5 Levels of Acoustic Guitar Playing 

The acoustic guitar is one of the most popular instruments in the world. People love it because it's easy to start and takes decades to master. Below are the 5 stages of guitar playing that players go through. Whether you picked up your first acoustic guitar or have been playing for years, this guide will show you exactly where you stand.

Level 1: Absolute Beginner 

This level is for those of you who have never picked up a guitar before. It’s hard and often times very painful for your fingers. The good news is that it won’t take very long to graduate from this level.  

The secret is to give yourself of goal of completing 30 actions every day. This could be naming the strings of the guitar 30 times. You could play Mary Had a Little Lamb 30 times. Play the chords you are learning 30 times. If you tell yourself, I can’t go to bed until i do this 30 times, you will master this level in a couple of weeks! 

If you don’t have a good guitar for this level, we recommend the FG800J or the Fender CD-60. The FG800J is the best beginner guitar on the market. It sounds incredible, however, it doesn’t come with a case. The Fender CD-60 comes with a hardshell case, but it doesn’t sound as good as the FG800J. 

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Ed Sheeran has a viral video about how he can play almost any pop song with 4 chords. The chords are Em, C, G, and D.

You're ready to move on when you can play those chords with two strumming patterns. Also you need to know how to use a capo to play almost every pop song. (Below are some good capos if you don't have one). 

Level 2 The Daily Guitarist:

Most Guitar Players fit into this level. They often play in bands, worship teams, or jam sitting around the campfire with their friends. You’ll be able to play most songs and strumming patterns required to play the song.  

If you’re at this level, most of the time you are ready to play on the stage. So you’ll need a guitar with acoustic pickups in it. We recommend the FG800X Series, Martin Koa Style Guitars,  or Ibanez Acoustics. These guitars are the best bang for your buck acoustic guitars to play on stage.  

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You'll know you're ready for the next level when you can call chords by numbers instead of names. Example if someone says play the 4 chord in the key of G. You’ll need to know that is a C chord. The other skill required to move on is being able to fingerpick your chords. If you can play chords with your fingers instead of a pick you're on the right track.

Mastering Level 2 is much harder than level 1. Most Guitar Players stop here. But, you can keep progressing. If you practice every day for a year doing 50 guitar actions every day, you will most likely be at level 3

If you feel stuck at level 2, use this link to get your roadmap for progressing. We spent over 300 hours creating the Roxy Rockin' Guitar Course to help you learn the fundamentals of guitar playing. You can get your digital copy of the course by filling out the form on this page.

Get Your Free Roxy Rockin' Guitar Course

Level 3 The fingerpicker:

Congratulations, if you've made it to this level, you are better than most guitar players. This is a great accomplishment. You should be able to play songs that use fingerpicking, melodies, and complex chords. Here are some examples:

Ghost-Machine – Jon Foreman 

Only Hope – Switchfoot 

Blackbird – Beatles 

Dust in the Wind – Kansas 

Terminal – Jon Foreman 

At this level, a proper guitar setup with great strings will do more for you than a new guitar.

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Setting up an acoustic is outside the scope of this blog. But, your local music shop can help you have a great feeling guitar. 

Mastering Level 3 requires learning scales, arpeggios and many other music fundamentals. You will also need to be very comfortable on the instrument. This means that you will have to be able to play almost any song asked of you.

Reaching level four is very hard. It can take years of practice to reach this level. It took me about 4 years of daily practice. During that time, I would practice 2-4 hours a day.

Level 4 Advanced Players: 

By the time you reach level 4, you have a great understanding of music. At this level, you know all 12 Major Scales across the entire fretboard. You can play complete solo acoustic pieces with chords, melodies and more. You can also do acoustic solos (Very Rare).  You may also start getting into acoustic percussion, though it isn't required.

 Examples of songs that you should be able to play are:  

Lewis and Clarke - Tommy Emmanuel 

Drifting – Andy Mckee 

The Lord’s Prayer – Larry Carlton 

Misty – Erroll Garner (Solo Guitar)

At this level you may want to upgrade to a nice Martin, Taylor or Yamaha acoustic. We don’t carry Taylor at Roxy Music, but you can find them all over the place. Below are some recommended Yamaha's and Martin's. 

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Level 5: The Masters 

This level is often unattainable by most mortal humans. To reach this level requires you to dedicate your entire life to the instrument.

Some great solo acoustic players are Tommy Emmanuel and Mike Dawes.

There are percussive style players like Andy Mckee or Marcin

Jazz masters like Pat Metheny or Joe Pass are some of the best guitar players around.

You may not get to level 5, but if you practice you can play any song you want.

Do you want help leveling up your guitar playing? Click the link below to get our Roxy Rockin' Guitar Books. Fill out the form and we will send you the book that fits your current skill.

Get Your Free Roxy Rockin' Guitar Course

So what level are you?