For a lot of instruments, it’s common to measure the skill of a player based on their “Grade”. “She’s done AMEB grade 8 piano!” for example, as a measure of a skilled pianist.
Unfortunately, outside of the classical world, most guitarists don’t undertake formal exams or qualifications. It’s just not the common route we take!
Worried you’re missing out? Then this article is for you! We’ll run through some common guitar exams, qualifications and courses, like AMEB, Trinity, Year 12/High School, Bachelors of Music and everything in between, so you can find out what’s involved and whether it’s something that will help you.
Why do a music or guitar exam?
Generally, there’s 3 types of people doing guitar exams:
People doing exams because they have to (e.g. entrance requirements for a school program or ensemble; professional musicians or teachers)
People doing exams because their parents want them to (“I want them to learn PROPERLY!”) and
People doing exams because they like the structure and goals involved in completing exams.
Guitar Exams by Necessity
If you’re in the first category (doing a guitar exam because you HAVE to), then the type of exam or qualification you undertake is most likely going to be set by requirements, so you can skip to the next section.
But, if you are ever told you need “AMEB Grade 3 equivalent” or something similar, it’s entirely permissible for you to get a teacher (or someone with a formal music qualification) to write you a letter of recommendation instead. For example, because I hold a Bachelors of Music and work as a guitar teacher, most school teachers would accept if I said “this student can perform to Grade 3 standard” to allow a student entry into an ensemble. For other instruments it may be more strict, but as most guitarists don’t do exams, it’s unreasonable to say to someone with 10 years experience that they can’t join in just because they haven’t got the piece of paper!
In addition, I should mention that MOST private teaching roles don’t require formal music qualifications, so if you are learning from a teacher who doesn’t have a formal qualification, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a bad teacher! It just helps a lot if you want to teach as it means you know how to teach an exam syllabus which may be a requirement of particular teaching roles.
Guitar Exams by Parental Decree
It’s generally a bad idea to push your child into undertaking a music exam unless they or their teacher have requested it.
We’ll get into the reasons below, but to kill the myth of “proper learning” from exams, here’s a few little points to consider:
In my entire career, I’ve never met another professional guitarist who has completed a guitar grade beyond grade 8. Most have completed none.
As a teacher, I have met a LOT of adults who are returning to music now after “being forced to do piano exams as a kid and hating it”. It generally takes them a couple of decades to recover.
If your child is looking at going into professional music (like teaching), High school Music and a Bachelor of Music do not require guitar grades as a prerequisite, so it’s common to skip all the grades and start “formal” music qualifications at 15 or 16 years old (or older) for guitar.
If your child doesn’t practice much at the moment, exams will usually make things worse, as they commonly require a lot more of the “boring” practice stuff rather like scales than the “fun” practice stuff like songs.
That being said, some students absolutely thrive with the challenge of exams, and even if they don’t, it still makes sense to learn a lot of the exam repertoire and theory for ALL students even if they’re not actually sitting the exams.
A good compromise is to introduce young students to exam syllabus songs and exercises and see how they find it. You can certainly sell the benefits of completing exams and use rewards to sweeten the deal, but ultimately, if they’re not intrinsically enjoying playing the exam materials, then you’re making guitar into homework, not something they enjoy.
Guitar Exams for Guitar Nerds
I’ll confess - I love the challenge of structured learning. I completed a Certificate of Performance in Classical Guitar (not my main style) for fun as an adult.
If you are a nerd who loves discipline and structure, exams can be an excellent tool to focus your practice, set goals and fill out gaps in your knowledge and skills if approached in a healthy way.
Everyone’s different, but if you (or your child) are the sort of person who:
Likes being graded and assessed
Like clear directions and processes
Are self-motivated
Can work towards a task for a long period of time (i.e. a year)
Enjoy scales, technical work and theory
Want to play classical guitar (more on this later)
then traditional exams may be for you!
If you’re not, then there are still options for you, but I’d look more at the higher level courses (school music, certificates or degrees) and private courses below, as they are more practical focused and will give you opportunities to play with other higher-level guitarists and musicians.
The different types of guitar exams and qualifications
There’s 4 broad categories:
1: Graded Exams (e.g. AMEB, Trinity College, ANZCA, Rockschool)
Graded exams are the ones most people think of when they talk about music grades.
They’re typically laid out into the following grades:
Preliminary
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Certificates
Diplomas
and will be for music theory or a specific instrument. These are almost all focused on classical instruments, but there are some exceptions. Note that these grades don’t line up with school grades at all (Grade 6 or 7 is about the same as Year 12 in difficulty, for example).
