Intermediate Guitar — 8 Weeks to Master the Neck

This path is for guitarists who already play the open chords cleanly, can change between them in time and know at least one pentatonic box. If that is not you yet, start with the 30-day beginner path. Plan five sessions per week of 30 to 45 minutes. Each week has three core sessions plus a check; use the remaining two days to repeat whichever session felt hardest.

At the end you will play major, minor and seventh barre chords in any key, see every chord through the five CAGED shapes, connect all five pentatonic boxes across the neck, play the major scale in five positions, and understand how keys, diatonic chords and progressions work on the fretboard.

What you need: your guitar, the metronome, the scale explorer, the chord builder, and printouts of blank fretboard diagrams and blank chord boxes. Knowing the notes on strings 6 and 5 is essential; if they are shaky, run the fretboard path alongside this one.

Week 1 — E-shape barre chords

The E-shape barre is the most used movable chord on guitar. This week is about getting it to ring cleanly without tension.

Session 1 — The F major barre

• Play F major as a full barre at fret 1, or start at fret 5 (A major) where the strings are lower. Roll finger 1 slightly onto its bony side, thumb low behind the neck, elbow close to the body.
• String check: pluck each string; fix one dead string at a time. Goal: 5 of 6 strings clean.
• Barre only (finger 1 across all strings, no other fingers) for 4 beats, release for 4 beats, at 60 BPM for 2 minutes. This trains pressing and releasing, which matters more than holding.

Session 2 — E-shape minor and moving roots

• Learn the E-shape minor barre: F minor at fret 1, G minor at fret 3, A minor at fret 5.
• Name the root on string 6 before playing each chord: play G, A, B minor, C as E-shape barres, 4 strums each at 70 BPM.
• One-minute changes: open C to barre F. Goal: 15+.

Session 3 — E-shape sevenths

• Read the seventh chords lesson. Use the chord builder to see the E-shape G7, Gm7 and Gmaj7 at fret 3.
• Play G – Gmaj7 – G7 – Gm7, 2 bars each at 70 BPM, and listen to how one note changes the colour.
• Draw the four E-shape chords (maj, m, 7, m7) on blank chord boxes from memory.

Week 1 check

• Play F – G – Am – G as E-shape barres (frets 1, 3, 5, 3) with down-down-up-up-down-up strumming at 70 BPM for 8 bars. Goal: no gaps between chords.
• Every barre chord passes the string check with at most one muted string.

Week 2 — A-shape barres and barre progressions

Session 1 — A-shape major and minor

• Learn the A-shape major barre (B major at fret 2, C major at fret 3) and minor barre (B minor at fret 2, C minor at fret 3). Root is on string 5.
• For the major shape, try both the 3-finger fingering and the ring-finger mini-barre. Keep the one that rings better.
• One-minute changes B minor to open G. Goal: 20+.

Session 2 — Any chord in two places

• For each chord below, find it as an E-shape (root on string 6) and an A-shape (root on string 5): D, E minor, Bb, C# minor. Check positions with the chord builder.
• Play D – Bm – G – A twice: first all E-shapes, then choosing the closest shape for each chord. Count how many frets your hand travels in each version.
• Learn the A-shape 7, m7 and maj7 forms at fret 3.

Session 3 — Barre rhythm guitar

• Practise muting: release pressure (but keep contact) on the "&" of each beat to get a percussive chop. Play A minor barre at fret 5 with 16th-note strumming at 70 BPM, pressing only on beats 2 and 4.
• Play the minor progression Am – Dm – Em – Am in A minor using only barre chords at frets 5 and 7 (no open strings). Hear it first in the progression player.
• Transpose that progression to C# minor and F minor with the transposer and play both versions using the same shapes.

Week 2 check

• Write 12 random chord names (major, minor, 7, m7) on cards, draw them one by one and play each within 5 seconds in both E- and A-shape. Check doubtful ones in the chord builder. Goal: 10 out of 12.
• D – Bm – G – A at 90 BPM, 8 bars nonstop.

Week 3 — The CAGED system, part 1

Session 1 — Five shapes of one chord

• Read the CAGED system lesson and the triads lesson.
• Play C major in all five shapes going up the neck: C shape (open), A shape (fret 3), G shape (frets 5-8), E shape (fret 8), D shape (fret 10). Use the chord builder to check each one.
• Draw all five on blank chord boxes and mark where the root C is in each shape.

