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RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to Ailsa)
dear fellow challengers, i am writing to say that the suggestion that we make donations towards a prize for a winner is not a good one because it compromises the spirit of the challenge by shifting its intent away from trying to competently play a piece for its own sake, and defining one's own limits, to a competition or contest against other beginning guitarists. also, we will all be well rewarded for our efforts by receiving serious criticism from a panel of excellent guitarists. I couldn't ask for more for free, and 50 or 60 hours of practice time. i am not against competitions, but these challenges are a good starting place for amateur/beginners such as myself. I hope we will have more beginner challenges. If one is becoming bored with the piece i suggest you study the rest of it from the guitar method by graf-martinez, vol. 1 (manton 3) if you have access to it. i would upload the tab, but at present i don't have a printer- scanner. sorry. thanks for reading. sincerely, M
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to maneno)
Hi Maneno,
Welcome!
I appreciate what you are saying, but try not to think of it as a "prize" as such...anyway, it's just a small thing, like a CD or something....
But just treat it as a token of respect and gratitude from fellow members for taking the time and trouble to share your experience of challenging yourself, rather than just practising in your room on your own...and in turn, encouraging others!
A long time ago, I got a CD (of the Rolling Stones! ) awarded to me for sending a circuit idea into an Electronics Magazine. It was only a CD......but it really cheered me up for the whole week! (And it still remains a bit more "special" to me than if I'd bought it myself!)
What you say is absolutely true though....the REAL reward is in finding out that with a lot of effort you can push yourself towards something that you previously thought was a good bit beyond you!
Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to maneno)
quote:
a prize for a winner is not a good one because it compromises the spirit of the challenge by shifting its intent away from trying to competently play a piece for its own sake, and defining one's own limits, to a competition or contest against other beginning guitarists
Hi Maneno, I do understand where you are coming from and it is the intention I had when I started to organise this challenge. I agree that the work put into the practise and the comments from the judges are reward enough.
However I think people are motivated by different things. I personally am not motivated at all by the idea that I might (unlikely ) win a CD or something similar, but just by making an improvement in my playing. My competition is with myself - to be better. But other people have more of a competitive spirit with other people and a prize may motivate them more. I think whatever does it for you is fine!
Even though this has become a competition - well if we can manage to organise any donations in less than two weeks! - it's not a serious one. Some people have been playing a lot longer than others so of course will have an advantage. What I hope is that by the end we will all be better players than when we started (smug b****d smiley!!)
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to andresito)
I understand where you are coming from too - as it stands we have the Schrodinger's cat of flamenco guitar challenges - there may or may not be a prize at the end... so I don't think the nature of the challenge has been compromised too much!
Anyway I don't really think winning a prize is anyone's motivation here, it's just a nice gesture.
This piece actually is deceptively hard to play well. At first I thought it was possibly a bit easy but the more I play it the more nuances there are to consider. It's been really good from that perspective.
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to andresito)
I can't wait to see how this turns out. I think it's a good challenge. Everyone has thier own ideas of how Soleá should be played but this piece has a lot of really useful stuff that can be embellished upon later.
Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to Louis_B)
quote:
still practising and can now play all the correct notes - not necessarily in the correct order
I look forward to that!
Dog names are fine but...... you have to be careful not to give away your gender or nationality when you choose. And we have quite a lot of challengers if everyone submits - 16 I think. Have we enough dog names? Perhaps just pet names would do?
Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to at_leo_87)
quote:
ORIGINAL: at_leo_87 ailsa, did you get my pm?
the one about the time zones? It's still doing my head in! Listen guys, the deadline is midnight Anthony's time, which is 5 hours behind British Summer Time. I think
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to Ailsa)
quote:
Dog names are fine but...... you have to be careful not to give away your gender or nationality when you choose. And we have quite a lot of challengers if everyone submits - 16 I think. Have we enough dog names? Perhaps just pet names would do?
Hi Ailsa,
Here's a link to some names (some "unisex" to avoid id probs).
Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to Ailsa)
I've just submitted my file - phew thank goodness that's out of the way! I've enjoyed practising and trying to improve this piece. But just like last time the recording was hell! If I'd been playing live I would have just let some fluffs go and not thought twice, but because it's a recording I've been scrutinising every note. Just like the Bulerias challenge, I've sent in the version that is least bad!!!
OK challengers, hope you are working on your submissions - don't let me be the only one!!
Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A
RE: FINAL Solea challenge for beginners (in reply to Ron.M)
quote:
I don't think you should be allowed to choose your own name, but your name is allocated to you by the anonymizer!
i dont think it'll be a problem so long as everyone's choice isnt too obvious. but i'll go with whatever everyone agrees on. if i feel someone is being too obvious with their choice, i'll just change it. too bad!
and no porn-related anything! we have young ones involved...
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(smug b****d smiley!!) 
Louis_B 
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