The process is basically:
Buy the book(s) required
Learn the songs
Learn the theory
Learn the technical exercises
Book in a date to sit the exam
Play in front of the examiner
Get sent a certificate and one page of feedback if you pass.
For most people, it’s best to do this with a teacher to prepare you, but if you’re experienced or really self-motivated, you could also try self-learning and using teachers to give you ad-hoc feedback.
Each grade should take a year, but it’s very common to skip grades and drop in later. For example, Preliminary in most systems is (in my opinion) not worth attempting, as the songs are too easy and the theory is too hard, so you’re better off developing your skills and dropping in at Grade 1-5 depending on your goals.
You’ll need to do about 30-60 minutes of practice per day on the exam syllabus exclusively, but you could get away with the lower end for the earlier grades.
Nowadays, it’s possible to do “repertoire” exams in most systems, which are recognised the same way as the standard “comprehensive” exams but mean skipping the theory and technical exercises and doing more songs instead. For most players, this option is more fun and practical, as a lot of the technical exercises in all of the exam options are (again, my opinion) not very practical.
Which one is best?
It depends on your style:
AMEB - one of the oldest, very widely recognised. Great for classical guitar, but for contemporary (i.e. rock and modern stuff) look at Rockschool (which they run in Australia)
Rockschool - developed in the UK, run by the AMEB in Australia, this one is for either steel string acoustic or electric players. Much more practical than it used to be, it uses quite a lot of songs you’ll recognise.
ANZCA - very similar to AMEB, but less well recognised. More classical focused, as their contemporary syllabus is (in my opinion) very impractical.
Trinity College - worldwide recognition, again very similar to AMEB and ANZCA. I found the syllabus to be slightly easier for classical guitar. They now have jazz grades too which I haven’t come across yet.
In general, I’d look at AMEB or Trinity for classical and Rockschool for everyone else, primarily because you’ll find it much easier to get a teacher and and an examiner for those styles and the fact that they’re more widely recognised.
2: High School Music (VCE, HSC, Year 11 & 12)
Music can be studied as a school subject at many secondary schools in Australia, though it does depend on the school.
This option is only available to students in high school at the required age, so straight away it’s not much help if you’re an adult looking to expand your skills and knowledge. That being said, a lot of the materials and knowledge requirements are freely available online, so if you wanted to self-teach yourself the content, it’s entirely possible (you just won’t get a formal qualification from it).
It varies by state, but in Victoria, the structure is basically:
Everyone does the same music subject in year 11
Then for Year 12, you can specialise, depending on what your school offers.
Note that in VCE, each unit takes a semester to complete - under half a year.
If you’re interested in music and have the option of taking music as a subject, I’d highly recommend it. You’ll learn:
Music Theory (mostly very practical)
Music listening skills (helps you understand and appreciate music and speak the lingo)
Aural skills (listening skills)
How to perform a set of songs you choose and work on
How to play with other people
This is also decent preparation for higher level studies like a music degree, which we’ll discuss shortly.
Not sold yet? Here’s some more positives:
Your guitar practice just became homework. That means you can justify spending a lot of time playing!
You’ll build an excellent baseline of skills and knowledge to jump into bands, recording, employment or just higher levels of playing. We actually used the VCE syllabus when developing our own grading system.
That being said, it’s not for everyone:
It’s incredibly difficult to jump into Year 11 music without a few years of playing under your belt first. If you decide to start an instrument and go straight in, you’re probably going to struggle.
You’ll have the usual number of classes for music, the same as you would for English or Physics or any other subject, but you’ll also have regular instrumental lessons (either at your school or with a private teacher)
Whilst I would argue the music theory is pretty easy to learn, you’ll need to practice for an hour a day to learn the repertoire.
Basically, don’t choose music if you’re after an easy subject - it still takes as much time and effort (if not more so because of the instrumental practice component) than many other subjects.
Note that there are sometimes more practical, industry-focused music subjects available too, like VET Music Industry in Victoria, so ask around for some options with your school teachers or guitar teachers.
3: Higher Education (Music Diplomas, Degrees and Certificates)
Now we get into the types of qualifications you probably already know about - higher education!
For music, anything from Certificate III up to PhD can be worth pursuing depending on your goals.
