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Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Dec 7 2008, 02:23 PM

Dear all,

It is with great pleasure that I announce the roll out of the full Mentor Training Program!

Its a little complex so bear with me - here are the important facts, and quick start instructions:

• Intermediates and above, if you are interested in joining look out for the selection competition soon to be announced
• Beginners, if you are interested in joining, look out for the signup thread that will be opened soon

Ok, here are the facts!

We are running the MTP as a tiered setup with 2 levels. Beginners, and Intermediate-Advanced. Intermediates will be required to give something back to the program by mentoring a group of beginners. Since we recognize this will be some work, we are rewarding intermediates with direct access to an Instructor to be your mentor!

This is an awesome opportunity for people to really develop their skills - Intermediates will have access to a GMC instructor who will take a personal interest in their progress, whereas beginners will be mentored by an experienced member of the community!

We want to do this right so we will be putting a framework in place with a suggested syllabus for beginners. We will also be checking that proposed Intermediates are up to the job of guiding others by allowing them to show us their skills in this area through a test mentoring process.

The term intermediate is poorly defined - we are looking for the top level of intermediates to teach others and benefit from instructor mentoring, so we will have to refuse some entrants, but we will find a place for everyone in the scheme for everyone, and will make efforts to match the lower intermediates up with mentors who will help them to progress.

So, this is how the roll out will proceed:

1. We will Sign up Intermediates First (for the MTP, an intermediate is basically anyone less skilled than Muris!)
2. Intermediates will be required to Mentor a group of 4 - 5 less skilled players
3. As a reward, Intermediates will be personally mentored by an instructor - 4 - 5 intermediates per instructor!
4. We will, over the coming months, run competitions to select the lucky intermediates, and will add instructors until we get all the intermediates we need.
5. In the competition, Intermediates will need to demonstrate their playing and previous uploads to the forum (if you don't have any, get moving!). We will also want to see some strong evidence of intermediates taking a lead and helping people on the forum (its not too late to increase your activity in this area either!). They will need to produce a video explaining where their playing is and what they want to achieve, and also why they would make a good mentor. We will select a number to move forward into the next phase where they will mentor a beginner GMC member for a month. We will then select the best 5 for mentoring by the instructor we are signing up that month.
6. Meanwhile, we will sign up a list of beginners. Beginners will also need to produce a video, much like we did for the test phase. We will select a few beginners to be test mentorees for the intermediate signup phase, and we will assign more from our pool of beginners when the first intermediates have been finally selected.

At this stage we will have 1 instructor, 5 intermediates and maybe 25 beginners in the program. We will continue to run this cycle until we have mentoring in place for everyone that wants it! I'm sure you can all see that this depends on the numbers to make it work, so part of the managements task will be to apply a cutoff in skill level so that we get enough intermediates but not too many. Anyone not selected can signon as a beginner if they wish (and we do know that the terms beginner and intermediate aren't really representative of skill levels, they are just terms for the MTP), alternatively they can wait for future competitions and reattempt selection as an intermediate. We will try and keep it real, and advise people if we think that they will find it hard to qualify for our unique definition of an intermediate.

That's it for now - look out for the signup thread for beginners, and the competition for intermediates!

Posted by: Bondy Dec 7 2008, 02:27 PM

I would love to do this not good enough to be intermediate; so I will sign up as a beginner i'm glad you guys have worked this out sounds great.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Dec 7 2008, 03:02 PM

Sounds like a very well-thought and cool system, looking forward to it.

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Dec 7 2008, 03:11 PM

I can't wait for this

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Dec 7 2008, 03:23 PM

Id love to be apart of this... I think im intermediate at rhythm and beginner/intermediate soloist... Im very active in the forums and have posted many of my uploads...

Ive uploaded a few of them to my youtube page

http://www.youtube.com/user/hdman169

I have a webcam, but still havent taken the time to figure out how to record on it... it always seems to look like im in slow motion

This sounds like a awesome program that would help out alot of people

Posted by: skennington Dec 7 2008, 03:48 PM

Can't wait guys, very exiting program indeed! Thanks for all the time and effort you have put behind it, not to mention what it will take in the future..Thanks again!!

Posted by: Fran Dec 7 2008, 04:47 PM

Very well thought out, you guys have certainly devoted a lot of time to bring this feature!, it's going to rock.

Posted by: kaznie_NL Dec 7 2008, 04:53 PM

Well, i'm interested

just a little question, I think I'm not intermediate, but I can help players in the beginner phase, in a teaching perspective.. anyone understand that? xD I'd like to be mentor for some beginners, but i'm not skilled enough to give long comments and seeing every little mistake they make!

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Dec 7 2008, 05:14 PM

Hi Kaz,

OC asked me exactly the same question via PM

We are still feeling our way a little and working this out, and one thing that we do realize is that the levels we have set at the moment are very broad.

