You know your open chords, you can strum a song and maybe play a few riffs. Now what? The right songs are the fastest way through the intermediate plateau, because each one forces you to learn something new.
Are you an intermediate guitarist?
- Your open chords are clean and the changes are smooth.
- You can play barre chords, even if F still fights back.
- You know at least one pentatonic shape.
- You can play complete songs and learn new ones from tab.
Intermediate guitar songs, by skill
| Song | Artist or source | What it teaches |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Child O’ Mine | Guns N’ Roses | Alternate picking across strings in the intro riff |
| Hotel California | Eagles | Open shapes with a capo at the 7th fret, and a famous harmonised solo |
| Wish You Were Here | Pink Floyd | Lead fills between strummed chords |
| Under the Bridge | Red Hot Chili Peppers | Chord embellishments and a clean, picked intro |
| Little Wing | Jimi Hendrix | Thumb-over chords and embellishments (upper intermediate) |
| Blackbird | The Beatles | Fingerpicking moving shapes against an open string |
| Dust in the Wind | Kansas | Travis-style fingerpicking patterns |
| Tears in Heaven | Eric Clapton | Fingerstyle with the melody on top |
| The Thrill Is Gone | B.B. King | Minor blues soloing, bends and vibrato |
| Pride and Joy | Stevie Ray Vaughan | A driving shuffle rhythm (upper intermediate) |
| Get Lucky | Daft Punk | Sixteenth-note funk strumming |
| Autumn Leaves | Jazz standard | Seventh chords and the ii → V → I |
| Romance (Spanish Romance) | Traditional, composer unknown | Arpeggios and barre chords on nylon strings |
| Tum Hi Ho | Aashiqui 2 | A fingerstyle arrangement of melody and chords |
| Kun Faya Kun | Rockstar | Arpeggiated accompaniment under a picked melody |
Use official or licensed tabs where you can. Fan-made tabs are often wrong, so trust your ears; a teacher can also arrange a song at exactly your level.
How to break the intermediate plateau
- Learn songs slightly above your level, slowly, one section at a time.
- Get barre chords and the CAGED system solid, so you can play any chord anywhere on the neck (see music theory for guitar).
- Connect the pentatonic boxes across the whole neck.
- Learn something by ear each week, even four notes.
- Record yourself and listen back like a teacher would.
- Play with other people. Timing improves fastest when someone else keeps it.
Can you learn several genres in online lessons?
Yes, and it is one of the best ways to improve. Rock teaches riffs and tone, blues teaches phrasing, funk teaches rhythm, jazz teaches harmony and fingerstyle teaches independence. A good teacher rotates styles around your goals. See jazz and blues lessons, rock lessons or which style to learn first.
Online lessons for intermediate players
Intermediate players often gain the most from lessons, because the fix is rarely “practise more” and usually “practise something different”. Live online lessons with Gaurav start from the songs you want to play.
Free PDF
Guitar Scales Chart
All five minor pentatonic boxes, the blues scale, the major pentatonic and two major scale patterns.
