The four stages of competence

When starting to learn any new subject it is important to understand where you sit in the competency scale. There are four basic levels:

  1. Unconscious incompetence
    • You don’t know that you don’t know – this is where you are when you start out. You are unaware of the vast possibilities that exist within your instrument and, more importantly, your abilities. You can stay at this level and still play guitar, but improvement beyond the basics will be minimal.
  2. Conscious incompetence
    • You know that you don’t know - this is the start of the learning curve and unless you reach this point you will never improve. You are becoming increasingly aware of your lack of knowledge and ability, and are determined to ‘get better’ - whatever that means to you.
  3. Conscious competence
    • You know that you know – you have been focused on improving various aspects of your presentation, and are working diligently at increasing your knowledge of your instrument and of music in general. You can pull off just about anything you want to, given some time to learn it.
  4. Unconscious competence
    • You don’t know that you know – you have mastered the important aspects of musicianship and your playing is effortless. You can play whatever you hear in your head without having to think about the ‘how’.