Certification Levels: We have material to test students in each level, but honestly, most musicians who like this kind of examination are probably paying to do one of the university programs because they think if it’s expensive, it must be good. Should you want to work your way through these certification levels either as a student or teacher, here it is:
- Level 1 One Chord Songs: This is the most important level by far. You will learn proper posture and tuning. You’ll learn to strum and pluck chords, read tablature, and begin composing. Everything worth knowing about (almost) in guitar is in Level 1.
- Level 2 Two-ish Chord Songs: You will work on changing chords, and advance your ability to play “fingerstyle” or chord-melody arrangements. Once you’ve completed Level 2 you will be able to play most anything with practice.
- Level 3 Multi-Chord Public Domain Songs: You will build your complete toolbox using a wide array of delightful and aggravating old-school music. We’ll round out your skills including more complex chording, percussive elements, arpeggios, practice skills, performance preparation, basslines, artistic choices, and musical decision-making. This is where you go from playing the guitar to becoming a musician.
- Level 4 Iconic Songs (Probably) Worth Mastering: Memorization, mastery, and storytelling enter your life. At this level, it’s about playing well, rather than surviving a song. It’s also a chance for you to start your permanent repertoire with your favorite songs from high school, or your favorite songs from 1556.
- Beyond Level Four: We have certification levels for:
- Ensembles
- Classical Guitar
- Holidays
- Composing
- Teacher Preparation
Here’s what the Guitar Foundation of America says you should be able to do. This list used to have 10 items and now it’s 17. It still sounds like a committee of over-educated people of privilege wrote the thing out on a napkin over beers and street tacos and then gave it to an AI robot to type up, but it’s a fairly decent set of parameters we should be working toward.
Students will strive to master the following.
- Play a classically constructed guitar when playing music that was composed for that instrument.
- Sit in an ergonomic position that promotes good posture and easy access to the guitar for both left and right hands. A footstool or other device may be used to position the guitar in the most efficient position.
- Use both hands in a manner that prevents injury in part by avoiding extreme extension and/or flexion of the wrist.
- Play with minimal tension. Â Students should learn to play without using unnecessary muscles to perform a task.
- Read staff notation and tablatures.
- Learn from a well-sequenced curriculum for the guitar classroom that has been approved by the relevant board of education and fulfills national standards.
- Learn repertoire from various musical periods and genres. Â Modern and historic performance practice should be addressed.
- Learn guitar history to include the evolution of construction of the instrument and biographies of important performers and composers  (current and historical) for the instrument.
- Participate in local, state, regional, and national events.
- Have access to a library of solo and ensemble guitar music.
- Have access to high quality instruments, replacement strings and tools for necessary repairs.
- Be involved in and perform regularly for the local community.
- Attend guitar concerts and guitar festivals.
- Tune with multiple methods to include: Unisons at 5th/4th frets, open string intervals (4ths/3rd), harmonics, electronic tuners, and reference string tuning.
- Demonstrate fingerboard logic by using references at the 5th fret, 7th fret, 12th fret and movable patterns.
- Use right-hand finger-style technique for repertoire composed for this technique.
- Identify guitarists who are models of excellence, and emulate those guitarists as a starting point toward achieving a high level of playing and ultimately developing an individual musical voice.