Session 2 — Following the roots

• On one blank fretboard, mark every C note from fret 0 to 15. Circle the C notes that belong to each CAGED shape: see how the shapes overlap and share roots.
• Play the five C shapes ascending and descending, 4 beats each at 60 BPM, without stopping.
• Do the same for G major. The shapes always follow the cycle C-A-G-E-D; for G it starts with the open G shape, then E shape (fret 3), D shape (fret 5), C shape (fret 7) and A shape (fret 10).

Session 3 — Triad fragments

• Read the chord inversions lesson. Extract 3-string triads from each C shape on strings 1-3: you will find root position, first and second inversion.
• Play C – F – G using only top-three-string triads within frets 5-10. Goal: move the minimum distance between chords.
• Do triads worksheet 1. Goal: 90% correct.

Week 3 check

• Play C, G and D major in all five shapes, 2 beats each at 70 BPM.
• Name the shape (C, A, G, E or D) of any major chord shown in the chord builder on the first try, 8 out of 10.

Week 4 — CAGED, part 2: minor shapes and arpeggios

Session 1 — Minor CAGED shapes

• Lower the third in each shape to get the minor CAGED forms. Play A minor in the Am (open), Gm-type, Em (fret 5), Dm (fret 7) and Cm (fret 12) shapes.
• Find the third of each major shape and lower it by one fret, for C major. Mark the thirds on a blank fretboard.
• Alternate major and minor of the same root in each shape (C – Cm) at 60 BPM.

Session 2 — Arpeggios inside the shapes

• Do the arpeggio exercise for the E- and A-shape major arpeggios at 60 BPM, one note per beat.
• Play a C major arpeggio through all five shapes, then A minor. View them with the scale explorer in arpeggio mode.
• Goal: each arpeggio up and down cleanly at 80 BPM in eighth notes.

Session 3 — Chord tones over changes

• Loop C – Am – F – G in the progression player at 80 BPM.
• Play only the root of each chord in one area of the neck (frets 5-8), then root and third, then full arpeggios. Stay in position.
• Improvise 3 minutes using chord tones only, landing on a chord tone at each chord change.

Week 4 check

• Play the I – vi – IV – V progression in G with five different voicings, one per CAGED area.
• Arpeggiate C, Am, F and G in the frets 7-10 area at 80 BPM eighth notes without stopping.

Week 5 — Pentatonic boxes 1 and 2

Session 1 — Box 1 revisited, box 2 new

• Review the pentatonic and blues lesson. Play box 1 of A minor pentatonic (fret 5) at 80 BPM eighth notes.
• Learn box 2 (frets 7-10). Use the diagram below and the scale explorer.

• Connect: ascend box 1 to the top, slide on string 1 into box 2 and descend. 5 rounds at 70 BPM.

Session 2 — Sequences

• Do the pentatonic sequences exercise in groups of 3 and 4 in box 1 at 70 BPM.
• Repeat the groups-of-3 sequence in box 2.
• Use the alternate picking exercise for 5 minutes at 90 BPM to keep the picking strict.

Session 3 — Box 2 vocabulary

• Learn the whole-step bend on string 2 fret 10 and string 3 fret 9 (box 2). Check the target pitch by playing the note two frets higher first.
• Improvise 5 minutes over a looped Am – Dm in the progression player using boxes 1 and 2 only. Start phrases in one box and end in the other.
• Write two 2-bar licks on tab paper, one per box.

Week 5 check

• Boxes 1 and 2 at 90 BPM eighth notes, up and down, no mistakes.
• Play the groups-of-3 sequence through box 1 at 80 BPM.

Week 6 — All five pentatonic boxes

Session 1 — Boxes 3, 4 and 5

• Learn box 3 (frets 9-13), box 4 (frets 12-15) and box 5 (frets 14-17 / 2-5) of A minor pentatonic. Box 5 below the 12th fret starts at fret 2-3.
• Play each box up and down at 60 BPM, then connect 3-4-5 on strings 1 and 2 by sliding.
• Notice the link to CAGED: each box sits around one of the A minor chord shapes from week 4.

