Measuring progress
How to measure your guitar progress (and stop guessing)
Measure four things: the fastest tempo you play each exercise without mistakes (clean BPM), chord changes per minute, a monthly recording of the same piece, and the minutes you practise. Progress on guitar is slow day to day, so you only see it if you write numbers down.
Why you feel stuck even when you are not
You hear yourself every day, so small improvements are invisible. Most players who feel stuck are actually improving; they just have nothing to compare against.
A few honest numbers fix that. They also show when you really are stuck, which tells you to change the exercise.
1. Clean BPM
Clean BPM is the fastest metronome tempo at which you play an exercise with no mistakes and without strain. Not the fastest you can survive; the fastest that sounds right.
Log it every session. A rise of 5–10 BPM over two to four weeks is healthy progress. Ignore single bad days and look at the trend.
2. Chord changes per minute
Switch between two chords for one minute and count clean changes. It is the best measure for rhythm players and beginners because it predicts whether you can play a song at full speed.
3. A monthly recording
Numbers measure speed, not sound. Once a month, record the same piece and rate it on two things: timing and musicality. Listen to it next to last month’s take. That comparison is often the most motivating thing in your practice.
4. Minutes practised
Minutes are not the goal, but they explain the other numbers. If clean BPM stopped rising in a month where you practised half as much, the routine is fine; the time was missing.
Set goals you can check
- Bad: “get faster”. Good: “chromatics at 100 BPM clean by 1 December”.
- Bad: “learn chords”. Good: “40 G–C changes per minute”.
- Review goals monthly and keep 1–3 at a time.
Practise it in Fretster
Each exercise comes with a metronome and timer, and saves your clean BPM so you can see the trend.
Questions
- How do I know if I am improving at guitar?
- Compare numbers over weeks, not days: clean BPM, chord changes per minute and a recording of the same piece each month.
- What is a clean BPM?
- The fastest tempo at which you can play an exercise with no mistakes and without tension. It is a better measure than your maximum speed.
- How often should I record myself?
- Once a month for comparison is enough. Recording short takes more often helps too, as long as you listen back.