I’ve been playing guitar for about two years, primarily focusing on fingerstyle. I’ve really enjoyed the journey so far and am eager to continue improving.
However, I’ve noticed that different sources describe skill levels in varying ways, which makes it a bit challenging to gauge where I currently stand. To get a better understanding of my progress, I’ve recorded a video of my playing and would greatly appreciate any feedback you might have.
Specifically, I’m interested in:
Your thoughts on my technique and overall performance.
Suggestions for areas I could focus on to improve.
An approximate idea of my current skill level based on your experience
Hello Philip and welcome to the Community.
Kudos for sharing a recording and asking for help and feedback. Unfortunately you have made it difficult to do that with a portrait close-up view as we can not really see your picking hand in full and nothing of your fretting hand. It is also very short. Can you record something longer in landscape with you showing a fuller picture?
ps
You say you have learned from ‘sources’ - have you followed Justin’s courses at all?
From Beginner grade 1 up. You would know where to place yourself.
I havent followed Justins`s courses, just learned some songs from Youtube tutorials, I just found the community random and saw I had the possibility to get feedback, will try to record a video where you can see more of my playing
Okay - in which case I wholly recommend you go to the Beginners course and work through it (it’s all free and the structure will help you fill in any gaps, correct any bad habits and give you a sense of purpose, direction and what your ability is.
Please take your time to look around and get to know the wider space. View by Categories.
We are a supportive and encouraging group of students and guitarists from across the world. Essentially, we are all here for music and to improve as players. We truly are a ‘community’. Members help and support one another and a friendly, positive attitude underpins this. We hope that all - young or old, experienced or new players - adopt and foster the pay-it-forward ethos that Justin personifies and embedded all those years ago when he started the website and forum.
Also, please make sure to read the Community Etiquette announcement for some important information and guidance.
If you want to record yourself to show your progress and / or seek feedback there is our ever popular Community Recordings section etiquette here.
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That is plenty to be going on with. It is a vast community space so if you need help as you find your way around just ask.
Cheers. Richard
| Approved Teacher, Official Guide & Community Moderator |
this is really interesting and not right… but I am learning exactly 2 years and my main focus is for acoustic fingerstyle too. So lets little compare… there are some things I know I should be better and there are few questions you have to ask yourself…
Can you play any fingerstyle song from start to end or just few chord progression that is long 30-60 seconds?
How many mistakes you do while you try to play perfect the thing you shared with us and how many more playings like this can you do?
Are you learning through Justin grade system or you follow YouTube only and what is the path you follow?
I find pretty hard to find path to follow, because there is so much but at the same time not… every song needs different technique or there is “that one damn” chord change or sequence.
Can you play more fingerstyle patterns? Are you hitting all notes clear?
I would really appreciate more videos of you playing where we can see both hands. I checked your channel and you dont have more videos. I really recommend to you doing videos, even if you not plan to upload them - you can always look back if you feel rut or if you wanna analyze if your technique, timming and everything else is right or not.
Sounds pretty good. Hard to make a call on “skill level” from one video - there’s so much to guitar, some people are really broad, some are really specialised.
I am playing fingerstyle and classical and probably can’t play quite like that snippet.
What I find, though, is that I have several pieces of music that I have worked on and can play well enough that I seem like I am a “good” player, intermediate at least.
But outside those well practiced pieces, I am clearly just a late beginner and some might make you question if I should even be allowed to touch an instrument.
I appreciate Justin’s courses as a well developed base for my Fingerstyle efforts that is helping me be more of a musician than just a guy who learned a few pieces and patterns reasonably well.
I have no idea, from that small video, where you fit in the greater idea of guitar playing. That small etude is played well, however.
Your response here sounds very familiar Joshua. I too have a few songs I have worked on a lot to play fingerstyle, and they sound pretty pleasant. It seems there are so many different ways to play a song fingerstyle - arpeggiated or not, more or less pattern repetition, pauses, elaborations, and technique I haven’t even heard of yet. I would like to see more offerings from Justin, more club sessions on fingerstyle play.
@PhilipHall I think it sounds very good for 2 years. But also sounds like there is maybe a couple of off beats, not sure based on the video. As several have said, it is hard to say with a short video.
To me personally, I would push away from “grading” or “standing” and look to improve where you are at. Grade against yourself and how you are improving compared to where you were not based on others. I feel like grading against others is a trap you will never get out of because there is ALWAYS someone far better. If you really do want to grade, I think like a couple said, your best bet would be to move through the course and see where you kind of hit a wall and that is probably where you are at.
Again, only based on the pretty short video (which I think sounds nice), my main question would be are you playing with metronome, and/or other people.
@PhilipHall This looks good. Hand looks steady with moving thumb… chord transition looks smooth to that tempo. Its again pretty short and one pattern with simple chord progression, but what you share sounds really good.
How others said you can follow Justins grades so you will see where you will end, but to me… it really depends, because Justins way is not about fingerstyle and he apply everything to pick.
If you really want to challenge yourself and learn new techniques I will recommend courses from Paul Davids. He is my main source of learning and most of videos I got on my YouTube reflect what you can learn… and thats really little I learned to this day from him.
Sounds like you are on your way. For me playing stuff that has mostly patterns to it seems to be pretty easy but it’s when you need to make the melody notes ring such as in solo guitar that it takes me a lot more time.
It sounds really good to me Philip…the Music is flowing, that’s what matters…I can’t give much more feedback on technique and leave it to the more expert.
