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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Gmc Mentored Training Program (mtp)

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Aug 17 2008, 03:52 PM

Hi there GMC:ers!

It gives me great pleasure to announce a new initiative -


The GMC Mentored Training Program!

What is it I hear you asK? Well, the GMC Mentored Training Program is a new GMC initiative designed to take learning at GMC to the next level! We all know how many awesome lessons there are at GMC, we all know how important the forum is in getting questions answered, but sometimes you need a little more. One advantage of a real flesh and blood instructor is that he can check on your progress, suggest improvements and areas for study and provide a little extra drive an inspiration. Of course the downside of a flesh and blood instructor is that you go to see him once a week and spend a lot of money.

Well, now we are planning to bring many of the advantages of a flesh and blood instructor to the already awesome materials at GMC without any of the disadvantages!

Put simply, the idea behind the mentoring program is that we will put in place a structure to match up students with more experienced members, who will advise and mentor the students one on one.

Since this is pretty new and exciting, we will be launching a very limited tryout for a couple of months in which Kris and I act as a mentor for just a couple of students, so that we can see what is involved and how it works out, before we launch a much bigger program. I will create a separate signup thread for that.

So how will this work in practice? Lets see:

1. Who can be a student in the Mentor Program?

Anyone! There is noone out there that cannot learn something from someone else. If you have been playing for 10 years and are a master shredder, you still may be a beginner as far as jazz goes. If you picked up a guitar for the first time yesterday, this is a great way to start out right and develop good habits right from the beginning!

2. Who can be a mentor in the Mentor Program?

Anyone who is prepared to volounteer some of their time to help others, which means most of you! With the exception of absolute beginners, most people have something to teach those who are less experienced than themselves. The only real qualifications are some level of proficiency and a desire to help those less experienced that yourself. In some ways, a mentor who is just a year or two ahead of you would be a great choice as they will have a better appreciation of what you are going through as they recently trod the same ground themselves.

3. What do I need to do this?

The only real requirement is a way of recording yourself, audio and video. This doesn't have to be sophisticated, a cheap webacam is more than adequate - this allows the Mentor to see what the student is capable of and also for the mentor to demonstrate specific techniques by video. Now the good thing about this is that GMC now has videos of very many styles and tequniques, so in a lot of cases, the Mentor will be able to highlight existing GMC videos rather than making their own videos to demonstrate particular points - in fact, it is the goal of this program that the mentor program is a layer on top of the existing GMC materials and in no way replaces it.

4. How Many Students can a Mentor Have?

There is no real limit - it comes down to the amount of time you want to put into it. We will see how it works out, but we would expect that a mentor could comfortably handle 2 students.

5. How do Students Sign Up?

To sign up, a student must post to the signup thread, including a video of his or her current level of playing - this gives the potential mentors a feel for the type of playing the student is capable of and what his style is - this doesn;t have to be elaborate, just a few chops and techniques. The student should also include some ideas on what he/she wants to achieve in the next 6 month period, and some notes on the overall style of playing they want to develop - eithe r spoken in the video , or in writing in the signup post.

6. How do Mentors Sign Up?

To sign up, a Mentor must make a small 'demo' video and post it to the mentor thread - the video should include:

- Clips of the Mentors Playing
- A Small spoken section describing the mentors style and experience leve
l

The video should be somewhat similar to the instructor profiles as it is really trying to achieve the same result, but we are not aiming for perfection here, we just want to give the potential students a feel for the type of player you are and whether or not you would be a good mentor


7. How are Students and Mentors matched up?

We'll see how this goes - in some cases there will be obvious pairings, which is great. However, we will also have a Mentoring Coordinator who will see that matches are made as far as possible, depending upon the number of mentors and students we get applying.

8. How Long does this last for?

There is no real time limit - succesful partnerships could go on for years! However, if as a mentor or student you can no longer devote time to the program, be honest and allow either party to move on. Also, if things aren't working from a personality perspectiver, thats fine and to be expected occasionally, we will be happy to reassign mentors and students as the need arises.

Sometimes a change works wonders as well - if you think it makes sense we can arrange to rotate students and mentors on a regular basis say every 6 months to expose the student to different advice and techniques.

8. How Much Does this Cost?

The GMC Mentored Training Program is included in your regular GMC Subscription!

9. How Does this Work In Practice?

The day to day operation of the program will evolve during the test period, but initial plnning is to use the Mentor's agenda to communicate with the students. The idea is that the Mentor directs the students studies by giving him or her weekly goals, based on the students interests and capabilities. The student reports back regularly on progress, asks questions, and recieves new assignments as he or she develops. It may be appropriate to upload a weekly progress video to enable the Mentor to gauage improvements and point out areas that need work.

