Next Level Playing By Paul Davids, What Is It Included (Content Proof: Watch Here!)

For Intermediate Guitarists
A strategic and fun 7-level roadmap to level up your playing with over 35 video lessons, including PDFs with tabs, downloadable backing tracks, original solos, and more

How to Take your Guitar Playing to the Next Level
 
The path to becoming a well-rounded guitarist who can confidently improvise, create your own sound, and jam with other musicians.

From the Studio of Paul Davids
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
 
It takes a lot to learn the guitar.

When you’re first starting out, your fingers don’t go where you want them to, your skin gets callused, and you can’t even play a clean chord without the strings buzzing.

But then after a lot of practice, you reach your first big milestone: being able to play your first song.

It feels like a huge accomplishment.

But, in a way it’s also just the beginning of your journey as a guitar player, so you continue on.

You learn more chords, you learn different notes and scales, and maybe you learn how to read tabs or chord sheets.

Over time, with patience and consistency, you get better and better.

After a few years, you have dozens of songs in your repertoire, you can nail your favorite licks from beginning to end, and you can even play along with a group as long as it’s a song you know.

But then, progress starts to slow down...

When You Stop Making Progress
After spending over a decade in the studio as a guitar teacher, I know firsthand that many dedicated guitarists come to a point in their journey where they begin to feel stuck.

They start to feel like they’re no longer progressing or growing as players.

And the same practice routine that once helped them improve and refine their playing now doesn’t seem to yield any results.

Even though most intermediate players practice diligently, many of them experience the following:

• They’re practicing the same kinds of songs for years without gaining deeper levels of understanding and fluidity
• They want to move beyond memorization and “just playing” songs, but they lack the ability to freely create and express themselves
• They know how to jam to music they know, but feel awkward or uncertain about joining other musicians for unfamiliar songs
• They want to improvise and be able to just “noodle,” but they feel hesitant about trying it and don’t know how to do it
• They know some scales and theory, but don’t understand how to use them in a practical way to become more creative in their playing

If any of those sound a bit familiar, don’t worry – many solid intermediate players feel this way.

But why does this happen?

Why can you make lots of progress at the beginning, but then feel like you aren’t progressing as an intermediate player?
 
When ”Just Practicing” is No Longer Enough
 
At the beginning, it’s all about technical proficiency and repetition.

It’s about being consistent and diligent.

But once you’ve made it to an intermediate level, making progress involves more than just practicing the same song until you get it right.

The next level of guitar playing goes beyond just learning a song, mastering a strum pattern, or memorizing a solo.
In order to be able to...

• Pull out your guitar and just noodle…
• Create your own songs, and spice up familiar music with your own sounds…
• Or jump into a jam session with friends, freely playing along to whatever the group is laying down – whether it’s a classic tune or completely improvised

...You need to go beyond your old practice routine, and move on from just watching the same videos.

To take your playing to a new level,
you’ll have to go beyond changing what you practice, and
actually change your approach to practice as well.
This is not unlike what happens when you try to get into better shape with a workout routine:

If you’ve been working out for a couple of months or years, sometimes you can actually make more progress by changing the type of exercises you do instead of just adding more weights and reps to the same exercises you’ve already been doing for months.

In the same way, if you want to continue making great progress on guitar, it isn’t enough to just practice a challenging song, riff, or lick in the same old way.

Now that you’re an intermediate player, you’ll have to adjust your practice strategy if you want to continue to higher levels of musicianship.

Of course, you’ll continue to focus on what your fingers are doing.

But you’ll also need to challenge your mind and focus on new areas that will allow you to grow into a well-rounded musician.

The Good News Is...
...with guidance and commitment, any intermediate guitarist can stop feeling “stuck in a loop” and move toward “next level” playing, even if you’ve been playing for years (or even decades) without much progress.

You can develop a better ear.

You can learn how to make up your own music, whether it’s improvising solos, adding some of your own flavor to chords, or just playing some riffs to relax.

And you can become so familiar with the fretboard that you’ll feel comfortable jamming with friends, confident that you’ll find the right notes and chords exactly when you need them.

