Guitar COURSE SYLLABUS 




About the Program

Guitar Ninjas is a structured, performance-based guitar program that transforms students into confident, capable musicians—one level at a time. Based on a color-coded “Pick” system inspired by martial arts belts, the program focuses on real-world songs, progressive technique development, and a growth mindset. Each level unlocks new musical skills while reinforcing what came before, building toward total musical fluency.




Guitar Ninjas Course Syllabus (Levels 1–8)

Each level, or "Pick," builds on core techniques, musicality, and performance through iconic songs. Designed for progressive mastery, the program uses color-coded "pick" levels to track student progress.


Level 1: White Pick

Focus:

  • 1- and 2-finger power chords

  • Basic rhythm and strumming fundamentals

Level-Up Songs:

  • Aurora 1

  • Power Surge

Level 2: Gold Pick

Focus:

  • Horizontal & vertical power chord movement

  • Muted strumming (down-up)

  • Targeting and rhythm precision

Level-Up Songs:

  • Sky Bound

  • Stay or Stray

Level 3: Orange Pick

Focus:

  • Open chords

  • 3-finger power chords

  • Single-note picking

  • Left/right hand coordination

Level-Up Songs:

  • Adrenaline Soul

  • Highway Journey

  • Cellblock Shuffle

Level 4: Green Pick

Focus:

  • Open chord mastery

  • Suspended chords and bar chords

  • Capo use

  • 6/8 time signature and complex rhythm patterns

Level-Up Songs:

  • Lunar Echos

  • Highway Journey (Acoustic)

  • Hidden Currents

  • Gravity's Embrace

  • Golden Glow

  • Last Promise

Level 5: Blue Pick

Focus:

  • Switching between rhythm and lead

  • Arpeggios

  • Expanded open chord vocabulary

  • Intro to soloing and the blues

Level-Up Songs:

  • Wonderwall

  • Comfortably Numb

  • Wake Me Up When September Ends

  • Californication

  • Hey Hey What Can I Do

  • Red House (12-Bar Blues)

  • Good Golly Miss Molly

  • Born Under a Bad Sign

Level 6: Purple Pick

Focus:

  • Chord riffs and syncopated rhythm

  • Octave shapes and complex timing

  • Finger-style technique

Level-Up Songs:

  • Smells Like Teen Spirit

  • Be My Girl

  • Separate Ways

  • Machinehead

  • Learn to Fly

  • You Shook Me All Night Long

  • Hey There Delilah

  • Landslide

  • Little Black Submarines

Level 7: Tortoise Pick

Focus:

  • Music theory application

  • Major and minor pentatonic soloing

  • 7th and extended chords

  • Detailed riff and solo execution

Level-Up Songs:

  • Living on a Prayer

  • Beat It

  • Joker and the Thief

  • Purple Haze

  • Superstition

  • Hoochie Coochie Man

  • Let It Be (Major Pentatonic)

  • Livin' Lovin' Maid

  • Are You Gonna Go My Way

  • Midnight Rider

  • Wish You Were Here

  • More Than a Feeling

  • Hotel California

Level 8: Red Pick

Focus:

  • Advanced soloing & improvisation

  • Slide guitar and harmonized lines

  • 7th, 9th, 13th, augmented, and minor 9th chords

  • Capstone performance & technique integration

Level-Up Songs:

  • I Shot the Sheriff

  • I Feel Good

  • Key to the Highway

  • Drive

  • Shining Star

  • Get Lucky

  • What Is and What Should Never Be

  • Scar Tissue

  • Georgia On My Mind

  • Soul Man

  • Mary Jane's Last Dance

  • Johnny B. Goode

  • Stairway to Heaven

  • Back in Black