Here are 5 quick tips for players of various levels:
Beginners: do not limit yourself to practicing only what your teacher has given you to work on. Play your guitar for fun. If you don’t enjoy playing, you’ll probably quit.
Advanced: transcribe solos from saxophone or trumpet players. Their phrasing is very different and sometimes more creative than guitarists. You will be stretched and find unique ways of improvising by doing this.
Intermediate: study music theory at least on a rudimentary level. At this point, theory can be extremely helpful if you (or your teacher) know how to make it practical and useful.
Beginner: play something easy to warm up and then immediately work on the hardest piece or technique. This will insure you don’t avoid the stuff that will help you get beyond the beginner level.
Advanced: combine different techniques (i.e. scales and arpeggios) and create exercises to integrate these with each other. This will speed the rate at which you improve.
