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Posted by: miladen Jul 16 2008, 02:53 AM

Hi, i'm new here at GMC, and I feel compelled to ask... Am i the only one that feels these lessons are scaled waaay too wrong? I mean i've seen level 2 lessons be totally insanely hard...

I also wanted to ask if there should'nt be some kind of advice on what lessons one should start with...

just sayin...

Posted by: beebo Jul 16 2008, 02:56 AM

Hi and lemme say welcome!
Well u should just definitely start with simple things first and work your way up!
If u have questions leave comments at the video area and you should get a little help!

Posted by: Ctodd Jul 16 2008, 03:28 AM

Hi

I kinda Know what you mean, but I would look at the lessons like this (this is just my interpretation)

If its a solo lesson rated at "2" That means its a good lesson for the beginner soloist, and not neccesarily the beginner guitarist

see what I'm saying?

try reading through this page, and watch the video

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/beginner-guitar/beginner-video-lessons1.htm

Posted by: Scott Gentzen Jul 16 2008, 03:52 AM

Ill second what Ctodd mentioned. Check out the link he posted. Watch the video, read the whole page and then get started on the Beginner Kickoff Lessons.

I started here about a month after I got my first guitar and decided to learn to play. I knew almost nothing and have made quite a bit of progress. The problem I have here is just picking a lesson and sticking with it til I've mastered it....but when I can do that I do learn a lot.

Also, we have a very helpful bunch of people in the forums here. The instructors are very responsive to questions about lessons or about certain techniques in general.

Posted by: skennington Jul 16 2008, 04:00 AM

Good advice already given.

Posted by: Juan M. Valero Jul 16 2008, 07:08 AM

mmm It's really difficult to rate song... just understand it
A good idea would be that everybody can send his rate, but it would be a bit big Kaos !!!

Anyway I hope that Kris have think about this question, and who knows, maybe this will change soon

Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Jul 16 2008, 07:18 AM

I think it's impossible to rate the lessons in a way that suits everyone. So if you find a level 2 lesson to hard, then just skip that one for now and try it again in a few weeks

Posted by: Rooks Jul 16 2008, 09:50 AM

I started here 26th June. From virtually scratch. And I've learned lessons in difficulty 4 by now.

Start out with pressing "Video Lessons" at the top bar. Then Beginner Lessons, theres the easiest stuff. But try and look through some other videos, you'll see that a video rated 2-3 usually is chopped into several bits.. usually a beginner can do first 2 bits/licks or something that was my experience.. train the easy parts of the lessons, jump to another and do the easy stuff.. And do that with 2-3 lessons after the easiest ones.. When you return to the first one you might be able to do more of it.

Edit: By the way, I don't know if youre playing electric or acoustic; or what kind of music youre into. But from personal experience I can recommend the "Power chords for beginners" and "Beginner Scales" if youre a complete beginner it's a nice way to get your hands into maneuvering horizontal and vertical on the fretboard -At least that was my view. Throw your self into it mate and welcome Hope it was any help.

Don't hesitate to ask if theres anything else youre uncertain of or puzzled by. If a rookie like me can't answer there's tons of cool guys who know a lot more

-Rooks

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Jul 16 2008, 10:42 AM

Welcome to GMC miladen - you are right our archive has an heavy "over weight" of difficult lessons. We desperately need more good/inspiring absolute beginner stuff!

Good news is we have already discussed this a few weeks ago - and we have got some good topics/series coming.

Posted by: Oxac Jul 16 2008, 11:10 AM

my experience is that you could take ANY lesson and practise the small chops of it. No matter how fast, no matter how furious. Just practise perectly. I mean, really insanely slow but perfect.

Posted by: Nemanja Filipovic Jul 16 2008, 11:16 AM

First I agree that it is hard rate lessons in some global terms,but you haw slower Backing Tracks that makes thing a bit easier for harder lessons.That is a good thing,couse,you start at the slowest tempo,and when you feel that you overcome that tempo you go to the next one.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jul 16 2008, 03:12 PM

Also not all the lessons need to be practiced at full speed - lots of them sound good at half speed even. Try some of my lessons from the list http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructor/Ivan-Milenkovic

Posted by: Nick325 Jul 16 2008, 03:20 PM

welcome

Posted by: miladen Jul 16 2008, 03:47 PM

Thanks for all the help, I'll give it a go!

