Acoustic Intermediate
14 lessons. Barre chords, fingerstyle masterworks, alternate tunings.
Pick up where Acoustic Beginner left off. Full F barre, the CAGED system on acoustic, 7th and sus chords, advanced Travis picking, Tears in Heaven-style arrangements, Drop D and DADGAD tunings, percussive techniques.
Welcome back: the intermediate acoustic mindset
You can play. Now we work on tone, dynamics, and the chord vocabulary that turns campfire into concert.
The full F barre chord
Index finger barres all six strings. The hardest chord most beginners avoid. Here's how to actually nail it.
The A-shape barre on acoustic
Move the open A chord up the neck with an index barre. B major, C major, every major chord above the 2nd fret.
CAGED for acoustic
Five chord shapes, every key, the system that maps the fretboard. The "aha" moment of intermediate guitar.
7th chords for folk and blues
G7, C7, D7, Am7. One note added to a chord can transform a song.
Suspended chords (sus2, sus4)
No major, no minor. Sus chords feel suspended in midair. The "ringing acoustic" sound.
Drop D tuning
Drop the low E to D. Suddenly you have a thunderous low note and easy D-based shapes.
Advanced Travis picking
Add hammer-ons to the alternating-bass pattern. The Chet Atkins / Mark Knopfler sound.
Hammer-ons + pull-offs in fingerpicking melodies
Slurs in fingerstyle. The technique that lets one pluck create three notes.
Percussive techniques
Slap the body, mute the strings, turn your acoustic into a drum and guitar at the same time.
DADGAD tuning
The mystical Celtic / fingerstyle tuning. Open Dsus4 across all six strings.
Tears in Heaven (the masterclass)
Clapton's arrangement: bass walks, hammer-ons, chord changes inside a fingerpicked groove. Takes weeks; learnable.
Writing your own progressions
Diatonic chords, the I-IV-V-vi, and how songwriters build verses, choruses, and bridges.
Where to next
You finished intermediate. The roadmap for the next year of playing.