, alternate picking | A single-note riff at frets 5 and 7 | Fingerpicking (p-i-m-a arpeggio, alternating-thumb pattern), hammer-ons, pull-offs | + slides; melody and chords in one piece |
| Scales | — | — | C major (one octave, open position) at 60 BPM in eighth notes; A minor pentatonic (open position) at 60 BPM in quarter notes | Both scales at 60 BPM in eighth notes; a solo over a 12-bar blues in A minor |
| TAB Reading | Fret numbers on six lines, with a count row | Chord and riff TAB, PM | TAB with h and p | TAB with slides and x; a short unseen passage at 50 BPM |
| Staff Notation | — | — | — | Name the open-position notes on the staff; note values (handout 08). Playing from staff notation is not taught |
| Theory | String names, fret numbers, beat, measure, tempo | 4/4 and 3/4, chord names, major and minor, the 12-bar form, I-IV-V in A | Note names in open position, sharps and flats, octave, half and whole steps, the pentatonic as C major without F and B | Which chords belong together in a key (handout 07); note values on the staff (handout 08) |
| Ear Skills (recorded card test) | Major or minor on Em, Am and E | Major or minor on seven chords; 4/4 or 3/4 | Play back two-note and three-note phrases | Play back four-note phrases; all three tests in the final assessment |
| Repertoire | 4 course pieces and 1 riff | 7 song excerpts so far, plus “12-Bar in A” | 10 song excerpts so far, plus 2 studies written for the course | 11 song excerpts, 2 more studies and the blues in A minor; 3 short pieces from memory |
Repertoire Overview
Section titled “Repertoire Overview”The songs are named so that you can find and listen to the recordings. What the course prints are short, simplified arrangements written for study: riffs, intros, single verses and melody phrases, not full transcriptions. No lyrics are reproduced. All rights in the songs remain with their writers and publishers.
The arrangements are not yet play-tested: nobody has yet checked them against the recordings with a guitar in hand.
Rock and Metal
Section titled “Rock and Metal”| Song | Recorded by | Written by | First Appears | What You Play | Key Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ”Come As You Are” | Nirvana, on the album Nevermind (1991) | Kurt Cobain | Session 4 | The two-measure intro riff, played slowly | Single notes on strings 6 and 5, alternate picking |
| ”Iron Man” | Black Sabbath, on the album Paranoid (1970) | Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward | Session 9 | Main riff, single-note version (simplified) | Single-note riff at frets 5 and 7 |
| ”About a Girl” | Nirvana, on the album Bleach (1989) | Kurt Cobain | Session 10 | Verse accompaniment (simplified) | Em–G chord changes, strumming |
| ”Paranoid” | Black Sabbath, on the album Paranoid (1970) | Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward | Session 13 | Verse riff (simplified) | Palm-muted two-note power chords, steady eighth notes |
| ”Smells Like Teen Spirit” | Nirvana, on the album Nevermind (1991) | Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl | Session 20 | Simplified arrangement: intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, ending | Moveable power chords, loud and quiet sections |
For listening only, not played: “Fear of the Dark” (Iron Maiden, on the album Fear of the Dark, 1992; written by Steve Harris), mentioned in Session 15, and “Wasted Years” (Iron Maiden, on the album Somewhere in Time, 1986; written by Adrian Smith), mentioned in Session 19.
Hindi Classic Film
Section titled “Hindi Classic Film”| Song | Film and Singer | Written by | First Appears | What You Play | Key Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ”Ye Shaam Mastani” | Kati Patang (1970/71), sung by Kishore Kumar | Music: R. D. Burman. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi | Session 11 | Refrain chords (simplified) | Open chord accompaniment (refrain, simplified) |
| “Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas” | Blackmail (1973), sung by Kishore Kumar | Music: Kalyanji–Anandji. Lyrics: Rajendra Krishan | Session 11 | Refrain chords (simplified), with a picked lead-in written for this course | Chord accompaniment (refrain, simplified), picked lead-in |
| ”Mere Sapno Ki Rani” | Aradhana (1969), sung by Kishore Kumar | Music: S. D. Burman. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi | Session 14 | Opening lines (simplified, in A minor) | Melody playing with notes of the C major scale (A minor) |
| “Roop Tera Mastana” | Aradhana (1969), sung by Kishore Kumar | Music: S. D. Burman. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi | Session 17 | Refrain chords (simplified, in G) | Simplified F chord in a refrain chart |
For listening only, not played: “Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli” (film Anand, 1971; sung by Manna Dey; music: Salil Chowdhury; lyrics: Yogesh), suggested in Session 16, and “Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen” (film Waqt, 1965; sung by Manna Dey; music: Ravi; lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi), suggested in Session 21.
