Comments on lessons

I'm a new full access member since end of September and am really starting to enjoy using Guitar Tricks now. However, the forums are little used and as a result the community side feels lacking.

One solution might be the inclusion of a comments section on each video lesson. This would allow members to see how difficult the section is, the problems others previously encountered, to provide feedback to the instructor, encouragement to others etc, etc.

I'm sure this would encourage more of a community feel, rather than one of learning guitar in isolation.

What do others think?

I frequent many forums for various activities, some immensely well patronised, others abysmal fails. I don't think the issue is the Guitar Tricks forum per se.

It's good that you're thinking about ideas which might encourage active participation as well as wanting to experience a greater sense of community here. Give it time. As you say, you're relatively new here, and there are a few long serving GT regulars who do contribute with regularity.

What you're seeking is actually already here, structured, in one place. The problem as you point out, has been low member participation. Only members can do something about that if they want to. I'm doing my part to try and encourage by example regardless of others' reticence. Guitar Tricks can provide the watering hole, and lead a horse to water, but they can't force it to drink.

Isolating comments within the lessons sections wouldn't encourage wider participation IMV&E. Rather the opposite, increasing member isolation if they don't have to come here for interaction. In any case, most "feedback" be it a brickbat or bouquet is really actually just feelgood self-validation. Very seldom does discussion per se ensue. If you want an example look at it on JustinGuitar's new website which as a recent 'initiative' has done exactly that. FAIL. Participation rate is abysmal, and it's definitely a self-validation vehicle targeting a particular group demographic, as is his increasingly commercialised new website.

That's why I'm here with an annual sub on auto rollover for perpetuity, and not over at JustinGuitar.

Thanks for the reply. Sounds as if there is little contribution from the members to the Forum, which is disappointing. Also, as my suggestion has already been tried and failed, then it looks as though the current situation will remain. In some ways its good to know at this stage as it allows me to concentrate on learning from Guitar Tricks, rather than online postings. Once again, thanks for the comments and good luck with the development of your guitar playing.

First and foremost... I'm a big supporter and defender of Guitar Tricks. But, as much as I love it I'm not blind. At least, I don't think so.

My sense... my perception... is that the Forum is a distant second or lower when priorities are set and changes made at Guitar Tricks. It's difficult for me explain but my feeling about the Forum mimics the feeling I get from other parts of GT and the changes that come about... frequently they are not member-friendly and show indications that they come from non-users or even non-guitar players.

There are business models to follow, there are costs and benefits to consider, but the changes that occur most often 'come out of the blue' with no consultation/solicitation of the members. Or none, that I am aware of. I think one example is the subtle but, for me, meaningful, change in the Forum.

There use to be a feature in which members could post information about themselves. Click on the user name and, besides the history of posts that one gets now, there was an option for members to post information about themeselves and to read about others. Location, interests, experience with guitar... It was, perhaps, a small thing but I had an interest in that and it often shaped my response to posts. When a member asks a question or expresses difficulty with something I found it helpful to know if they had been playing six weeks or six years. It also built some relationship... it was fun, interesting, sometimes meaningful to learn that the member you are responding to lives a couple hours away, or has the same guitar, or same favorite artist.

Additionally, a feature now gone was private email. Members could elect to receive email from other members. It was handled through the GT servers, I guess, and members' email address' were never revealed to each other. I found off-line discussions frequently informative and rewarding.

These are two features of the Forum that were ended when GT went through a major change a few years back. To be fair, GT solicited member input about changes and desired features and there were even phone conversations between some members and those that run, maintain, and build GT. But some, if not many, suggestions have never come to fruition. Sorta like the song requests in the Song Request sub-forum which finally died a slow death.

Again, I stongly believe in Guitar Tricks and I don't mean the above to be as hostile as it reads. But another sense I have is that since the major change and the end of those two features the number of members participating in the Forum... the frequency and number of posts and even comradship between members is way down. I'm not saying the change caused the dropoff but I can't help but believe that it contributed.

What I don't know is if there was an intentional lowering of priority and resources devoted to the Forum. Something changed and the Forum just doens't have the same 'feel' that it did.

john

Thanks for first hand 'then and now' perspective of Guitar Tricks' forum over the years john.

Involved in 'forum' participation since the initial BBS fidonet days, to see discussion groups evolve to usenet newsgroups and morph into the discussion forums of today, there's been a lot of change over the past 25 years. Also in the people who use them, and how they use them.

IME today, each forum even within an interest genre has a different feel established by the forum owners and participants it attracts regardless the software they choose to use. Unless it's just a skin, Guitar Tricks AFAIK use a proprietary forum software integrated into their GUI website software and design? We all have our favourite forum software, although that isn't the deciding factor when it comes to traffic IMObs. Personally, I prefer the ubiquitous pHpBB. Powerful, clean meat 'n taters forum software which does 'what it says on the tin'.

