How to tell if you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced guitar player

Justin Sandercoe
(Image credit: Future)

People often wonder where they are on their guitar journey. Am I still a beginner? What makes an intermediate player? What are the essential skills for each?

There is no ‘global system’ of merit for the guitar. There are grades you can do that will give an indication for theory, scales and repertoire levels but many are classical based and those that are rock and pop based tend to vary in these aspects. That said, the accredited grade system is best  if you’re looking for ‘official’ recognition of ability, not least because countless guitarists globally engage with them.

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Justin Sandercoe

Justin Sandercoe – aka JustinGuitar – is one of the world's foremost guitar tutors. His learning platform, JustinGuitar, was founded in 2003, and its launch on YouTube in 2006 quickly made Justin's lessons some of the most popular on the web. Today, JustinGuitar has over 1.5m subscribers on YouTube, and the website is home to over 1,300 free video guitar lessons. Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, Steve Vai and Brian May are among the A-list names who recommend Justin's guitar courses.