INTERMEDIATE GUITAR III

In Intermediate Guitar II you learned how to construct and play solos over chord progressions within traditional major keys. Your focus for Intermediate Guitar III will now shift towards the dark side of music:

The Traditional Minor

This will add a whole new dimension to your compositional and lead playing skills.

You are now considered a mid to upper level intermediate player in the fundamentals of guitar. If you are having trouble understanding the content, backtrack through Beginner Guitar I, Intermediate Guitar I, and Intermediate Guitar II. It’s important that the player’s technical, rhythmic, and theory skills are up to speed before moving on.

Here is a list of general prerequisites for Intermediate III:

• Picking – The ability to alternate pick 16th and six-tuplet speed burst at 60–100 bpm. String crossing drill from Level 101 sustained for one minute at 70-90 bpm. Flat picking arpeggios from Level 141 using six-tuplets at 60-100 bpm (triplets at 30-50 bpm).
• Strumming – The ability to read and strum basic rhythm patterns in 4/4 and ¾ time. Counting and performing half, quarter, 8th, and 16th notes with ties. Subdividing the count into triplets using 8th notes.
• Finger Picking – Arpeggios using PIMA, PAMI, PIMAMI, and PAMIMA with a steady count. Three and four finger Travis Picking technique at 90 – 120 bpm. (Thumb stroke gets the count)
• Scales – All five forms of the major and minor pentatonic scales at 80 – 100 bpm on the metronome using straight and swing 8th notes. The sequence over all five forms using triplet rhythm with alternate picking at 80 bpm. All five forms of the major scale at 80 – 100 bpm using 8th and 16th notes with and without palm muting technique.
  Slur Technique – Proficiency in applying slur technique over melodies during improvisation.
• Chords – Memorization and the ability to switch between changes of open stringed major, minor, and 7th chords A – G. The ability to play power chords comfortably across the neck. The ability to switch between the bar chords B-Minor and F#-Major comfortably. The 6th chord shuffle for blues. The ability to play all forms of the CAGED forms comfortably across the neck.
• Music theory and knowledge of the guitar – The ability to create chord progressions and improvise melodies over those chord progressions within traditional major keys. If you have no idea what this means, back up and revisit Intermediate Guitar II.
• Improvisation/Lead Guitar – The ability to improvise over chord progressions within traditional major keys (all twelve) using the following.

All five forms of the Major Pentatonic scale and all five forms of the Major scale using quarter, 8th, and 16th notes:

• Slur and legato slide phrasings
• Double Stop technique
• Palm Muting technique
• Shifting between scale forms
• How to create and develop the “Motif” as a phrasing tool in improvisation

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