| Song | Recorded by | Written by | First Appears | What You Play | Key Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ”Scarborough Fair” | Traditional English ballad. Best-known recording: Simon & Garfunkel, on the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966); their arrangement is not used here | Traditional; no known author | Session 7 | One verse, as a simplified three-chord accompaniment | 3/4 time; Am, Em and D chords |
| ”Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” | Bob Dylan, on the soundtrack album Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) | Bob Dylan | Session 10 | Simplified chord accompaniment at half speed | G–D–Am and G–D–C progression, song structure |
Pieces Written for This Course
Section titled “Pieces Written for This Course”| Piece | First Appears | Key Skills |
|---|---|---|
| Open String Rhythm Exercise | Session 1 | Steady downstrokes with the metronome |
| ”Em Groove” | Session 2 | Em chord, downstroke strumming |
| ”Two-Chord Rock” | Session 3 | Em–Am chord changes in time |
| Em to E major strumming study | Session 5 | E major chord, down-up strumming |
| ”12-Bar in A” | Session 8 | A, D and E chords, the 12-bar blues form |
| Em–D arpeggio study | Session 15 | Fingerpicking, arpeggios |
| Question-and-Answer Melody Study | Session 16 | Melody with a hammer-on and a pull-off |
| Arrangement study in E minor | Session 19 | A single-note melody and strummed chords in one piece |
| Showcase Study in A minor | Session 21 | Melody with a slide, hammer-ons and a pull-off; chord section with Dm |
| Blues in A minor with your own solo | Session 22 | Improvising with the A minor pentatonic scale |
Exit Criteria
Section titled “Exit Criteria”By the end of the course you will have worked on every skill below. Each one names how it is checked, so you can tell for yourself whether you have it. The tempos are the ones the sessions set. The metronome click is always one beat.
Chords and Harmony
- Play each of the open chords Em, Am, E, D, A, G, C and Dm so that every string that should sound rings clearly when you pluck the strings one at a time
- Play the E5 and A5 power chords with palm muting, and the moveable power chord shape (F5, Bb5, Ab5, Db5) with only its three strings sounding
- Play the simplified F chord (strings 4 to 1). The full six-string barre chord is beyond this course
- Pass the change test for Em and Am, for G and D, and for C and G: a new chord every 2 beats at 70 BPM, eight chords in a row
Scales and Melody
- Play the C major scale (one octave, open position) up and down at 60 BPM, two notes per click (eighth notes), three times in a row with no wrong note
- Play the A minor pentatonic scale (open position) up and down at 60 BPM, two notes per click (eighth notes)
- Play a single-note melody from TAB with the metronome, at the tempo its session sets, finishing with the click
Rhythm and Strumming
- Keep each of these going for eight measures with the metronome: downstrokes at 70 BPM, down-up strumming at 70 BPM, the D D U U D U pattern at 75 BPM, and the waltz strum in 3/4 at 70 BPM
- Play the syncopated pattern with muted strums for four measures at 65 BPM
- Play a passage once quietly and once loudly, and once palm-muted and once ringing, so that the difference can be heard on a recording
Reading and Theory
- Read guitar TAB, including the symbols h, p, / and , x and PM, and play a short TAB passage you have not seen before at 50 BPM after 15 seconds of study
- Name the open-position notes from C up to G on a staff with a treble clef, and say how many beats a whole, half, quarter and eighth note last. Playing from staff notation is not taught in this course
- Say which of the course’s chords are major and which are minor
- Count and play in 4/4 and in 3/4, and play the 12-bar blues in A from memory, saying each measure’s chord aloud
Performance
- Perform three short pieces from memory, one after another, each started with your own count-in and played to its written ending without stopping. The course’s versions of well-known songs are short, simplified excerpts (a riff, an intro, a verse or a melody phrase), not complete songs
- Play one piece all the way through with the metronome clicking, and finish with the click
- Record a performance and mark it yourself against the written checklist in the final assessment
Ear Skills (checked with the recorded card test, in which you answer from a recording you made the day before)
- Tell major chords from minor chords: 8 right out of 10
- Say whether a strummed rhythm is in 4/4 or 3/4: 5 right out of 6
- Play back a four-note phrase on strings 1 and 2 after hearing it twice: 4 right out of 6
How this compares with a graded exam. These are the course’s own benchmarks. They sit at about Debut to Grade 1 level and are closest in content to RSL Awards Rockschool Acoustic Guitar Grade 1, but they are not that exam’s requirements, and meeting them does not mean you are ready to sit an exam. A Grade 1 exam also needs things this course does not teach: pieces from the exam board’s own book, played with the board’s backing tracks; for Rockschool, two more scales (A natural minor and G major pentatonic) and its own reading or improvising test, ear tests and questions. Whats Next explains what each exam asks and what you would still need to learn.
