Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Can I ask you guys GW members this question? (I am not asking you about your level! That title made you to confuse! So sorry about it)

What's the difference between Beginner or Intermediate or Advance in Guitar skill levels?

I always think "foundation" is very important for all levels (Guitar players) to improve their playing skills to forward.

Can you define what is "Beginner Guitar" "Intermediate Guitar" "Advanced Guitar"?

You can include any GW lesson part that you know... like "One String Approch / Major Scale" "Triad Inversion on top 3 strings" etc.

Thank you so much! Looking forward to your answer!
Now you can teach me something!

Plesae discuss!

Tomo

Thank you Tomo , This is now stage my answer :

Beginner : First important thing is set " Good habit " in technique , With a right way to understanding guitar , ( each part is how to work, how should you do with guitar ) , Chromatic practice is a great door , Method book will have detail help .
but the " Understanding" Need build from routing , Chromatic , R 37 , Alternate picking , Method book , Finger picking , Set your height for this practice .

Second is understanding how important is " use ear to learn guitar " , Combine with technique , other stander in this way is " Try without looking fretboard " in this part . Start with " Learn fretboard without memorization " Then going to C Major Scale do it with “ Major Triads” Part , Will be a great way to praxis this part .

Third is build steady mind ,And I think this is most important one . because this is huge and deep thing , there have different level that in Beginner & foundation part , only can gain with Don’t worry , Don't compare , Don't expect too fast , And Be kind to yourself mind , if you want to set deep connection or understanding more deep , day and day , all the time when you pick up your guitar to do .

I‘m still in this beginner part , want to know with other poster with other stage !
Thank you :)

Thank you, Clay and Jiayang, for sharing! There is no right or wrong answer! It is fascinating to hear how people define each level. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts.

Thank you Sammi for your appreciation!

Totally correct on there is no one right or wrong answer on this topic. It's so fascinationg to hear indivisual person's definition on each level. Glad you enjoyed reading thier thoughts as I did.

Tomo

At the risk of having found a way to give the wrong answer...

I might use practice time as a metric. This is totally arbitrary but something like:

0: practices intermittently
1: practices weekly but not daily
2: practices daily for 15- to 30 minutes
3: practices daily for 1 hour but less that 2
4: practices daily for 2 hours but less than 4
5: practices for more than 4 hours per day

This doesn't answer the question about the "level" of GW exercises and lessons but it seems that everything, from the seemingly simple material to the more clearly advanced, shows the effect of practice time, and that the "simple" stuff is as much benefit to the advanced player as to the beginner. Sammi noted the other day, for example, that Tomo practices the R37 groove quite a bit. Not hard to learn but difficult to master.

One could imagine a Guitar Wisdom curriculum based on practice time: if you have 15 minutes a day, do this; if you have an hour, do this.

Best wishes,

- Ralph

Been thinking and I don’t know how to define an advanced , intermediate, or beginner other than easy for me to say Tomo to me is example of advanced player. Then I asked why? One reason is because I’m learning blues and jazz music. And Tomo has deep knowledge of history in both styles, can interpret songs , can compose, and can improvise. Can translate what he hears in head and out through the fingers and that sound coming out of the amp. Can express emotion and feeling through dynamics and connection with instrument. Also has developed own sound. When you listen to a playlist with many artists and one of tomos songs comes on. You know it is him. Someone asks Tomo, play something. He can play something. One man band he can do. I think advanced player also has clear thought on what kind of music they want to play. Sometimes can create own way which could be seen to others as advanced but it is more about that it is uniquely them. I think this is the point maybe. It could be that an advanced player makes music that may not be possible or would take extreme amount of effort to replicate
Maybe beginner is starting journey to learn about what kind of player they want to be.
Intermediate is putting some of the peices together.
I think in all cases the foundation exercises we do apply to continue to improve

Beginner ; Cowboy chords , eventually barre chords , root voicing of triads , no swing or syncopation yet , pattern based player
intermediate : comfortable with inversions , triad and scale based solos , timbre awareness in a group , beginning to syncopate and swing decently , some knowledge of voice leading , does not question how to hold a pick or not as confused with alternate picking as a beginner
Advanced : can hear a chord progression as it is being played and join in , beginning to be comfortable finding their own voice , completely comfortable with up to 6 note chord voicing and can choose what is appropriate , fluid with all modes , blues and many many styles of playing , has breath in their playing

Like these Tom - really like the part in "advanced" of "choosing appropriately." That might be my favorite distinction between int and adv so far.