But in order to put yourself on the path to this kind of musical creativity, you will need to understand…
 
 
Three Keys to Unlocking the Next Level on Guitar
 
 
In music, everything is connected
 
1. Connections are a foundation for creativity
Of course, getting better at guitar takes practice, but more importantly, it requires a deeper understanding of music. 

In music, everything is connected.

And learning about these connections and understanding the “how” and “why” behind the music actually makes it possible to become far more expressive and creative. 
For example, once you understand how chords and scales relate to each other within a given key, you can:

• Know exactly which scale to use as a guide for choosing notes when you’re “noodling” in that key – which means the music you make up will sound like a perfect fit
• Have a logical foundation for figuring out what chords are being used in songs you hear (especially when chord sheets so often have errors)
• Easily transpose chord progressions into different keys in your head, instead of having to use online chord transposition tools

In connecting your knowledge of theory to your technical skills, you’ll have a much greater command of the fretboard and be able to easily find the notes and chords you’re looking for.

This combination of technique and understanding will help you become a well-rounded guitar player, and even though it might sometimes seem a bit dry or “technical,” it is the path to more creativity and freedom on the guitar.

2. Improvisation is a skill that can be developed
Of all of the skills that make you feel like a “real guitarist,” being able to improvise is right at the top of the list. 

But it can also feel mysterious and intimidating – and incredibly awkward to try in front of other people. In fact, many players have a secret fear: that because improvisation doesn’t come naturally to them, they might not have enough talent to do it at all. 

The truth is, improvising is actually a skill that can be practiced and developed, step by step.
With an understanding of those practical connections between scales and chords, plus some strategies for using them to build your improv “chops,” you can become confident at improvising, whether you’re playing at home or soloing at a jam session with friends. And you’ll be able to play with intentionality, finding the notes and chords that go along with whatever key you happen to be in.
 
Anyone can develop and improve their improvisation skills
 
I’ll show you how to maximize your practice time and get the most from it
 
3. You need a roadmap for your practice
Many intermediate players practice by going down various “trails” on the Internet…

They watch some music theory videos in one place, learn a new riff from another place, and get chord charts from somewhere else.

And even though they are learning some interesting things, it’s hard to “connect the dots” between the various things and apply it to their guitar playing in a practical way.

Plus, in order to make progress on the guitar, you actually need to challenge yourself in new ways, which means working on things you aren’t good at yet or haven’t spent much time developing.
But this can be a difficult thing to do on your own, because it’s natural to gravitate toward the things that come most easily or feel most comfortable.

As a result, many players end up putting in the hours, without actually doing the things that will pay off in the long run.

This means that, in order to take your playing to the next level, you need a step-by-step “roadmap” – a resource to give you direction to take the right steps, in the right order.

And, you need guidance to challenge yourself in new ways, so you don’t fall into the same old patterns or well-worn routine.

It’s once you hone in on the areas that require improvement (such as technique, ear training, improvisation, and theory), and strategically focus on strengthening them that you’ll be able to reach the next level in your personal evolution as a guitarist.

Experiencing the enjoyment that guitar has to offer
 
I hope you can start to see that becoming a real next-level guitarist is a goal that is possible for anyone, as long as you have the right roadmap in place and are committed to the journey.

And with the resource I’m about to share with you, you will have the guidance necessary to allow you to move to the next level – even if you have been “stuck” for years.

Of course, it requires commitment, but it’s well worth the effort it takes to get there.

And it’s once you follow this path that you’ll be able to “unlock” experiences like these:

• You’re hanging out with friends who happen to be musicians too, and you’re able to grab your guitar and start confidently jamming along with them, even if you’ve never heard the song before.
• You’re at home on a rainy day, and you can sit by the window and pass the time “noodling” on your guitar to express how you’re feeling, without having a specific song to play.
• You’re trying out a new song by your favorite artist, and you’re able to find the notes and chords all over every part of the fretboard like it’s second nature.
• You pull out your guitar at a gathering of friends and family and start to impress people with just some random playing in the background.
• You’re playing along to one of your favorite songs, and you can add your own sound to it, making up new riffs and solos by ear, just for fun.

It’s at this level of playing that chords and notes become connections, the fretboard feels like home, and the guitar becomes your voice.

It’s a milestone well worth reaching...
 