Session 2 — Across the neck and the blues scale

• Play A minor pentatonic diagonally across the neck from fret 5 to fret 17 using all five boxes, 2 notes per string, then back down.
• Add the flat fifth (Eb) to get the A blues scale. Play it in boxes 1 and 2.
• Do the pentatonic sequences in box 3 and 4 at 70 BPM.

Session 3 — Major pentatonic = same shapes

• Learn that C major pentatonic uses the same notes as A minor pentatonic. Compare them in the scale explorer.
• Play A major pentatonic: it is the A minor pentatonic boxes moved down 3 frets (box 1 at fret 2).
• Improvise over A – D – E (major) using A major pentatonic, then over Am – Dm – Em using A minor pentatonic. Hear the difference.

Week 6 check

• Name the box and play it on request for any of the five, in A minor and in E minor (E minor pentatonic, box 1 at fret 12 / fret 0).
• A 3-minute solo over a 12-bar blues in A (A7 4 bars, D7 2, A7 2, E7 1, D7 1, A7 2), recorded by yourself first, using at least three boxes.

Week 7 — Major scale positions

Session 1 — Major scale theory on the neck

• Read the major scale lesson. Spell the scale of whole and half steps (W W H W W W H) and do scale spelling 1.
• Play G major in the E-shape position (root on string 6, fret 3) using the major scale positions exercise. One note per beat at 60 BPM.
• Say the scale degrees (1 2 3 4 5 6 7) as you play; mark the 1s, 3s and 5s on a blank fretboard.

Session 2 — Five positions

• Learn the remaining four positions of G major from the major scale positions exercise, one per CAGED shape. Spend about 5 minutes per position.
• Connect two neighbouring positions on strings 1-2 by sliding, as with the pentatonic.
• Overlay: see how the G major pentatonic sits inside each major scale position (the major scale adds the 4th and 7th).

Session 3 — Speed and fluency

• Play the E-shape and A-shape positions in thirds (1-3, 2-4, 3-5 ...) at 60 BPM.
• Play the same two positions in C major and D major by moving the root. Goal: no hesitation on the key change.
• Do scale spelling 2. Goal: 90% correct.

Week 7 check

• All five G major positions up and down at 80 BPM, one note per beat.
• Play G major in any position within 10 seconds when the root fret is called out.

Week 8 — Theory for guitarists

Session 1 — Chords from the scale

• Read the diatonic harmony lesson. Build the seven chords of G major: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#dim.
• Play each diatonic chord as a barre or CAGED shape in the frets 2-7 area, then as 7th chords (Gmaj7, Am7, Bm7, Cmaj7, D7, Em7, F#m7b5).
• Do sevenths worksheet 1.

Session 2 — Progressions and keys

• Read the chord progressions lesson and the cadences lesson.
• Play I – V – vi – IV, ii – V – I and I – IV – V in G, then in A and E using the circle of fifths to find the chords.
• Use the key finder to name the key of Em – C – G – D and Bm – A – G – A. Check your answer by playing the matching scale over it.

Session 3 — Modes in practice

• Read the modes lesson. Over a looped Am7 – D7 vamp, play the G major positions starting on A: this is A dorian.
• Over a G7 vamp, play G major positions with an F natural: G mixolydian.
• Compare A dorian with A natural minor in the scale explorer: which single note differs?

Final project

• Write a 16-bar piece in a key of your choice: 8 bars of barre/CAGED chord rhythm, 8 bars of melody using major scale positions or pentatonic boxes. Notate it on staff and tab paper.
• Record it at a steady tempo with the metronome, then compare with your playing from week 1.
• Self-test: play any major, minor or 7th chord in two shapes, any pentatonic box, and any major scale position in G, each on request.

After this path

You now have the map of the neck that most self-taught players never get. Next steps:

• Deepen the theory behind what you play with 12 weeks of music theory, especially the weeks on harmony and modes.
• Learn to hear intervals, chord qualities and progressions with the 8-week ear training path, so you can play what you hear.
• If any note on the neck still takes more than two seconds to find, do the 4-week fretboard path.
• Keep exploring sounds such as harmonic minor, melodic minor and phrygian dominant in the scale explorer.