For the moment, the most important meaning of the word intermediate at least for the purposes of the MTP is "Slightly less good than an instructor" - these are the people we want to build into the system first and grow it downwards. When we get through this I think we will have a whole set of people like yourself that are more than beginners but not quite up to that definition of intermediate, who nonetheless could really help people, so at that stage I think we will maybe take a look at this again with the people we have and see what makes sense.

For now, why not sign up for both? It will do you good to enter the competition and really focus on some of the things we are asking for, and if you do end up mentoring someone we will still be asking for the same kind of examples of ability to help etc.

Posted by: Matt23 Dec 7 2008, 05:45 PM

I can do difficulty level 5 lessons and while I know not all lessons of difficulty level5 are the same difficulty would i qualify as an intermediate?

Posted by: Smells Dec 8 2008, 01:30 PM

hi Matt, I think the answer Andrew gave Kaz pretty much applies here as well, enter the competition, show us what you have etc, again, I think a little further down the line we`ll require some extra tiers to cover the gaps

Posted by: opeth.db Dec 8 2008, 01:39 PM

Very cool indeed guys! Been loving learning under Smells!

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Dec 8 2008, 01:49 PM

How long off are these threads?

Posted by: superize Dec 8 2008, 01:55 PM

i would like to sign up for both.... I would very much like to teach someone

Posted by: jer Dec 8 2008, 01:58 PM

sweet!

Beginner here I come!!!!!

Posted by: Iluha Dec 8 2008, 02:50 PM

Well I won't step up just yet, I want to get done with the army first(only one and a half months to go..), and than buy a webcam.. than I should be ready to step in as an intermidiate

Posted by: Jesse Dec 8 2008, 03:17 PM

Great stuff andrew! I 'm going to be a beginner:D

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Dec 8 2008, 06:00 PM

About 3 feet ...

Jk, actually we're just dragging it out to make it seem more dramatic

We'll try and get the competition rolling in the next couple of days and the beginners signup thread will be making an appearance shortly.

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Dec 8 2008, 06:31 PM

Cool. I only wanted to know because I go away for Christmas and want to be here for recording if I need to be

Posted by: Matt23 Dec 8 2008, 07:21 PM

Thanks Smells, I didn't see that there.

Posted by: jer Dec 8 2008, 07:29 PM

On a side note, I for one am impressed that this kind of project came about in the timeframe it did.

I know the word "finally" is getting attached to it. And for some it seems like its been a long time. But honestly this whole thing went from "Hey guys, whattya think? To "Here it is!!!" in what, 2 1/2 months?

Thats pretty quick if you ask me.

Way to go guys!!!!

Posted by: SonofDestiny Dec 8 2008, 07:49 PM

I'll be a beginner

Posted by: Ajmurrell Dec 8 2008, 08:07 PM

I would love to get involved in this be it as a begginer or an intermediate. I have taught a number of young students guitar over the past few years before I fell ill, but nothing too serious.

I would be interested to know if by "slightly less good" as other instructors is applied over a broad range of skills?

For example, my theory knowledge isn't great and neither is my speed picking or alternate picking. But I'd speak higher of my tapping skills, pentatonic exercises, chord knowledge and simple solo techniques (bends, slides, h'on's, p'off's etc.)

Would that be enough to consider entering the intermediate competition? Or would you prefer people with a broader experience range?

Sounds like this will be a brilliant scheme though, really get the community progressing

Posted by: Smells Dec 8 2008, 08:23 PM

Hi mate, I think the best thing to do is join the competition when it is announced, for me it isnt all about the playing (although that of course is a chunk of it) theres other aspects that need to be considered and much of it will be down to your own previous experience, how you motivate, guide etc

So as advised to the others that have asked, join up for both

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Dec 8 2008, 08:26 PM

You should have this advice on copy ready to paste when needed lol

Just join the competition. Hopefully it will be announced soon and it will turn out to be a guitar battle with Muris and Emir

Posted by: Smells Dec 8 2008, 08:44 PM

well, I understand why people would ask, theres obviously an air of anticipation and uncertainty surrounding the whole project, the best advice really is as Andrew put to Kaz

"if your unsure, go for both" that way you may make it through the competition, at least you will still be a part of the MTP if not, and I think even joining up as a beginner you will learn a whole heap of stuff that you may have missed or could do with brushing up on, I dont believe that there will be any "losers" through this program

Posted by: Tolek Dec 8 2008, 08:50 PM

I think I´ll give a go for intermediate. I don´t want to sound arrogant, but after 7 years of music theory studies and more than 7 years classical guitar classes with a great teacher, I´d be able to help beginners to develop their skills.
So, I´m in for intermediate. It´s an great idea, I really appreciate you guys for starting the MTP. Thanks.

Posted by: kaznie_NL Dec 9 2008, 04:21 PM

That's not arrogant, that's the truth

Posted by: Tolek Dec 9 2008, 04:24 PM

Haha. Thanks. Sometimes, I think (don´t know if it´s true) that I sound really arrogant, so I better prevent you all.

Posted by: jer Dec 22 2008, 05:52 PM

Any news on when this may begin?