Here’s a few basics to help you with the lingo:
Courses are typically split into Classical or Contemporary, but then there’s lots of subsets, like:
Composition
Audio Production
Performance
Big schools (in Victoria at least - sorry for not providing a more comprehensive list!) are:
VCA (Victorian College of the Arts - jazz focused, Melb Uni)
Melbourne Uni (classical focus, confusing I know)
Monash Uni (more jazz)
Box Hill Institute (contemporary, jazz)
JMC (more industry focused)
AIM (more jazz focused)
Every course has different entrance requirements, specialties and standards, so definitely go to the open days and talk to the students and teachers to find out which one is best for you. Don’t rely on the reputation of the wider university or school either, as generally the music department operates very differently to the rest of the organisation (e.g. the “top” university may have a garbage music program, or vice versa).
Most of the time, the Certificate is the lowest qualification, followed by Diploma, then Bachelors, Masters and PhD.
In the course, you’ll learn a wide variety of skills and get to play with other high level musicians, so it can be an incredibly rewarding experience, but as you’d probably expect from higher education, the time and monetary costs are very high! For example, a Commonwealth Supported place at Monash in their Bachelors course costs upwards of $8,000 per year (so $24,000 total, as it’s 3 years full time). Typically music is one of the most expensive degrees to do, and you often can’t study it part-time depending on the school.
To enrol, you’ll need:
to audition with a few songs (make sure they match the style of the school)
sit a music theory exam
have completed high school, and possibly English.
Note that high school music is not usually an entrance requirement, but it does help you prepare your audition pieces and music theory.
If you’re an adult who wants to get meet some skilled musicians and teachers, I’d recommend checking out a certificate course, which can be a bit shorter and cheaper. If you enjoy it you can usually transition into a higher level course (even getting credits to reduce the cost and duration of those courses).
You’ll rarely need these qualifications to work in the music industry, but they can help for teaching and for any job that specifies “must hold a Bachelors degree” for example, but the biggest advantages of these courses are:
Access to a network of teachers and players
Access to gear, knowledge and opportunities
A chance to focus on music (arguably you can do this without the course, but the course helps structure things).
Potentially global recognition (though note that this will depend on the country and institution).
Finally, if you don’t accepted into the course you’re after, don’t be disheartened, as the performance pathways for music courses are definitely worth considering. For example, you may not get accepted into the Bachelors course, but instead be offered a spot in the Diploma first to build your skills and knowledge. It may actually work out cheaper in the long run, so be smart about finding the best option for you.
4: Private Education (online courses, private teachers, short courses)
Private education is still probably the biggest source of music education, but includes a very mixed bag of options.
In general, if you’re more interested in knowledge and skills than formal qualifications, this can be the best option, as it allows you to pick and choose what to learn and forge your own path.
For example, lets say you have a guitar teacher who is working through a coursebook with you on jazz. You could be doing this whilst simultaneously doing a slide guitar course on Youtube and attending a music theory short course at your local school.
The downside is that it can be hard to know what to focus on. Private education is usually less structured and codified, which is both its strength and its weakness. Having a mentor or coach to help you along can be a big help, but ultimately you’ll need to be self-motivated if you choose this path!
Some tips for finding good private education options:
For fundamentals and general guidance, having a regular teacher can be very valuable. You don’t need them to be an expert in all of the things you’re playing and learning, just someone who can help guide you on the right path and help you with technique, practice and selecting what to play.
For specialised courses, think about which medium works best for you. Some people love videos, so Youtube series are perfect. Others prefer written descriptions, in which case actual books may be better. Some people prefer to learn with others, so in person, classroom short courses can be more appropriate.
Be ruthless when filtering what you work on. There’s great information online (more than enough to make you into an amazing guitarist), but there’s a great deal more mis-information, usually in the guise of people who say they have THE answer, or shortcuts, or hacks, but it’s possible for every course to have mistakes.
Further, you’ve only got limited time, so stay focused. Take on as much as you can manage, then stick with it for a decent amount of time to master it. Otherwise, you’ll spend all your time watching videos and reading books and not actually playing!
Your needs in a teacher may change over time. If we have a student who comes to us to learn guitar, then eventually leave because they want to learn on their own or want to pursue higher education, we celebrate! It usually means we’ve done our job and helped students grow and achieve their goals. Don’t feel bad because what you needed last year isn’t what you need now.
Tips for Choosing Guitar Exams or Courses
Hopefully I’ve given you enough knowledge so you can start your own in-depth investigations, but I just want to re-iterate that it’s perfectly fine to pick and choose from the above options to create your own musical education.
There is no one way to learn, but consistency in music is rewarded. Pick something, stick with it until it’s not working, then move on to the next thing. Use teachers and courses to help you grow. Use formal qualifications as ways to either gain entrance to musical opportunities or expand your skills and knowledge, but don’t make them out any more than that.
Finally, if in doubt - speak up! Ask your teacher, contact the schools and learn about all the awesome options out there.