Course Files
Section titled “Course Files”The course has 61 files: 24 sessions, 23 handouts, 5 reference sheets, 6 assessments and 3 guides. START HERE is the course map: its Complete File Directory lists every one of the other 60, with what each is for and when to use it.
Practice Expectations
Section titled “Practice Expectations”Between sessions, follow the practice plan at the end of each session: about 15 to 20 minutes a day in Weeks 1 to 3, building to 25 to 30 minutes by Week 10, on at least five days a week. Consistency matters more than marathon sessions — fifteen focused minutes on most days beats two hours on a weekend.
The practice plan printed at the end of each session is the plan for that week: it names each item and its minutes. The two weekly-plan handouts repeat it and add an end-of-week check. Every plan has this shape:
| Block | Duration | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up | 3 to 5 minutes | The warm-up from your current session, then tune |
| Technique | As the session’s plan says | The chord changes, scales or picking exercises from the most recent session |
| Pieces | As the session’s plan says | The current session’s piece (work on the problem spots, not only full run-throughs) and any earlier items the plan brings back |
The pain rule
- Normal: fingertips that are tender, red or dented by the strings. Keep to the time limits and take the breaks.
- Stop for today: fingertips that sting or burn, a blister or broken skin, or a hand that cramps or aches. With a blister, do not press strings again until it has healed.
- Warning signs, stop at once: pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles; numbness or tingling; any sharp pain; pain that lasts into the next day. Rest until it has gone completely. If it comes back when you play, or has not gone after two days, see a doctor or physiotherapist before you play again.
Never play through any of these to finish a session or to keep to the schedule.
The time limits the rule refers to are in the table “Playing-time limits for your first weeks of pressing strings” in START HERE.
General rules:
- Always tune before you play (use a clip-on tuner or a phone app)
- Use a metronome from Session 1 onwards — even if it feels slow, steady time is the foundation of everything
- Record yourself each week (phone audio is fine) and listen back — you will hear things you miss while playing. Where a session’s self-check asks for a recording, it says what to record and what to listen for
What Comes After
Section titled “What Comes After”After this course you can go on to:
- Starting to prepare for a Grade 1 guitar exam, if you would like a certificate. The course gives you the playing foundation; the exam board’s own Grade 1 book supplies the set pieces, backing tracks and tests you would still need to learn. See Whats Next. The Grade 1 requirements this course does not cover are listed at the end of the Exit Criteria above
- Intermediate study — barre chords across the fretboard, CAGED system, music theory through Grade 3, fingerstyle repertoire, blues and jazz vocabulary, extended song arrangements, and deeper exploration of rock, metal, and Hindi film music
- Songwriting — the chords, scales, and song structures you have learned are the raw materials for writing your own music
- Playing with others — you now have the chord vocabulary and rhythmic control to jam with friends or join a beginner ensemble
This site has an intermediate guitar course that follows this one: Guitar: Intermediate Course. It is being published one phase at a time and takes you to about Grade 2 level; the topics listed under “Intermediate study” above are those of that course and of study beyond it.