We are using the Mentors agenda in this way as it is a little bit like going to see your guitar instructor - but in this case you can go as many times a week as you want and at a time that suits you - similarly, the mentor can reply and work with the student as suits him or her.

Of course other forms of communication are available between a mentor and student - eMail, IM, PM, and sometimes it makes good sense to use these, but we would prefer to see the bulk of the interaction in the agendas so we and others can see how this works out in practice, and also so that it inspires others to either follow along, or get a mentor of their own smile.gif

We will add more guidelines to this section as we figure the process out during the pilot phase.

That's it for now - why not head over to the Student signup thread and see if you can get in on the early availability tryout!

Posted by: Guitarman700 Aug 17 2008, 03:55 PM

certainly a very good idea. i hope we get lots of participation, as this is an excellent way to learn.

Posted by: DeepRoots Aug 17 2008, 03:57 PM

Amazing idea! This will be fantastic biggrin.gif

Posted by: wollace03 Aug 17 2008, 03:58 PM

wow, sounds great- that´s the thing i have been looking for.
i really look forward to participate and work on my weak spots...
hope this develops and becomes a fix part of gmc!!

Posted by: chast Aug 17 2008, 04:13 PM

That's an awesome idea smile.gif

Posted by: skennington Aug 17 2008, 04:18 PM

Awesome idea guys. A one-on-one approach here at GMC would be a fantastic addition to the site. Probably a first in online guitar education! smile.gif Hope to see this take off.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Aug 17 2008, 04:21 PM

This is an amazing initiative !!! I'm really interested to see development of this!

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Aug 17 2008, 04:25 PM

Thanks for a great post Andrew!

QUOTE (wollace03 @ Aug 17 2008, 04:58 PM) *
hope this develops and becomes a fix part of gmc!!


That is the plan - before we can turn this into something big we need to test the idea, though! smile.gif

Posted by: Bondy Aug 17 2008, 04:28 PM

Top idea iam need serious help LOL

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 17 2008, 04:31 PM

Smart thinking and great idea. This could produce some very interesting results, and possibly raise the level of learning on a different level here at GMC. wink.gif

Posted by: JVM Aug 17 2008, 04:56 PM

Really nice idea guys, I saw the other thread on the main page and posted there by accident tongue.gif But anyway, this is really cool. Andrew, you know my theory situation fairly well. I think I'll let it cook for 6 months or so and when the trial mentoring period is over maybe I'll see if I could use some help, or maybe if I have it figured out I could be a mentor tongue.gif

Posted by: IDontWantMyUsername Aug 17 2008, 05:20 PM

This sounds fantastic! biggrin.gif

Posted by: audiopaal Aug 17 2008, 05:37 PM

I love this idea smile.gif

So, who wants to be my mentor? biggrin.gif

Posted by: Fran Aug 17 2008, 05:42 PM

Awesome!! This is an amazing idea indeed, takes things one step further, can't wait to see how things develop, I will be certainly interested in this in the future smile.gif


Posted by: Outlaw2112 Aug 17 2008, 05:45 PM

Awesome idea... looks like im going out to buy a webcam today.. Do the students choose who they want their mentor to be, or the mentor chooses the student ?

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Aug 17 2008, 05:45 PM

QUOTE (Outlaw2112 @ Aug 17 2008, 12:45 PM) *
Awesome idea... looks like im going out to buy a webcam today.. Do the students choose who they want their mentor to be, or the mentor chooses the student ?


Probably a bit of both, we'll see how it works out!

Posted by: Martin la guitarra Aug 17 2008, 05:46 PM

awesome idea, i just hope anyone here is willing to be a mentor

Posted by: Iluha Aug 17 2008, 06:33 PM

Hey! you forgot to credit me for this idea =p it wasn't exactly like that but it's preety close.

Anyways, I'd be happy to mentor someone.. but right now not more than one as I probably won't have the time.

Posted by: Fsgdjv Aug 17 2008, 06:36 PM

Sounds really awesome!

Posted by: superize Aug 17 2008, 06:39 PM

Great idea indeed

Posted by: Matt23 Aug 17 2008, 06:41 PM

This sounds great! biggrin.gif

Posted by: -Zion- Aug 17 2008, 06:45 PM

man... this is TOTALLY EXCELLENT news.. biggrin.gif

COOOOL!

