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Posted by: purple hayes Apr 21 2009, 01:26 PM

Muris, in his infinite guitar wisdom, rated this lesson a 3.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/sweep-picking-lesson/

I know that in the big scope of things, the difficulty level assigned to a lesson is pretty meaningless. But, my pride is weeping because a level 3 lesson is kicking my butt.

/now you go.

Posted by: ZakkWylde Apr 21 2009, 01:33 PM

I have no problem with that Muris lesson as it is easy for someone who knows how to sweep... I guess I will fail at a lvl 3 Jazz lesson as I've no experience in Jazz playing!

To me it's the opposite, I think this lesson is to easy for a lvl 8 grading but that's just me...
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/power-metal-soloing-lesson/

Posted by: AlexLion Apr 21 2009, 01:34 PM

Ahaha that sure wasn`t level 3

Well i found this lesson not as easy as it marked - level 4. http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/pop_rock_solo_more_on_phrasing/ To play it right is one thing, but to play it like Jose is completely different

Hmm, if think in that way Zakk maybe it`s right, i thought about that in general, so 3 it`s like overall
beggining level ( not beggining in sweep ).

Posted by: steve25 Apr 21 2009, 01:41 PM

I don't think i've really found a hard "easy" lesson really or not that i can think of. However i can say the easiest "hard" level lesson would have to be Lian's slayer - advanced lesson

Posted by: lcsdds Apr 21 2009, 01:53 PM

I agree with Zakk.....If you are comfortable with economy picking and your triads then these shapes are pretty basic. If you are new to these shapes and techniques then they are quite difficult. It is a very useful lesson so stick to it Purple Hayes.....it'll pay dividends in the end.

Posted by: purple hayes Apr 21 2009, 02:13 PM

I've been working on it for 3 weeks. I can play it at about 120 BPM. I'll get it eventually. It's just my pride that's taken a beating for now.

Posted by: kaznie_NL Apr 21 2009, 02:27 PM

hahahahahahaha level 3!!!

Posted by: Oxac Apr 21 2009, 03:03 PM

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/rhythm-guitar/eddie-van-halen-style-lesson/

This one too.

Posted by: Daniel Robinson Apr 21 2009, 03:03 PM

I think all in all the lesson ratings are really a personal opinion of the one playing it. I agree there are some 8's that are easy, and some 3's and 4's that are hard.


Its all about what your into i think. I mean even for us instructors, we have licks that are staples of our own playing. For us certain influences come into play, and how they are put together fingering wise.

For example one of my big influences is George Lynch, so i know a lot of the shapes he uses and the context of the fingering.

If a certain lesson strays too far from our own influences it can be difficult to get your fingers around it. Like i have said in other posts, i think for myself some of Ivan's finger picking and blues lessons are some of the hardest for me because the main 5 or 6 guitarists that influenced me are very far away from that perspective.

So dont be so hard on yourself because the lesson is rated a 3. I bet i could find a "3" lesson that i would have trouble with too, almost assuredly.

Daniel

Posted by: Fran Apr 21 2009, 03:08 PM

It seems complicated Purple, I agree it might be too difficult for just a "3", then again as others stated, it all comes down to each individual's playing style.

Sweeping always scares me . I might start with this one just to face my demons

Posted by: purple hayes Apr 21 2009, 03:27 PM

I used say, "I don't sweep."
Then I started admitting that I can't sweep.
Now I'm facing my demons so I can sweep.

Posted by: lcsdds Apr 21 2009, 03:50 PM

I used to say the same thing about AP.....I don't do it because I "don't like the sound". I don't do it because I can't. The reason I can't is because during my development my influences were heavily into legato and tapping. As a result I am decent at those and my AP is sorely lacking. Muris has me on the right track though and I am hoping that very soon I can start using some AP in my playing.

Stick with it purple and you'll get it down. I wrote a cool etude....at least I think it's cool ....that is all about arpeggios. Sweep arpeggios, tapping arpeggios and sweep/tap arpeggios. It is played over Muris's upstroke backing. I can't play it up to tempo yet so I am working on it. PM me and if you want I can email it to you.

Posted by: Ajmurrell Apr 21 2009, 04:26 PM

The way I look at the level difficulty settings are down to the techniques used within, and how complicated they are in relation to those techniques.

A good example would be with Muris' sweeping lesson. Sweeping in general is seen as one of the "harder" techniques to master, but within the contex of sweep picking this is quite an easy lesson. So you could see it as two levels theoretically. If you were to put Sweeping in general as a level 7 technique to even begin, but within that category of playing, the lesson is actually a fairly easy one.

I'm not sure how to best explain myself but I believe this is a good method of setting the level difficulties.

I hope that this can be incoporated into the REC program at some point because I believe at the moment it's a bit lacking in fine detail.

For example, if a lesson level 3 is accomplished in sweeping - there should be a list of all the available guitar techniques you can master, with a tally of lesson scores for each technique.

This would indeed make the REC program more complicated to manage. However, the tools are all there. Every lesson has a level based on the techniques used in them, so the ground work is there.

