3 Reasons Why Guitarists Get Stuck (the intermediate plateau…)

I'm 72 years old and a mediocre blues/rock guitarist. I don't want to die mediocre. Bring the pain, Ross. :face-orange-raised-eyebrow:

Once you've learned pentatonic: play the vocals of a song, not the guitar parts.

A fundamental skill I finally got a handle on that was a game changer is being able to count and then ultimately feel all of the subdivisions of a beat. There's the notion when it comes to rhythm that you either have it or you don't when it really just comes down to the fundamental ability of being able to count and then ultimately feel the beats and the different subdivisions (whole notes, half notes, half triplets, quarter notes, quarter triplets, 8th notes, 8th triplets, 16th notes, 16th triplets). Rhythm is king!

Ross, you presented many simple facts as to why many of us get stuck at the intermediate playing level and offer great advice for breaking through the barrier. This presentation is a true gem. Excellent work!

Drill, baby, Drill...they really improved my hand/eye coord. I'm 62, been tinkering since 9...intermediate all my life...starting to advance with drills, large reps over small tiny song sections, learing jazz chords, triads, CAGED....and trying to play like Ross...oh, it was John Mayer who got me back into playing guitar daily just a few years ago. Love his music...

This is absolutely inspirational stuff for a guy that has drifted in and out of playing for forty-odd years but each time with increasing levels of 'never gonna happen'. Thank you, Ross! 🏆

Some thing that really resonated with me in this video was the mental aspect of overcoming self limitations. This video help me get my head in a better space… And my practice today was so much better. Thank you Ross, thank you very much! P.s. That opening solo was killer!

Pleasure to be apart of the road to 200k. Congrats on your success and thanks for all the content!

It's funny how many people think theory is complicated but when you grasp the basics and build on those, it falls into place. It's really gratifying to be able to learn your favourite piece and know what's going on or why this works. It's also cool if there's some outside notes that work and you don't know why. It just opens up another door for you to go into and explore.

Having learnt to play by ear and watching my friends play guitar (before YouTube), I am definitely in the target audience. After watching some of your videos which in turn got me to subscribe to your channel, I'm hoping I too can break out of my rut. Keep up the good work, we appreciate you. 🤘🏼

Love your videos and your approach. Can’t wait for the new bulletproof guitar player to drop!

This video has the needed brutal honesty that Brandon D'Eon tries to utilize, but you do it so much better. It's that honest, hard-love message delivered without being a douchebag. You have a gift for teaching, dude.

For me, I found that writing out the fretboard over and over on paper was huge in learning where all the notes on the fretboard are. Once you do it over and over, you start to see the patterns and relationships. Like half steps between b,c and e,f. Up 2 strings and up 2 frets for octaves and so on. Plus correlating by intervals, like 5 below the 1, 4 above the 1, Dom 7 above the 4, 6 above the 3, etc. Other than the indifference in the b string in standard tuning, where things need to be moved up a fret. Plus, by learning the major scale and natural minor scale, alot of the other diatonic modes and other scales are only 1 to 2 note differences. I never write comments, so sorry for rambling, but it has been life changing by accepting these things and allowing an open door to explore harmony and chord to mode/scale correlation. Just my 2 cents

I was one of those players that was never really pushed to learn music theory by any of my teachers in my formative years. I can vouch for how limiting that is. It wasn't until I was about 25 years into my playing that I finally convinced myself that learning some theory was the only way I was going to get any better. It's made a world of difference. I wish I'd learned it a lot sooner.

I've played bass and guitar for about 15 years. It's nice to hear your perspective, I've been working on some of these things right now. Hopefully I will break out of some of those ruts myself. 😊

It’s hard to trust someone when they immediately tell you about a service they are selling after explaining to you why it’s important

I can’t believe how this description is exactly me. Stuck on noodling over the major scale for 30 years and not really learning the fretboard well. Thanks for the inspiration. This is a great video. I also need inspiration to get off my arse and into the gym. 😂. Thankyou Ross.

Great stuff! I agree with everything. I would also add that understanding timing helped me.. I was always rushing to fill voids with sound but less can definitely be more when timed right.

🎸That’s me man! Loving your channel. Thank you!!

Ok! This was laid out logical and articulates the potholes that we all have fallen into while taking our journey on the path of true musicianship! Thank you!✌️❤️🎵