Here is an explanation of the grading system used with our guitar solos:

The "Overall Difficulty" rates books from Beginning to Advanced based on the overall difficulty of the entire book. The possible levels, in order, are:

• Beginning
• Beginning-Intermediate
• Intermediate
• Intermediate-Advanced
• Advanced

You may also see "Not Applicable," which is used for documentary and concert type items as well as recordings (there is no inherent difficulty to playing a CD, for instance, even though the recording may accompany a book with a difficulty rating).
The rating "Multiple Levels" is used for books which span a large range of difficulties (typically method books).

Guitar solos are further graded according to 5 additional criteria: rhythms, keys/chords, notes and positions, technique, and length of pieces. These ratings provide a more detailed examination of the music. There are three levels in this portion of the grading listed as 1 (beginner), 2 (intermediate), and 3 (advanced).

Any number with a minus sign is a border line between either beginner and intermediate or intermediate and advanced. Here is a chart to explain this and how the difficulty increases with each number and plus or minus sign:

Beginning
1  1+  1++

Borderline Beginner/Intermediate
2-

Intermediate
2  2+  2++

Borderline Intermediate/Advanced
3-

Advanced
3  3+  3++

These numbers explain the ascension of the grading scale from beginner to advanced. For references to musical terms and principles on which these gradings were based, see below. The principles behind the grading system for each level are only guidelines for the grading chart. These guidelines are not "set in stone" for the gradings, but one easy way to see the difficulty is that 1 is the easiest ascending to 3++ being the hardest. Just because an idea is listed under a catergory doesn't mean it is necessarily a strong factor in the book.

Beginning Level

Rhythms:

Whole, half, quarter, and simple eighth note rhythmic patterns

Basic time signatures of 4/4 and 3/4

Tied notes

Slower tempos for eighth notes

Arpeggios

Keys/Chords:

C, G, Am, Em, D, Bm, and F

Open power chords

Basic first position chords with some second position chords

Double Stops

Open power chords

No more than two chords per measure

Basic strum patterns

Notes and Positions:

Notes in first and second position

Sharps and Flats

TAB

Simple triads

Stays in first position with simple shifts up to third position

Technique

Basic alternate picking

Strings may be alternated but little or no string skipping

Basic slurs

Music in two-part harmony

Length

Short pieces are one to two pages long

Intermediate Level

Rhythms

Sixteenth notes with slower tempos

higher level of syncopation

medium fast tempos for eighth notes

Triplets (quarter note and eighth note)

Basic syncopation (dotted quarter followed by an eighth)

Keys/Chords

B, Gm, A, Fm, E, Cm, E, F, Dm

Barre chords (half and full barre)

Moveable power chords

Moveable scale shapes (major, minor, pentatonic)

Open tunings

Two or more chords per measure

Embellished chords

Clusters

Modes: Mixolydian, Pentatonic

Notes and Positions

Fifth and seventh positions

Notes on sixth and fifth strings (all frets)

Wider position shifts (up to fifth and sixth position)

Technique

String skipping with alternate picking

Grace notes

Block-style

Simple counterpoint

Length

Pieces are up to four pages long

Advanced Level

Rhythms

Fast tempos

Harmonized melodies with eighth notes

Compound meter, 9/8, and simple meter changes

Dotted sixteenth notes

Keys/Chords

D, Bm, F, G, Em, C, Am, E, Cm, A, Fm, B, Gm

Two octave arpeggios

Embellished chords with melody

all other modes

Notes and Positions

Positions above ninth position

Wide position shifts (From first to ninth and above positions)

Technique

High level of crosspicking

sixteenth notes at fast tempos

Trills

Advanced Counterpoint

Complex Finger Combination

Length

Pieces are 5 pages or longer