Posted by: big harry Aug 17 2008, 07:24 PM

guys that sounds pretty cool
thats what i was thinking of, that is missing here and i wrote this in one of my posts

i guess everyone needs a typ of "go to guy" who gives the direction

hope this thing will work and we all can get in there
where do i need to sigh up wink.gif

Posted by: JeroenKole Aug 17 2008, 08:41 PM

Great idea smile.gif

better invest in something to stick my camera on soon smile.gif

Posted by: Smells Aug 17 2008, 10:39 PM

Great idea! look forward to seeing how this pans out

Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 17 2008, 10:54 PM

Love the idea,well done guys,I'll follow its development for sure! smile.gif

Posted by: Chief Brody Aug 18 2008, 03:07 AM

This is what i love about GMC, it's always evolving and trying to do more.

Sounds like a fantastic idea!

Posted by: Déjà vu Aug 18 2008, 03:19 AM

Yeah. This is a really good idea! I hope this takes off! Kudos to whoever thought of it first! smile.gif

Posted by: Daniel Robinson Aug 18 2008, 05:56 AM

I think this is an awesome idea, not only does it give a boost to GMC learning potential i feel it also brings a more personalized touch to the community. Sometimes when talking with people in the forums i wish i could just be there and show them..or see what they are trying to explain. I think this will go a long way to acheiveing that end.

I know all the instructors here have alot more to offer and feel like sometimes they wish they could do more. All of us with unique points of view and backgrounds...as well as some of you students who have come a long long way. There are quite a few students here who definatley could teach a thing or to.

I am looking forward to seeing how this test period goes.


Daniel

Posted by: Skalde Aug 18 2008, 07:18 AM

Great Idea I think a lot of students will benefit from that programm
I assume having an active account for the mainpage is also a requirement to sign up?

Posted by: Juan M. Valero Aug 18 2008, 07:52 AM

Amazing idea !!! this one gives GMC to a new dimension wink.gif I hope it will works really good.

Posted by: Pio Jr. Aug 18 2008, 09:24 AM

Great idea. I can't wait to get a mentor.

This while take GMC certainly to a new level!

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Aug 18 2008, 09:35 AM

Thanks for the awesome feedback! biggrin.gif

Just the mentoree admissions we have got so far has really triggered lots of ideas at our end - we will get back with more details!

QUOTE (Skalde @ Aug 18 2008, 08:18 AM) *
I assume having an active account for the mainpage is also a requirement to sign up?


Good point - if there should be a higher demand than we can meet, we will absolutely make this a requirement!

Posted by: mattacuk Aug 18 2008, 10:18 AM

awsome idea, I could do with being mentored myself laugh.gif laugh.gif

Posted by: rokchik Aug 18 2008, 08:33 PM

Amazing, amazing, amazing idea guys !!!!!

Another initiative in the very long list of things that makes GMC the best guitar site on the web smile.gif

rok

Posted by: sigma7 Aug 18 2008, 08:53 PM

i need a mentor...i never had a teacher haha too bad I have no recoriding material such as a camera and stuff or else I would sign right up...maybe nextime

Posted by: Guitar1969 Aug 18 2008, 11:05 PM

Great Idea - This would probably help me with my biggest obstacle to overcome on GMC - Figuring out what I need to work on from an objective standpoint(I get overwhelmed by the mass amount of lessons available)

One thing that might be beneficial is for the Practice Agenda's of the mentoring program to be public so others that aren't necessarily being mentored ,can still follow along and apply some of the guidance to their own training where applicable.

Posted by: Barenaked Ninja Aug 19 2008, 02:34 AM

Wow, this is an awesome idea... I ... need ... this.

I need this the same way Edward Norton's character needed to go to all those meetings in the beginning of "Fight Club"!!!


Posted by: Eat-Sleep-andJam Aug 19 2008, 02:36 AM

QUOTE (Barenaked Ninja @ Aug 18 2008, 05:34 PM) *
Wow, this is an awesome idea... I ... need ... this.

I need this the same way Edward Norton's character needed to go to all those meetings in the beginning of "Fight Club"!!!



Beautiful reference- I wub.gif Fight Club biggrin.gif

Posted by: Alex Lewis Aug 21 2008, 03:16 PM

I think this is an awesome idea i would like to put myself forward for both a student and a mentor position if thats ok?

I think i can help beginners on their quest for greatness but may need a few tips myself!


Where do i upload my vids?

I mainly play metal rock and blues but thanks to Muris's awesome country pickin lessons i'm making a staart on that to!


Alex

Posted by: shideru_guitar Aug 21 2008, 09:47 PM

i would do it.. if i had a webcam or camcorder..
but i have neither mad.gif

i really would like to do it tho!