What is unusual IME is to find such relatively low traffic generated on a forum for a website targeting beginners and intermediates as their significant client demographic? All forums do go through activity periods where a core group of participants are active for a time attracting in turn wider participation through the herd or 'popular venue' effect. As they leave or change, forum participation waxes and wanes over time with the overall momentum. I haven't been here long enough to gauge that in the specific case of Guitar Tricks. I do note in the few other guitar orientated forums I participate or lurk in, that they don't have record participation levels either. It's usually the gear orientated forums where people talk about their 'stuff' that have higher participation levels.

Agree the GT user profile page is rather spartan, although I don't search or rely upon profiles often myself here or elsewhere. Absence of private messaging is odd. Pretty basic stuff in almost all forum software.

On a most positive note, access to interaction with the instructors in these forums is invaluable, with particular kudos going to Christopher Schlegel whose sincere and untiring proactive forum participation with even Gumby guitarists like me, is role model material for me. Respect. Pure gold.

I like being able to direct a question in here I can't fathom the answer for myself whether it's lesson specific or general, to one of the instructors where relevant in their Q&A sub-forum, or even just put it out there.

I agree with you and the OP. More interaction and user participation would be a good thing, but ultimately when it comes to posting and quality vs quantity, give me quality. That said, like Christophers', I always read your posts john. 😎

Thanks, manXcat, and back to you. I like your writing and your posts are crammed with good information... an instuctor from down under.

I fully agree with you about the interaction with, and availabiity of, the GT instuctors... it may be the Forum's strongest feature. And Christopher..? Wow! So many of his posts are lessons unto themselves. In fact, I've printed more than a few of his posts because of his comprehensive responses to questions that I don't want to lose.

The Forum is a good and important part of GT. I hope 'they' keep trying to improve it.

john

I think that this is a good idea

Originally Posted by: risingearler

I'm a new full access member since end of September and am really starting to enjoy using Guitar Tricks now. However, the forums are little used and as a result the community side feels lacking.

One solution might be the inclusion of a comments section on each video lesson. This would allow members to see how difficult the section is, the problems others previously encountered, to provide feedback to the instructor, encouragement to others etc, etc.

I'm sure this would encourage more of a community feel, rather than one of learning guitar in isolation.

What do others think?

First, thanks to you guys for the compliments. I sincerely appreciate it!

The forum has gone through quite a few iterations over the last 2 decades. I'm sure the GT tech folks & admins will take note of your observations & comments.

I certainly understand the desire to interact with people that have common interests. An active & interactive online community definitely has advantages. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to directly answer student questions about guitar & music! That is of course the primary objective of the GT forum.

Here's to a new year filled with lots of guitar playing! :)

As a newbie, I don't feel the need to add to the forum because I have no experience. Chatter for the sake of chatter is just noise for me. However I do appreciate the people who have information or experience to share so I am enjoying the learning process as it is. If I get wrapped up in a forum, it takes away from practice time.

back to the soundtrack repeat for the 1000th time...lol

The benefit of the forum is for lesson users to ask questions and get gut checks from fellow members. Ok, cool. Pretty much everyone here has said that.

Where things might fall down is that the lessons do not untilize the forum's benefit to a lesson user. Each lesson should have at least two links within the lesson interface somewhere:

1) Ask an instructor (link to the Full Access Forum)

2) Talk to other members (link to the general forum)

Having the Forum link/button in the overall site header is good but the forum is not leveraged throughout the remainder of the GT platform. The idea is not itself to get more 'action' in the forum. If people don't need to have that kind of assistance, they don't need it. My sense (based on nothing but instinct) is that people might want that kind of help but not know that the forum can really be quite helpful. Further, GT forums have historically had a 'friendly' vibe. This is awesome.

I work as a project/program manager at a Fortune 20 company in the US. The program that I own impacts millions of customers. A significant part of what I own has a public internet interface used by 10's of thousands of people daily. Neato resume and all but that's all immaterial other than I've learned one thing; people will not go somewhere (like to the forum) unless you giude them to do so. WIIFM (What's In It For Me). Why would a lesson user go to the forum unless they're told the benfit of doing so and have strategically placed links (ie - within lessons) to do so? Users need a motivation and the easy ability (well placed links) to do so.

Few are going to come here of their own valition unless there is an implied benefit of the forum. Most people (rightly) see internet forums as a cesspool of trolling and anger. Twitter is the ultimate example of internet trollery. GT is the opposite of that. It's a darned friendly place here at the GT forum! People aren't going to come here unless they understand the benefit of doing so, know that it is a supportive place and mostly, easy access to get here.

Adding my thoughts to the convo...

Good one, JeffS65! It sounds like a very useful improvement. I will make sure the team hears about this so we can consider it as an update to the lesson page interface.

Let us know if you have other ideas like this. We love to hear them!