This would be a feature that could have a huge selling point for future GMC enthusiasts.

Posted by: Evil_Invader Apr 21 2009, 05:41 PM

I agree about the Slayer ''advanced'' lesson. It is really easy.

That Van Halen lesson by Muris would be 5-6 according to me.

Posted by: vampire18 Apr 21 2009, 06:29 PM

i suggested some time ago in the suggestion area that we do in addition to the instructors rating of the lesson to do a member rating. each person can give the rating how hard the lesson is and the avg is probably the closest thing you can get to how hard it is for the "average" guitar player here on gmc. but i guess either the right people didn't see my suggestion or that they didn't agree. because everyone posted on that thread said it was a very good idea.

Posted by: Evil_Invader Apr 21 2009, 06:41 PM

I think this is a great idea!

The average members gave could be displayed beside the instructor's rating.

Posted by: Ajmurrell Apr 21 2009, 06:41 PM

Anyone like this idea?

Posted by: AlexLion Apr 21 2009, 07:06 PM

So there will be 2 ratings? 1 from instructor and 1 from members? That would be great really, i think for example to rate a lesson needed at least 30 votes ( well this can vary of course)

Posted by: vampire18 Apr 21 2009, 07:27 PM

there is no need. because were not rating how good a lesson is. just how hard it is so even if only 5 people rate it its not so misleading. anyways if enough people and maybe an instructor or 2 would say its a good idea i will pm it to kris or if any instructor can talk to kris it would be even better.

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Apr 21 2009, 07:41 PM

I like the idea, but try not to look at lesson difficulty very much when searching something to practice.

Posted by: kjutte Apr 21 2009, 07:58 PM

+1

often a 7 can be a 4 varying from instructor to instructor.

Posted by: Praetorian Apr 21 2009, 08:07 PM

Great idea!!!

Posted by: Artemus Apr 21 2009, 10:12 PM

Average member level ratings. That is a very good idea - I must have missed that thread.
I whole heartedly agree that the Muris sweep exercise is a little bit of an eyebrow raiser when you notice it's a level 3. In some respects I can see how it is considered an "easier" sweep pattern but to me the easiest sweeps are those where it's one string in one direction and the same in the other (ie for a three string sweep, up up up down down down). However Muris' lesson includes a change in direction so that you have to kinda skip past a string (not play it twice) either on your way up or down, whichever your preference. So to do that at 160bpm semiquavers takes a lot of work to do cleanly.
Perhaps the 1 string/direction kind of sweep would be a level one ?!?

Posted by: Muris Varajic Apr 21 2009, 10:55 PM

Having rating by members would help but not entirely
cause you just can't have 100% correct rating,
it's just a rough guide and varies from person to person.

Posted by: kjutte Apr 21 2009, 11:05 PM

Personally I feel that kris himself should rate every lesson.
Member rating- I think the ratings would be too high,

Posted by: Ajmurrell Apr 21 2009, 11:10 PM

Agree

Posted by: vampire18 Apr 22 2009, 12:39 AM

the fact that it varies from person to person is just the problem that an average solves. i mean the ratings by definition isn't how hard it was for the instructor because obviously most lessons are not very hard for them. if all the very good gmcers give it a low grade and all the beginners give it a high grade what we get is what an average gmcer would think of this lesson. obviously it wont be a 100 percent accurate measurement of how hard a lesson is but its the closest i think we can get.

btw
i agree with your ranking of the sweeping lesson because learning the two shapes is 10 minutes or something and assuming i know the right motion of sweeping its just a matter of doing it a million times until im up to tempo. its all about ingraining the shape in my muscle memory. there is no real thinking or anything involved just time consuming.
(just to clarify:no, i cant sweep up to that tempo)

Posted by: kaznie_NL Apr 22 2009, 09:22 AM

True, then we have one line. Then maybe it's not the same as it is now, but it would be more clear, because there's just one person rating!

Posted by: Dexxter Apr 28 2009, 01:46 PM

Just checked out this song/lesson again and rememberded this thread when I saw the difficulty I mean...come on...that ending shred is just.. and...level 4!?!?

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/nocturnal-vision-lesson/

Posted by: purple hayes Apr 28 2009, 01:57 PM

I think we may have a winner.

Posted by: David Wallimann Apr 28 2009, 02:05 PM

I like the idea to have members rate the level of lessons.
Of course ratings are going to be very different due to the fact that we all have our strengths and weaknesses, but it might be helpful...

Posted by: Joruus Apr 29 2009, 04:27 PM

I think this one is rated 4 because you can learn the beginning as a beginner:
"The way we constructed this song allows you to practice it as if it where a lesson series -
starting from beginner level and ending with advanced techniques"

For Rec it should have a higher rating though, since you'd need to play the whole song

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Apr 29 2009, 05:43 PM

I agree with you guys. It would be cool for members to rate lesson difficulty one way or the other. At the end of the day it all comes down to practicing - lesson rating is just personal reference, nothing more nothing less.