Posted by: Tolek Dec 22 2008, 06:07 PM

If you read the first post carefully, you would have noticed that the first period ends after two weeks, that means Wednesday 24th. Then 10 entrants will be given one beginner student who has to be mentored during one month. After this second period, there will be chosen the 5 best who will have the opportunity to be mentored by Muris.

Is it clear?

Posted by: Matt23 Dec 22 2008, 06:10 PM

It's actually "up to 10" so it might not be 10.

Posted by: Tolek Dec 22 2008, 06:17 PM

Ok, thanks for correction.

Posted by: jer Dec 22 2008, 06:30 PM

So the beginners are assigned to someone on 12/24?

Posted by: Tolek Dec 22 2008, 06:55 PM

I don´t think so. The jury has to pick out up to 10 intermediates. Then the beginners are assigned to them.

Posted by: jer Dec 22 2008, 07:19 PM

OK, so my question remains.

When will this be starting?

Posted by: Smells Dec 22 2008, 07:37 PM

once the first phase of the competition ends (24th) we`ll choose up to ten entrants to go through to the second phase of the competition (which is to trial mentor a beginner for a one month period), we`ll then choose 5 entrants to be mentored by Muris, and then we`ll look to start assigning the beginner mentorees with the intermediate mentors,

I`d expect that we should have this first mentor program scheme up and running fully with Muris - 5 intermediates & assigned mentorees, some time late January early February.

We appreciate that for some its not coming quick enough, but we`re just trying to do it right, rather than rush it all together, we want a formula that is going to "stick"

Posted by: Tolek Dec 22 2008, 07:38 PM

What do you mean? The MTP? It HAS already started nearls 2 weeks ago.

Posted by: lcsdds Dec 22 2008, 08:00 PM

I think he means when will the 10 or so intermediates be chosen and assigned a beginner to mentor. So if the competition ends on the 24th, this wed., when will they announce who is chosen? I think that is what Jer is asking

Monte

Posted by: jer Dec 22 2008, 08:34 PM

I mean the site-wide rollout.

For now its only a selected few that are participating.

I am asking from a beginners standpoint. And from the info above I gather that up to 10 will be chosen for a month long trial (for the intermediates) starting 12/24. Then on or around 1/24 more beginners will be assigned to intermediates. Assuming the trials were successful.

Correct Smells?

Posted by: Smells Dec 22 2008, 08:42 PM

thats it mate, be around the end of January after the month trial period (phase 2 of the intermediate competition) we`ll pick 5 to be mentored by Muris and then shortly after that we`ll assign the beginners and then we`ll be rollin`

Posted by: Rated Htr Dec 22 2008, 09:06 PM

2 days...Let's see if I get picked as inter this time

Posted by: Hammerhead Feb 13 2009, 05:27 PM

Sounds great to me! I'm a beginner... how do I sign up?

Posted by: Smells Feb 13 2009, 05:31 PM

Great! here you go http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=22312

Posted by: cls Jun 6 2009, 06:34 PM

Hi:
I´m a member guitarmasterclass.net, but when i´m playing guitar i don´t know how can i find the acords, like Bm6. FA#5, ..i have played guitar 30 years, but Is there a place when i can find this accords?
Thanks.

Posted by: audiopaal Jun 7 2009, 11:05 AM

I don't know where to find all the chords either, so I check out a webpage like Chordfinder to look it up

Here's the link: http://chordfind.com/

Hope it helps, and welcome to GMC

Posted by: Daniel Realpe Nov 17 2009, 02:38 AM

This sounds great!

Posted by: Sollesnes Jul 22 2010, 03:26 PM

Perhaps this topic, as it is now quite outdated, should be updated, or even unstickied? I just think it must be confusing for new members to see topics like this.

Posted by: maharzan Aug 4 2010, 04:20 PM

GMC is lacking major update activity.. perhaps everyone is just busy but this is kinda making me feel that GMC is dying slowly... honest opinion!

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Aug 4 2010, 04:54 PM

Yep I agree here. Members don't get enough information about how things work nowadays. Veteran members know everything, because of spending hours on the forum;) But a new member wouldn't know if the MTP is or is not working, if I am correct there is also no information that the original song lessons have no tabulatures. I think such things should be pointed out very clearly, because one can subscribe because of a content, that is actually not there...

Posted by: superize Aug 5 2010, 10:24 AM

I agree with you on this one

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Aug 5 2010, 10:39 AM

Good point - thread unstickied!

I certainly hope we aren't dying here. Updates are coming!

Posted by: carminemarotta Aug 8 2010, 10:54 AM

Can you tell us which upgrade can we expect? Thanks,
Carmine

Posted by: Fusar Aug 8 2010, 07:07 PM

Kris, if you need help like that (close threads like this one and put an update on what's goin' on etc), I'd be available

Posted by: Mate Nagy Aug 8 2010, 11:30 PM

What are the terms to take part in this program as an instructor ?
I'm intrested . . .