Rockschool, Trinity, ABRSM and MTB, grade by grade

Rockschool Electric

Rockschool (RSL Awards) Electric Guitar

Rockschool exams are built around playing real music. There are two ways to take them: the Performance Certificate, where the whole exam is playing — and the full Graded exam, which adds technical work and supporting tests. I usually start students on the Performance route, because it keeps the focus on sounding great, then move up to Graded exams when they want the extra challenge.

For parents — a cheaper way to buy the music

RiFF: Rockschool's digital sheet music player

RiFF is RSL Awards' new digital music player, replacing their old learning platform. Instead of a printed book with a download code, the music appears on a tablet, phone or laptop and plays along with your child as they practise. It has genuinely useful practice tools built in: slow the tempo down without changing pitch, loop a tricky couple of bars, switch between the full mix, the backing track or just the guitar part, follow multi-angle videos of the piece being played (with a mirror option for left-handers), see a live fretboard view, switch between notation, tab and chord charts, and turn on a metronome and count-in. There's also an Exam Mode that hides the learning aids so the page looks exactly like the printed book.

You can buy pieces individually

This is the part worth knowing. A full grade book costs somewhere around £16–£20, but on the RSL shop you can buy individual digital pieces instead. If your child only needs the three or five pieces we've chosen for their exam, buying those on their own usually works out a lot cheaper than the complete book — and they arrive instantly in RiFF, no waiting for delivery. Buy digital e-books or single pieces from the RSL shop using the same email address you register with, and they appear in RiFF automatically.

If you'd rather have the printed book, that's completely fine too — plenty of students prefer paper on a music stand. Just ask me before you buy and I'll tell you exactly which pieces we're working on so you don't pay for anything you don't need.

About RiFF RSL guitar shop — books and digital pieces

Rockschool Acoustic

Rockschool (RSL Awards) Acoustic Guitar

RSL launched a brand new Acoustic Guitar syllabus for 2026 and I have the whole thing ready to go, Debut through to Grade 8. The technical requirements are unchanged — it is the repertoire that has been refreshed, with nine tracks per grade (six hit tunes plus three exclusive Rockschool Originals) spanning country, folk, gospel, Latin, pop, reggae and rock. It is built for steel-string acoustic players: strumming, fingerstyle, capo work, travis picking, harmonics and body percussion. As with the electric syllabus, the Performance Certificate comes first for most students, with the full Graded exam as the next step up.

Trinity Classical

Trinity College London Classical Guitar

Trinity classical guitar exams focus on tone, technique and musicianship on the nylon-string guitar. Students perform three pieces from a broad syllabus spanning Renaissance lute music to contemporary composers, alongside technical work and a supporting test of their choosing.

• Three pieces — Selected from the current syllabus, covering contrasting styles and periods.
• Technical work — Scales, arpeggios and studies, or technical exercises set for the grade.
• Supporting test — Choose one: sight reading, improvisation, musical knowledge or aural.
• Presentation — Marks are given for overall performance: tone, communication and control from the first note to the last.

ABRSM Classical

ABRSM Classical Guitar

ABRSM classical guitar exams cover a wide-ranging syllabus of solo pieces, technical work, sight-reading and aural tests. They are ideal for students who want a thorough, internationally recognised classical foundation, and the Performance Grade option lets us record the recital digitally when that works better.

• Three pieces — Selected from the current syllabus, covering contrasting styles and periods.
• Technical work — Scales, arpeggios and studies set for the grade.
• Sight-reading — A short unseen test, with half a minute to look it over.
• Aural tests — Musical perception exercises covering pulse, metre, melody and harmony.