Kind of amazed of how many replies and how fast you guys are on the forum impressive!

and thanks for all the welcomes

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jul 16 2008, 03:59 PM

Hello and welcome Miladen...Great to see that you are getting the idea of how lessons are structured..Best way is to browse beginner lessons and start with ones that seem doable to YOU...It can be a chords lessons, riffing one too...You can go even for simple solo lessons if they seem doable to you..And with some practice trust me , they will !!

Posted by: Guitar1969 Jul 17 2008, 06:32 PM

I agree that the difficulty ratings are a bit off, but it must be difficult to determine, especially for the teachers who all are good so their perception of difficulty is different than mine.

I started by printing up a list of all 1 and 2 rated lessons through the advanced search function, and am working through those, but have also done some 3s without knowing it. But I agree, some that say 2 to me are hard, so it really discourages me thinking I am worse than I thought

Wonder if there is some way to incorporate difficulty ratings by the members themselves, like some poll attached to the lesson that we as members can vote on, that would help Kris and the teachers to update ratings periodically. I would imaging that after awhile of this the ratings would be more accurate.

Posted by: Muris Varajic Jul 17 2008, 11:31 PM

True, I know I have major issues when producing
Beginner Level lessons,somehow I always think it's too simple,
then I add few more chops and there you go

Posted by: Caelumamittendum Jul 17 2008, 11:45 PM

Stop the bragging, Muris!



That said, of course determining what difficulty a lesson is at can be hard - but I geuss the amount of lessons on GMC makes up for that: You simply just go and find another

Posted by: Smells Jul 17 2008, 11:50 PM

you have many good answers here already

Welcome to GMC

Posted by: Xose Pineda Jul 18 2008, 01:47 AM

+1 mate

Posted by: miladen Jul 18 2008, 03:31 AM

thanks!

After all of your advice I've been going through the lessons of scales and trying out some simple licks... never felt faster improvement in my play... thx a lot.

Posted by: Xose Pineda Jul 18 2008, 04:06 AM

Nice!

But remember... this is a long race... only practice, practice and practice is the key.

Welcome aboard mate!

Posted by: skennington Jul 18 2008, 04:39 AM

I don't think Muris would ever "brag" on his playing, just so advanced, his fingers don't move at beginner speed anymore. http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/beginner-solo-in-d/ an example, awesome solo for beginner's but just could'nt help throwing in the AP part. I love it Muris, you are the man!

Posted by: Caelumamittendum Jul 18 2008, 01:25 PM

I was only joking of course!

Yeah, here's to you, Muris: I find all your lessons very inspirational - no matter the level of difficulty.

Posted by: Gerardo Siere Jul 18 2008, 06:17 PM

I´m working in a series of easier acoustic lessons, but they will take a while to be published.

Posted by: Smikey2006 Jul 18 2008, 07:16 PM

first off.. welcome to GMC .. second off.. never be afraid of taking hard lessions and slowing them down.. ive been working on Pavels Speed Picking lessions since i started at this site.. and ive pritty much got them to speed now but when i started it was like.. please go faster arms.. but alas they did not.. all the lessions here may seem fast when the instructors play them, but just slow it down and your sure to learn alot!

Posted by: kodiak Jul 19 2008, 09:06 AM

Welcome to gmc , it would be a little daunting I guess being a complete beginner and looking at all of the lessons on GMC. Lol it would make me want to quit if I had just started playing . But don't get down on yourself, if you can't do them yet, don't worry, you will improve very quickly. Make sure you do the beginners course, which should help you with a lot of things.


Good Luck!

Posted by: miladen Jul 19 2008, 04:56 PM

thx again...

I know it wont happen over night but im ready to play everyday in at least a year before i "evaluate" my skills so lets see how GMC will do

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jul 19 2008, 06:02 PM

Thats a great spirit man! Just be persistent and you will do great !! GMC is an awesome learning tool to have at disposal when learning how to play so you can expect fast progress !