Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced?, How does the rating work for you? |
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Jan 3 2008, 06:57 PM
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I discussed this with Kris today, and I thought it would be fun to start a thread and see what others think ...
Of course, it's all Muris' fault  If anyone asked me, I would say I am an intermediate player - of course, we have observed before on GMC that no one ever admits to being advanced - they become intermediate after a year or two and stay that way forever even though they get better and better. Even Pavel calls himself intermediate So after playing for 30 years (some of them good years with progress, a lot of them bad years before I came to GMC) there are some things I can play well, and a lot that I can't. I am a very unbalanced player, being mostly self taught. My theory and musical understanding skills are good, I play legato reasonably well, and my phrasing is competent, but my alt-picking is slow, my sweeping is virtually non-existent and I can barely tap.When Muris came out with his intermediate Bb Lesson, I was amazed at the musicality of it, it sounded so breathtaking, but was labeled intermediate. There are a lot of techniques on there that I haven't mastered yet, but I was up for the challenge, maybe I could play it after months of practice. So, I decided to get my feet wet by learning the beginner Bb lesson - again, intensely musical, but a lot easier to play. I'm intermediate, right? Should be able to pick it up in half an hour or so right? Noooooo! A lot of the stuff on that lesson IS very basic, the alt picking is fairly slow, no hard bends, only 16th sweep picking not even 16th triplets, but for me, the sweeps were very hard. I started slow, and persevered. The basic mechanics of sweeping I have down, thanks to Pavel's amazing sweeping lessons, but I suck speed-wise, but actually this lesson was inspiring to me as I started out at 50bpm and worked up to 72bpm (full speed), but it took me about a week to get there. Now I play this lesson as a warm up, and I am still working on the phrasing - Muris phrasing is exquisite, and actually to get that right and play it cleanly is hardest of all, but I am enjoying that part So all of this got me thinking - if someone who has played guitar fairly seriously for 30 years can't play a beginner level GMC lesson without trouble, what does that mean? Am I a pathetic guitarist? I hope not ... I know I have gaps in my abilities but I can certainly play. Are the levels whacked? Maybe a little, but that reflects just how hard it is to grade a lessons difficulty - When Muris says a lesson is easy, both he and Steve Vai could probably play it easily, the rest of us might have problems! It also depends on what you have practiced and the style of it. If it was a blues, or Gilmour style lesson, I would probably have mastered it in 30 minutes and would not have been writing this, but because of the sweeping it gave me problems - maybe that just reflects the fact that as far as sweeping goes, I AM a beginner. I know for sure I will be working on the intermediate lesson for the foreseeable future, and may never get to the advanced lesson. Be that as it may, I raised this point for a reason, it just took me a while to get to it - how do other GMC:ers feel about the levels? Do they fairly represent your abilities, do you have big gaps like me? Is there a way we can improve the rating system? What do you guys think? BTW, Kris is doing an awesome job even having such a cool rating system on the site, I am not criticizing, just wondering how it works out for others. And Muris is a guitar god, and plays a lot how I would like to play but he thought of it first! -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Jan 3 2008, 07:28 PM
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All in all the system is good but I think the instructors forgot what a "beginner" is
 The first month I was hardly able to play powerchords. The fingers are wobbly and they won't hit the right fret. I will give you a few examples which are absolute impossible for a beginner: neoclassical-3-levels-beginner three-level-solo-beginner melodic tapping lesson (difficulty 2) This is nice beginner-stuff: mixolydian-soloing-beginner It's really demotivating to see I'm a "beginner" after 3,5 years of playing. If I saw your beginner lessons 3 years ago, I'd rate them as "professional". As a beginner you are impressed by everything that's a little faster because you're not able to play anything cool This post has been edited by Constie: Jan 3 2008, 07:34 PM -------------------- You can't take the effect and make it the cause
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Jan 3 2008, 07:46 PM
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+1 to that, that is very cool idea! You know, the users could DIT so the rating would be.. suiting their needs:)
-------------------- my youtube account with riffs and ideas: https://www.youtube.com/user/Phoenygzus
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Jan 3 2008, 08:05 PM
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Was Hendrix an advanced player? In any case, he was not that fast, didn't do much tapping or sweeping. Most of the most famous guitarists are not fast players.
To me an advanced player is someone that has a good musical knowledge, can perform well with other musicians, has a decent technique, a good repertoire... I found this school syllabus and I think it gives a nice level scale. Maybe if i was living in the UK I'd take their test in order to get more motivation to practice. http://www.rockschool.co.uk/rsl/sites/6/do...labus_guide.pdf |
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Jan 3 2008, 09:15 PM
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oh i see, I understand m8, its a great way of putting it and thinking about it, I might actually give that a try, sounds interesting, thanks
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Jan 3 2008, 09:36 PM
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All my fault
 I'm gonna play only chords from now on
-------------------- Youtube
MySpace Website Album "Let It Out" on iTunes and CD Baby Check out my video lessons and instructor board! The Pianist tune is progress,check it out! "ok.. it is great.. :P have you myspace? Can i to personalize this for you guy?" |
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