How to Get Past a Guitar Plateau

A guitar plateau usually means you've learned shapes without the understanding that connects them. To get past it, stop adding new shapes and learn what's inside the ones you already have: the notes on the neck, the intervals that build chords and scales, and how chord shapes, scales and triads fit together. Then practise that a little every day.

You can play songs. You know your open chords, some barre chords, a pentatonic box and a handful of licks. And for months, maybe years, you've sounded about the same. You're not alone, and it isn't a question of talent. It's the most common point for guitarists to stall, and the reasons are predictable, which means so is the way out. This guide is the starting point for the intermediate guitar lessons.

Why intermediate players plateau

You learned shapes, not relationships

Most guitarists learn by copying: this chord shape, that scale box, this lick from a video. Copying gets you a long way fast, which is why the early years feel so productive. But every shape is learned on its own, so nothing connects. A new chord, a new key or a new position means starting from scratch. Progress slows because each new thing costs as much effort as the first.

You learned songs, not the language behind them

Learning songs is how most of us got hooked, and it's still valuable. But a song taught as a sequence of shapes teaches you that song. Without the language underneath — keys, chord tones, the intervals that make a chord minor or major — the next song doesn't get any easier.

Practice drifted into playing

At some point practice becomes running through things you can already do. It's enjoyable and it feels like progress, but repeating what you know doesn't change what you know. Improvement comes from the things you get wrong.

There's no feedback

Without a way to measure progress, it's hard to tell whether anything is working, and hard to stay motivated when it isn't obvious. A plateau can feel permanent even when you're slowly improving, and it can go unnoticed for years when you're not.

Signs you've hit a plateau

• Every solo starts and ends in the same pentatonic box.
• You play the same chords in the same places in every song.
• A song in an unfamiliar key means looking up the chords again.
• You know a lot of licks but can't make up your own phrases.
• You couldn't say what notes are in the chords you play.
• You don't know what to practise next, so you don't.

If several of those sound familiar, the problem isn't effort or ability. It's that the things you know aren't connected yet. The rest of this guide is about connecting them.

A self-check: where are the gaps?

Answer each question honestly. Every “no” points to a specific gap, and each gap has a guide that fills it. You don't need to fix them all at once; the roadmap below puts them in order.

If the first two questions are where it starts to wobble, that's good news: they're the quickest gaps to close, and closing them makes everything after them easier.

A three-stage roadmap

The topics below build on each other, so the order matters. Each stage is a few weeks of short daily practice; move on when the current stage works at playing speed, not when it's perfect. The earlier stages keep improving as you use them in the later ones.

Stage 1: See the neck

Start with the notes. Learn the natural notes on the low E and A strings, then use octave shapes to find them on the other four, as set out in how to learn the guitar fretboard. Alongside that, learn the five core intervals — minor and major third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth and octave — as fret distances, from guitar intervals explained.

You're ready for stage 2 when you can find any natural note on the low E and A strings in a couple of seconds and name the root, third and fifth of a chord you play every day.

Stage 2: Map chords and scales

With notes and intervals in place, the big systems make sense. Learn the CAGED system so you can play any chord in five places, then the five pentatonic positions, which wrap around those same chord shapes. Learn them together: each CAGED shape tells you which pentatonic position sits around it.

You're ready for stage 3 when you can play one chord in at least three CAGED shapes and move between two pentatonic positions without stopping.

Stage 3: Connect them in music

Now make the maps musical. Learn triads and their inversions for lighter rhythm parts, then use the same chord tones as targets in your solos, as covered in how to solo over chord changes. Add ear training throughout, so you can hear the intervals you're now seeing.

You've got past the plateau when you can solo over a simple progression and land on each chord's third, and play the same progression as triads in two areas of the neck.

Your first month off the plateau

A roadmap is only useful if you start it. Here's a concrete first month, at about twenty minutes a day. It covers most of stage 1 and begins to connect it to what you already play.

Week 1: the low E string

Learn the natural notes on the low E string from the nut to the 12th fret: E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E at frets 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 12. Say each one aloud as you play it. Then, every time you play an E-shape barre chord this week, name its root before you strum it.

Week 2: the A string, and naming chords in songs

Do the same for the A string: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A at frets 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 12. Now take one song you already play and, for every chord in it, say where its root is: which string and which fret. It's slow the first time and quick by the end of the week.

Week 3: what makes a chord major or minor

Learn the major third (four frets up a string) and the minor third (three frets). Then find the third inside the chords you play: in an E-shape barre chord it's on the G string, one fret above the root's fret for major and on the same fret for minor. Switch a chord between major and minor just by moving that note.

Week 4: a second pentatonic position

Take the minor pentatonic box you already know and learn the position above it, starting from the notes the two share. Over a backing track, cross between them in the middle of a phrase, and end each phrase on the root of the key.

At the end of the month, go back to the self-check. The first few questions should now be a “yes”, and you'll have a clearer idea which gap to work on next.

What to learn after open chords

If you're comfortable with the common open chords (C, A, G, E, D, Am, Em, Dm), the next steps are:

1. E-shape and A-shape barre chords. These are your open E and A chords moved up the neck, and they let you play any major or minor chord.
2. The notes on the low E and A strings. Barre chords are placed by their root on one of those two strings, so knowing the notes is what makes them useful.
3. The minor pentatonic, first position. Your first scale for lead playing, at the 5th fret in A.

That's the foundation the rest of the roadmap builds on. If you're earlier in your playing than this, the beginner theory lessons are a gentler place to start.

What to learn after barre chords

Barre chords are often where players stop, because they feel like the end of the chord-learning road. They're actually the start of something bigger. Your E-shape and A-shape barre chords are two of the five CAGED shapes. Learn the other three and you can play any chord anywhere. From there:

• Triads — the three-string skeletons of those shapes, for rhythm parts that don't crowd the band.
• Pentatonic positions mapped to chord shapes — so your lead playing knows where the chord is.
• Minor and seventh versions — the same shapes with one note moved, covered in minor CAGED shapes.

How to get better at guitar, day to day

Practise short, often and on purpose

Thirty focused minutes a day will usually move you further than occasional long sessions. Give each session one topic, test yourself on it, then use it in music. The intermediate practice routine lays out a daily template and a weekly rotation through all five topics.

Learn songs analytically

Keep learning songs, but ask questions of each one. What key is it in? Where are the roots of the chords? Which CAGED shapes are they? Which pentatonic position does the solo use, and which notes does it land on? A song learned that way teaches you something you'll use in the next one.

Play with something

Backing tracks, drones, a looper or other musicians all give you a harmonic context to react to. Theory only becomes musical when there are chords underneath it.

Record yourself

Record a minute of soloing over the same backing track once a month and listen back. It's the most honest feedback you'll get, and the best evidence that the plateau is moving.

Plateau traps to avoid

Learning more licks

Licks are useful vocabulary, but adding more without understanding them just gives you more things to copy. Learn fewer licks and work out what makes each one work: which chord tones it lands on, which position it sits in.

Buying your way out

New gear can be inspiring, but it doesn't change what your hands and ears know. If the plateau was there before the new pedal, it'll be there after.

Jumping between lessons

One video on modes, another on sweep picking, another on jazz chords: each is interesting, and none gets finished. Pick one path, in order, and stay with it long enough to see results.

Avoiding theory to protect creativity

Theory doesn't make you play like a textbook. It gives you more choices and tells you what each one will sound like before you play it. The players who sound most free are usually the ones who know exactly where they are.