Hi, I’m Paul Davids
I first picked up the guitar when I was 12 years old. I was a kid with a red Squier and dreams of playing like Green Day, Metallica, and a local band called “de Heideroosjes.”

These days, I really enjoy teaching guitar and helping other people experience the same creative joy that’s brought me so much pleasure over the years.

It’s why I started my personal channel on YouTube, which has grown into a pretty popular guitar channel with over three million subscribers from all over the world!
 
On the channel, I share all the things that interest me, based on what I’ve learned from over two decades of playing, songwriting, and producing.

I received a music degree, with a minor in teaching guitar, from Rotterdam Conservatory.

And in 2018, I took a big step and created a resource to teach fundamental guitar skills to hundreds of students online through my beginner-level guitar course, Learn, Practice, Play.

Though I initially didn’t know what to expect, the response to the course was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, to a degree well beyond what I had ever hoped for.

And throughout the process of putting out my beginners’ course, I received messages from thousands of intermediate guitarists who wanted help making progress to reach the next level of playing.

So with many months of work, I put together an online course just for intermediate guitarists, to provide a strategic roadmap for becoming well-rounded, fluent musicians.
 

Introducing...
 
My course for intermediate guitarists designed to help you break through to a new level of freedom and confidence in your playing…

… And become a well-rounded guitarist who doesn’t just play songs, but can create your own music, express yourself fluidly, and jam with other musicians.

Understand, Play, Create
 
Inside Next Level Playing, we’ll use three aspects of guitar playing in each level of the course, all designed to help you have fun and learn how to express yourself more freely on the guitar.

1. Understand: You’ll learn the “why” behind every note, chord, interval, fingering, and technique so that you can stop the endless loop of playing by rote and understand what you’re playing.
2. Play: You won’t just memorize theoretical principles and strategies; you’ll put them into practice with fun songs and riffs – supported by energizing backing tracks – and have a blast playing every day.
3. Create: After connecting the dots with theory and practicing new skills, you’ll be ready to start creating your own sounds, improvising new riffs and noodles, and spicing up your favorite songs with your own personal touch.

Next Level Playing provides you with the step-by-step guidance you need… and then challenges you to start creating music for yourself.

Building Your Guitar Skills “Toolkit”
While working through this self-paced course, you will:

• Build your skills “toolkit” with systematic, strategically planned lessons that connect new skills and knowledge, giving you the freedom to create your own sound
• Understand the theory behind how chords and scales are connected, and use them in practical ways as a creative springboard to improvise, play solos, or create your own songs
• Gain confidence using your entire fretboard, and know how to find notes and chords easily in any position
• Become fluent in the “language” of music so you can more easily communicate and collaborate with other musicians
• Start improvising with scales and chords as basic building blocks, and then use artistic techniques to make your improv more expressive and completely natural
• Learn seven original solos, including the “how” and “why” behind every note and scale so you can gain confidence playing solos and even writing your own riffs
• And, you’ll be able to “get” other guitarists on a deeper level, whether it’s understanding every video on my YouTube channel or following along in John Mayer’s live chats.
   
   

Here’s What You’ll Learn Inside Next Level Playing...

 
In Level 1, you’ll learn:

• Ways to find notes quickly, anywhere on the fretboard
• Better barre chord technique
• What chord progressions mean and how to work out which chords to play
• How to play major and minor chords everywhere on the neck
• The major scale and how we use it in improvisation
   
   

In Level 2, we’ll be looking at:

• How knowing one simple scale (the pentatonic) can be enough to play great solos
• Improving your bending technique and making it sound better 
• Why triads are important, and different ways to play them
• Adding licks to your playing whenever and wherever
• How to play a solo and improvise in a minor blues
   
   

In Level 3, you’ll learn:

• How 7th chords can spice up your chord progressions
• How the neck is constructed by shifting licks up and down the neck
• How to transpose a chord progression into a different key
• Increasing your speed and accuracy across the fretboard with the pentatonic scale
• The Aeolian mode: the minor scale
    

 
In Level 4, we’ll cover:

• Becoming a faster, more versatile player with “3 notes per string” scales 
• How to give chords a “solo” feel by adding embellishments
• Creating a unique sound by learning how to use the harmonic minor scale
• Incorporating triads and voice leading into your playing
• Learning a cool solo that uses the harmonic minor scale and coming up with your own version
   