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Aug 21 2008, 10:20 PM

QUOTE (Guitar1969 @ Aug 19 2008, 12:05 AM) *
One thing that might be beneficial is for the Practice Agenda's of the mentoring program to be public so others that aren't necessarily being mentored ,can still follow along and apply some of the guidance to their own training where applicable.


Yes that is the idea - provided the menotree is ok with it!

I just want to make sure you guys haven't missed http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=18612- we are having some interesting discussions there as well!

Posted by: Gus Aug 24 2008, 04:46 PM

I only read this thread now and I think it is a great idea. GMC is the living proof that people wants to help each other when the environment is good for it.

I understand the pilot now will be something smaller, but I would suggest the mentoring program follows a kind of cascade structure like this:

official instructors mentors advanced students who mentor intermediate students who mentor beginners.

In that way the knowledge flows reaching far more people than when just pairing a mentor and a student. Also, it would give more advanced students the chance of being helped as well.

In the description it is being said nothing prevents someone from being a mentor and student at the same time. I actually think that everyone who applies for the program should be automatically assigned a mentor and as mentor of someone. That means, if you are ready to be helped, you should be ready to help as well. Of course absolute beginners are not expected to be able to provide help to someone, but that changes in only a couple of months.
If the instructors are payed for taking part into the mentor training program, and this cascade structure is applied, then I'd say it would come to a situation where absolutely everyone gains.

Posted by: kaznie_NL Aug 24 2008, 06:13 PM

QUOTE (Gus @ Aug 24 2008, 05:46 PM) *
In the description it is being said nothing prevents someone from being a mentor and student at the same time. I actually think that everyone who applies for the program should be automatically assigned a mentor and as mentor of someone. That means, if you are ready to be helped, you should be ready to help as well. Of course absolute beginners are not expected to be able to provide help to someone, but that changes in only a couple of months.
If the instructors are payed for taking part into the mentor training program, and this cascade structure is applied, then I'd say it would come to a situation where absolutely everyone gains.

True! About the if you wanna participate as student, then also try it as menthor!

Posted by: wrk Aug 24 2008, 10:58 PM

Oh my .. how great is this idea !!





Posted by: superize Aug 24 2008, 11:01 PM

when the test period is over i am definently going to take part in this. But i would both like to have a mentor and be a mentor so i hope that will bepossible.

Posted by: Praetorian Aug 30 2008, 01:48 AM

This is going to completely revolutionize the GMC experience!!! I can't tell you how much I hope this works!!

Posted by: opeth.db Sep 24 2008, 06:53 PM

Reposted in appropiate thread.

Posted by: besip Sep 24 2008, 10:20 PM

Where i'm can find the student signup thread smile.gif
thats can be new motivaction for me cool.gif

i'm can't just find it sorry i'm wasn't here like month and te forum looks diferent again laugh.gif

Posted by: Smells Sep 24 2008, 10:50 PM

QUOTE (besip @ Sep 24 2008, 10:20 PM) *
Where i'm can find the student signup thread smile.gif
thats can be new motivaction for me cool.gif

i'm can't just find it sorry i'm wasn't here like month and te forum looks diferent again laugh.gif



for beginners program, sign up with your video http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=19898 with some info about your goals etc

and for the intermediate program sign up with video and info http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=19897&hl=

smile.gif

Posted by: besip Sep 24 2008, 11:01 PM

QUOTE (Smells @ Sep 24 2008, 04:50 PM) *
for beginners program, sign up with your video http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=19898 with some info about your goals etc

and for the intermediate program sign up with video and info http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=19897&hl=

smile.gif


thanks nobody is there as beginer yet..i'm be probaly the first one laugh.gif ...ok i'm will find time this time a do it cool.gif
Thanks Smeels for the link smile.gif

Posted by: Smells Sep 24 2008, 11:15 PM

QUOTE (besip @ Sep 24 2008, 11:01 PM) *
thanks nobody is there as beginer yet..i'm be probaly the first one laugh.gif ...ok i'm will find time this time a do it cool.gif
Thanks Smeels for the link smile.gif


np probs, your welcome mate, theres 2 members already on the program, read Kris`s practice agenda to see where they are up to at the moment smile.gif

Posted by: besip Sep 24 2008, 11:17 PM

QUOTE (Smells @ Sep 24 2008, 05:15 PM) *
np probs, your welcome mate, theres 2 members already on the program, read Kris`s practice agenda to see where they are up to at the moment smile.gif



ok thanks cool.gif

Posted by: sidewas lightning Sep 25 2008, 01:31 AM

That sounds like it could help everybody... Seems too good too be true, but everything on this site is anyways so I might go for it as soon as you launch it for everybody. smile.gif That sounds like a great idea though. I can't imagine how that could help.

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