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WHAT'S YOUR PLAYING LEVEL?
So, are you an intermediate player or an advanced player?
This is not an issue of ego, nor are the definitions
and descriptions found here, universal.
They are not.
The terms intermediate and advanced
have particular meaning for the purposes of this web site.
You are not superior if you are an advanced player
nor are you inferior if you are an intermediate player.
Every advanced player was intermediate
at one time or another.
Many guitarists and instructors correlate these term
s with the length of time
an individual has played the guitar.
In life, people have differing
priorities and responsibilities.
So, someone playing for five years,
when there's free time after a day's work,
family life and whatever other responsibilities
make up that person's life,
clearly may not have the same fretboard knowledge
and understanding as a person
who has made a serious pursuit
of the instrument by working with a good instructor
and has practiced diligently for 3 years.
So, length of time playing is not necessarily significant.
In my opinion, the only measure to use,
for determining the 'level' of a guitarist's experience,
which should be reflected in their playing,
is what they understand and play.
This eliminates the guitarists who have
read a lot and can discuss overtones and
half diminished 7 chords, but cannot play Happy Birthday
by ear in two different locations on the fingerboard.
It also eliminates the guitarist who learned Leyenda
or Jimi Hendrix's version of The Star Spangled Banner
by tabs and doesn't have the slightest idea
what they are playing, other than fret locations.
Here is the guide I use to determine
a guitarist's playing level:
Intermediate:
A guitarist who has enough experience playing
to be able to sight read music they have never seen,
and play it accurately, but perhaps not flawlessly.
An intermediate guitarist understands timing,
limited theory and can sight-read and
maintain the music's timing and
has a fair knowledge of the fretboard.
They are proficient from the first
to at least the seventh fret of the guitar
and can read and play in some positions
other than open, with the same ease
and understanding as in open position.
Advanced:
A guitarist who has a great deal of experience
and both fretboard and theoretical knowledge.
An advanced guitarist can sight-read proficiently,
maintain the timing of the music they are sight-reading,
knows and understands the key they are playing in
before they begin to play,
understands the entirety of the fretboard
and possesses the ability to play in many positions,
including those above the seventh fret and
can determine where a passage of music
should be played on the fretboard,
based on understanding the music on which
they are working, fretboard knowledge
and understanding of the principals
of guitar technique.
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