In Level 5, I’ll show you:

• One of the biggest secrets to my playing: how I keep in time
• Fretting techniques you can use to give your chords a new sound
• How to use Dorian mode, which you hear a lot in blues, funk, and pop
• My picking technique, and different positions for arpeggios
• How to give your chords a fresh sound using hammer-ons and pull-offs
   
   

In Level 6, you’ll learn:

• How to play chords like Hendrix, Frusciante, and Mayer
• How the CAGED system can help you navigate the fretboard
• Breaking out of that pentatonics box by playing “diagonally”
• What target notes are, and how they can make your solos stand out
• A great solo in a 6/8 time signature combining many skills we’ve learned
   

In Level 7, I’ll show you:

• A great option for playing lead over 7th chords (it's the “Mixolydian mode”)
• How to play extended chords (with the 9th, 11th, and 13th intervals)
• How to nail 12-bar blues rhythm and solos
• How to play blues shuffles and blues rhythm guitar
• How to mix your techniques and keep your solos interesting

4 Next-Level Bonuses

Bonus #1: Ear Training 101
If there is one thing I regret about my early years of playing guitar, it’s that I didn't do more ear training, so I’ve included bonus ear training exercises for each level of this course. In each level, you’ll listen to me play some riffs, licks, or chords. Your job is to work out what notes I’m playing. (And of course, I’ll give you the answers in the next module so you can see how you did!)

That way you can start simple and then train your “ear” in progressively challenging ways. Before long, you will start to see results like being able to: 

• Identify notes and chords just by listening to a song
• Transcribe any guitar solo into a different key
• Play the song ideas that are in your head
• Jam with friends more easily

I promise that if you practice ear training regularly, you will understand the guitar much, much better. You’ll begin to hear things you never heard before!
 
 
You’ll develop an ear for notes and chords like never before!
 
You’ll be improvising in no time
 

Bonus #2: Improvisation Tutorial
One of the best things about playing guitar is being able to improvise, whether it’s for noodling on your own or making up some cool licks and solos when you’re jamming with other musicians. And so, in addition to the fundamental aspects of improv woven throughout the course, I’ve put together a bonus tutorial with my top recommendations for making your improvisation sound more interesting and enjoyable to listen to. 

In this video, you’ll get my personal improv strategies, including:

• How to instantly sound more experienced, and make your improvisation sound much more expressive
• My simple strategy for turning wrong notes into enjoyable features of your playing – in a way that sounds like you did it on purpose
• How to give your improvised solos space and structure so that they will draw people in and hold their attention, while also sounding great
• And more! 

What students are saying about the course
 
This course was EXACTLY what I needed to break out of the rut of just learning songs. I've gained a solid foundation that inspires a lifetime of guitar-loving playing. There were MANY "ah-ha" moments that clicked into my head how it all fits together. I have a new confidence now. Thanks Paul!!!!!
– Chad T.

Is this course right for you?
 
You’ll know Next Level Playing is a good fit for you if…

• You’ve been feeling “stuck in a loop” at an intermediate level for a long time, but practicing more doesn’t seem to help…
• You’ve been longing to express yourself and be more creative, but don’t feel confident improvising or noodling around…
• You know some scales and chords but don’t know how to connect them to find the right notes for every song and key…
• You’ve felt like an imposter because you can play songs you’ve practiced but can’t make up your own as you go…
• You’ve watched a video from a guitarist you admire, and wished you could understand it better
• If any of the above sounds familiar, I’m confident that Next Level Playing will help improve your playing and take it to the next level – even if you’ve been playing for years (or even decades) without much progress.
   

Closing Thoughts 
Playing guitar at the “next level” is one of the most rewarding pursuits I’ve ever undertaken. 

And, like any other craft, it takes a great deal of well-directed effort to move from fundamental proficiency into creative freedom… 

It’s hard work. 

It requires grit, passion, and determination. 

But it’s worth every minute of practice to get there. 

After two decades of playing guitar, I can confidently say that there are few things as rewarding as being able to express yourself through your music, and being able to confidently connect on a deeper level with other musicians. 

And if you’re ready to go on that journey, I’d love to be your guide along the way. 
I hope you’ll join me inside the course.
– Paul Davids