Guitar Exams - Should You Bother?

[@andrewslads]

I teach all of these . I totally agree with regards to the rock school acoustic syllabus . It’s pitched way too hard and there’s pages of random scale patterns . You should check out the ‘debut’ grade . There’s a blinking f barre chord ! Crazy ! Also , the balancing of skills isn’t uniform throughout the syllabus . Some grades more emphasis on fingertsyle and others some plectrum based stuff . I’m pretty sure they never even bothered piloting this !

[@Learnguitarwithcharlie]

Cheers Nick, yeah - the Rockschool acoustic syllabus is well put together but it does feel a little hard, relative to other similar grades. Thanks, it's always great to have another tutors perspective on this! Cheers for watching, take it easy.

[@andrewslads]

Cheers man- although I must admit the pieces are really good especially in some of the grades . I found grade 2 , 5 and 8 being good . Although there’s Layla acoustic in grade 4 which is nice .

[@Learnguitarwithcharlie]

@@andrewslads Agreed Nick, some great tunes - really nicely arranged which are useful to use for non-graded students too.

[@alantravers4302]

@@Learnguitarwithcharlie yes the rock school acoustic grade 2 was way too advanced! The others were not as bad however they have just updated all of the grade books and they are much more suitable now.

[@Learnguitarwithcharlie]

@@alantravers4302 Thanks Alan, agreed - they've made the acoustic syllabus to a much more suitable level now.

[@sufyanghani9022]

Awesome video man. Really helped me out.

[@Learnguitarwithcharlie]

Really appreciate that mate, glad you enjoyed it!

[@ianbraganza3065]

Thanks for this very helpful video Charlie. Question: You mention that in RGT grades 6-8 the student has to choose a specialization. What are the 3 options and once you choose it, must you stick with it for all 3 grades? Thanks!

[@Learnguitarwithcharlie]

Ian, thanks so much for getting in touch mate and no problems - really glad that the video helped. In terms of the specialism for grade 6-8 on RGT's electric exams, the three options are: 1. Perform a solo piece of some sort which must incorporate (slide, finger style, finger tapping or flatpicking) 2. Opt to play an unseen sight reading piece, which will be presented in either in tab or standard notation 2. Choose another rhythm guitar playing or improvisation chart (similar to the one selected earlier in the exam). Obviously, this would be unseen too. No need to stick with that for all three grades, you can change it up as much as you like. Hope that helps, thanks so much for watching.