Where Am I On This Journey?
I am, by the few accounts I'm able to come by, an "intermediate" guitarist. Those accounts are a recent guitar teacher who referred to me as an intermediate level guitarist (this surprised me, as I'd never really classified myself at any level in guitar, and I certainly wouldn't have put myself at intermediate. So it was a pleasant surprise), this article (or one very similar), and another article I discovered in the past five minutes while trying to find the previous article. According to the last article, I may even begin approaching the advanced phase based on the hours listed (and the dubious tie to the 10,000 rule).
While I don't believe that creativity and artistic ability can be measured in a purely objective fashion, I do believe that having some measure of that ability helps to instill confidence in people who otherwise lack it and suffer from impostor syndrome, endlessly questioning themselves about whether they're good enough or should just give up and try another hobby altogether. It's like the belt system in martial arts. A purple belt from a reputable jujitsu school is indicative of a certain amount of effort and a certain level of competence, but it's no guarantee that a white belt won't mop the floor with you in competition or that you'll be successful in a real fight.
Nevertheless, part of what I hope to accomplish with this blog is some vague range of objectivity that lets me know I'm making progress, and, by extension, that any readers who struggle with the same self-doubt can find signposts to give them confidence and direction.
So consider this my jumping-off point for more directed learning. Here's what I can generally do that meets the intermediate criteria:
- I can play the major scales and minor scales in the 5 major positions across the fretboard.
- I generally know what modes those correspond to for given keys.
- I can do the same with the major and minor pentatonic scales.
- I can improvise against the above scales playing 8th notes at up to 130 bpm.
- I have a relatively extensive chord vocabulary, including standard jazz chords like 9ths, m7, maj7, b5, etc. starting on both the 5th and 6th strings of the guitar.
- I can play relatively complex rhythms with those chords.
- My understanding of music theory likely falls into the intermediate range (I know what tritone substitutions are, for example).
- I feel comfortable reading music as long as we're not playing at a quick tempo.
- My song vocabulary is severely lacking. I can fake my way through chord progressions, but not too many recognizable riffs.
- While I can improvise, it sounds like an AI-generated program moving from chord to chord. I have a hard time telling a story or letting my ear dictate where a solo should go.
- My singing is beginner level at best (it's debatable that this should be included with guitar skills, but I'm including it for all-around musicianship).
- Fingerpicking, what's that?
- Probably obvious from the above bullet point (for those of you who the general stylings of country and folk music), but, while I want to play country, I know zero riffs in the genre.
- 16th notes scare me. Even at 60 bpm.
- My rhythm playing isn't as solid as I think it should be.
- Put me together with other musicians and I have no idea how to appropriately wire anything up. I'm still determined to look up what "phantom power" is for a microphone.
- Any technique that applies to metal (sweep picking, pinch harmonics, fret tapping, the ability to grow long hair, etc.).
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