One of the problems that many new guitarists face is that there is just so much out there for them to learn, that they’re just not sure exactly what they should tackle next.  Without having anything in particular to focus on, a guitarist can easily just end up noodling aimlessly, or repeating the things that they already know because that is what they are comfortable with.  With that in mind, here are some concrete suggestions of things that any new guitarist can and should learn.

New chords - Chords are a great place for guitarists to learn from.  Learning new chords builds finger strength, and gives the player knowledge of something that will be of direct use in new songs they learn.  Open Chords are usually the best place to start.  From there you can learn Barre Chords, and then suspended chords, seventh chords, augmented chords, diminished chords and so on.  It’s always worthwhile to learn different voicings and inversions of the same chords too.

New scales and modes – There are a lot of scales and modes to learn, but it’s good to start major scales, minor scales, and the blues scale.  The mixolydian mode is used a lot in popular music too.  Learning the scales you already know in different positions on the neck is useful.  “Boxed” scales are a handy way to learn new patterns, but ideally you don’t want to stay trapped in particular neck positions forever.

New chord progressions – There are a few chord progressions that are common to a lot of popular music.  The 12 bar blues is one of the best known of these, and something that any new guitarist can easily learn – and definitely should, if they don’t know it already.  For people who want to get into jazz guitar down the track, it’s good to get very familiar with a basic I – ii – V progression.  A lot of metal and rock guitar follows a I – Flat VI – Flat VII progression.

There are always new things to learn.  Have fun with it!