Beginner:

Focus: Learning basic open chords (like C, G, D, E, A), simple strumming patterns, and playing easy songs.

Skills: Developing finger dexterity and coordination, learning to tune the guitar, and understanding basic rhythm.

Examples: Playing simple songs like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

Knowledge: Familiarity with the parts of the guitar, basic music notation (if applicable).

Intermediate:

Focus: Expanding chord vocabulary (including barre chords), learning various strumming and picking patterns, playing riffs and basic solos.

Skills: Developing more complex fingerpicking techniques, improvising simple melodies, understanding the relationship between chords and scales, playing with a band.

Examples: Playing songs with barre chords, simple solos, and more complex rhythm parts.

Knowledge: Understanding major and minor keys, basic music theory, and the ability to learn songs by ear.

Advanced:

Focus: Mastering complex musical pieces, improvising sophisticated solos, understanding advanced music theory, and developing a unique playing style.

Skills: Virtuosic playing, complex rhythms and time signatures, advanced improvisation techniques, playing in various musical styles.

Examples: Playing challenging classical pieces, jazz solos, or complex rock compositions.

Knowledge: Deep understanding of music theory, harmony, and the ability to compose music

Thank you Michael for sharing your thought.

Focus, Skills, Examples and knowledge.

Great details on each level!

Very helpful!

I am learning from everyone! This thread is so good!
Thank you so much all!

Tomo

Wow guys some great answers. As always thanks for sharing.

I would say beginner is like a newborn child with little to no knowledge or application of the guitar or whatever the topic of learning is. The caged system seems like where most beginners seem to start. In my opinion this is not a place a novice should start at all. I love the idea of a beginner learning the fretboard inside and out. The single string approach horizontally is a great way to learn the scales to start. Triads a good first for a newbie. This was not how I was first taught the guitar. I wish I would have found Guitar Wisdom sooner.

Intermediate level you begin to blossom. You have the knowledge of what you are doing and the ability to show. "It is not what you know, but what you can show". Many renowned guitarists have achieved great success despite lacking formal music reading and theory knowledge. Examples include Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Eddie Van Halen. They often learned by ear, through imitation, or by working things out through practice, developing their unique styles and techniques. My point here is you can definitely still be an advanced player without having all the knowledge.

Advanced player to me has confidence behind what they are playing. They have unique ability to arrange music. There ear is in tune to melody and the advanced player has rhythm down. The advanced player has a high level of experience and can operate independently. An advanced player listens and can understand more than one part, has understanding that music is polyrhythmic, and knows how to layer parts.

I will add in response to the above message about practice time, practice time put in may or may not make someone more advanced faster. It cannot tell us if someone is beginner, intermediate, or advanced. We all have different learning styles or ways we practice or bad habits of practice that can make someone who plays many hours a day still have little to no progress.

In terms of jamming, in my opinion, inteqmediate can play songs that they practiced before only.
Advanced can play without practice based on their experience.
Beginners are not able to jam.
What do you think?

Thank you Eiji for your point of view on these levels.

Music is a little similar to language. Jamming is like talking / conversation.
Any baby will only listen a few years before they can talk. Talk is coping. (2 years)

Yes! Beginner can not jam because not having enough listening experiece. Need to listen good music for 2 years!

Yes! Intermediate can play songs that they only learned before (Because a lot of memorization in ONE posiition without knowing intervals & theory behind. Can not jam new song.

Yes! Advanced can jam any new song by ears based on their experiences. A lot of listening on good old music & spent many hours figuring out notes/positions/possibities. And a few great live performance experience. For example: This person learned Pride & Joy by SRV.... Went to blues jam... The band was playing in Eb! 1/2 step down as the original recording! So those typical blues phrase fingerngs totally didn't work but could learn how to transpose triad positions! 1234 E form can move to 2345 C form to 3456 G form from LIVE performance experience. So this means.... making mistakes & accidents are a great source for learning process.

Tomo

Thank you Clay!

I really enjoyed Eiji's concept on JAMMING!

Very cool. I will come up some ideas around this topic later.

Tomo

Very appreciate for everyone's each comment here , This is so amazing & many great knowledge !
Thank you !