The Guitar Scale (Part Two)

Stage Four: Things are finally coming together. Depending on the talent, motivation, and the amount of time practiced, Stage Four can be achieved anywhere between a few months and several years. Members of this stage can play a piece from start to finish, keeping the appropriate tempo, and making timely transitions. No longer at the beginning stages of guitar-playing, it is at this point where talent and varying interests begin to create vastly different paths to accompany the multitude of different musical tastes. Hard work has paid off to the point that those buzzing strings, misplayed chords or riffs, and muddled tempos are becoming distant memories. Depending on the musical genre and style, members of Stage Four have become comfortable with some of the technical aspects of their style or genre of choice, whether these include a hammer-on, a pull-off, a slide, an arpeggio, flat-picking, alternate picking, muting strings, bending strings, etc. (Keep in mind that members of Stage Four have not mastered all of these techniques, but they are capable of employing a handful of them as a result of their diligence).

Stage Five: As we move further up the stages of guitar mastery, the distinctions of classification become more and more hazy. For the sake of remaining relevant to all kinds of guitar players, whether classical, blues, country, bluegrass, rock, folk, flamenco, et al., we can no longer create a common bar to qualify members of this stage. For example, only one group of the aforementioned is, at this stage, going to be comfortable employing a golpe/rasqueado combination (flamenco players) or producing a slide fill while playing 12-bar blues (blues). Those in Stage Five have established a familiarity with their instrument and can employ most, if not all, techniques which are common to their genre of choice.

Stage Six: Individuals in this stage have the power to quiet a crowded room, to evoke praise from the crabbiest of critics, and the ability to inspire the novices and the virtuosos alike. Your playing is flawless and somewhere along the way, the hobby of playing guitar metamorphosed into a lifestyle choice. This is the final stage. Paradoxically, the journey is far from over. If you belong to Stage Six, you have spent enough time with your instrument to recognize that, despite the accolades of those who have heard you play, you have much to learn. The passion, drive, and ambition that enabled you to get this far allows for you to bow to the expertise of others, in recognition that they have worked just as hard as you have. Hats off to you—you are a guitar god.

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