What do you think about the tonebase Practice Plans?
Hey tonebuddies!
We've been hard at work to enhance your learning experience and provide a structured, personalized approach to mastering your guitar skills. The "tonebase Practice Plans" are designed to help you set and achieve your musical goals with ease. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned player, we believe this feature will add tremendous value to your practice sessions.
Now, we'd love to hear your thoughts! Have you had a chance to explore the "tonebase Practice Plan" yet? What do you think about its layout, functionality, and overall impact on your practice routine?
Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us, and it will play a crucial role in shaping the future of our platform.
Feel free to share your experiences, suggestions, or any improvements you'd like to see. Your insights matter, and together, we can make tonebase an even better space for all tonebuddies.
Let's keep the conversation going! Drop your comments below and let us know what you think. 
Happy playing!
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I think.. platform is so complicated.. cant ı mark as "completed " ? İs there a pathway ?? Or here some videos ! you select videos randomly ... and video player has no function even on 2024 year.. no a-b playback loop or else
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How do you get to the practice plans?
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I’m not sure Martin. I’ll have to take a look at it. Since I’m taking regular lessons with a world class player it probably would be redundant for me and I can’t afford the extra cost. But if I wasn’t I think it would be useful.
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Debbie Hi Debbie, the Practice Plans don't come with an extra cost for premium members :)
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martin good to know Martin! That wasn’t clear or maybe I just read it too fast
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Debbie You can simply go to "My Level" on your dashboard and start clicking through the level quiz to create your practice plan!
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martin I did that Martin and I’m sorry to say I wasn’t impressed with the results.
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martin Hi, this new tool definitely has some potential. I went through the questions and did find a couple of the video lessons recommended that matched my interest, however there were others that did not match up well with my needs. Maybe, I need to review the questions again. Is that possible? Also, as an advanced player, I find that I already have a very structured practice plan, but if one does not have a good practice structure and/or if one is not working with a teacher, I can see how this could be very useful. Just needs a little fine tuning.
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Dale Needles Hi Dale, you can always re-take the quiz. But you are right, we will continue to work on that new feature to match our members to the videos they need!
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Well, to be frank, it doesn't seem like a 'practice plan' - it's just a list of recommended videos addressing various aspects of basic technique. Perhaps I would benefit from watching/studying them, but I don't need an algorithm to tell me that. (I'm quite aware of my faults!) A proper practice plan, as I understand it, is a schedule of exercises aimed at achieving a particular goal. So, the first question to ask, in developing such a plan, should concern the goal itself, which will be different for every individual. A second question concerns the amount of time one has to devote to practice in the first place, again something that varies from person to person. Your algorithm is designed primarily to identify areas of weakness in an individual's technical and musical development. It gives a rough picture of this, but it is far from perfect. Its principle fault, however, is its failure to ask what one's aims actually are. Indeed, the system simply assumes that the user wishes to address whatever issues are identified through the questionnaire. This is certainly not true of myself: while my technical foundation is very far from perfect, my interest, as an amateur, is not so much to 'improve' as to learn repertoire suitable to my capabilities. If I were to develop a practice plan for myself, it would be along the lines of 'x minutes for this or that phrase, y minutes for some problematic shift, z minutes to increase tempo in such and such a passage' and so on. (In truth, I'm nor sufficiently disciplined to actually follow such a program, but that's another matter!) Anyhow, while I applaud your efforts to provide guidance for ToneBase subscribers, I feel you've missed the mark here, at least if your aim is to provide a useful practice plan.
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David Krupka Hi David, thank you for your thoughtful feedback on the Practice Plan feature. It's crucial for us to refine our approach and better align the Practice Plan feature with the diverse goals of our members. Your feedback is invaluable in shaping the evolution of this tool. We are committed to continuous improvement and will certainly take your insights into consideration as we work towards enhancing the functionality and user experience.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We're here to listen and adapt, and your input contributes significantly to the ongoing development of our platform.
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Hello. I, like Debbie Eric Phillips David , don’t feel this as a very useful resource at this stage of my playing. Knowing too well my weaknesses and strong points, by now, I already found the interesting courses and livestreams, searching the TB website. And I make my own plans, together with my teacher.
On the other hand, I have a different view, regarding the piano practice plans. As I’m a relative beginner at this instrument, the practice plan is helpful to give me more direction as to what is relevant exercising and suitable repertoire. I can switch between different levels, for a little more challenge, or a more relaxed intermezzo. These repertoire suggestions are a nice asset. At a higher level it’s easier to make good choices, but when you’re a struggling beginner you tend to play too difficult pieces, (stressful and frustrating) or too easy (boring, not encouraging, no progress)
I took the piano quiz a second time because I thought the information too much focused on technical virtuosity , p.e fast scales and arpeggios, and also too advanced for my skills. I don’t see this possibility or the switching between levels in the guitar section.
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The Tonebase platform has been a wonderful resource for my guitar journey. While "poking around" the myriad of resources is part of the fun, any feature that matches my needs and goals with appropriate resources is extremely valuable.
I have enjoyed both the "My Level" feature and the newer "Practice Plan." I have thought that it would be useful to have the kind of feature available on some of the video streaming services that "if you liked this video, you may also like these videos." Also, I realize Tonebase is constrained by copyright concerns, but it would also be useful to have links to sheet music resources such as public domain sources or perhaps this could be a revenue stream for Tonebase (negotiated with various providers of sheet music).
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Michael Moulton I could not agree more with you. 'Practice Plan' can be a valuable resource, if used as suggested videos. But sometimes we miss on the scores. Even links to buy copyrighted material (at some point, with discounted prices maybe?) would be a good feature.
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Michael Moulton Thank you for your feedback! With our newer releases, we either create our own edition or link to an external source. However, we plan to have at least link to an external source for our earlier releases, but that process takes a bit of time since there are so many of them!
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Hi Martin,
I have been waiting for the feature for a learning plan, which take one through the levels of learning. Reshuffling existing lessons does not really suit my needs. There again, I might be looking in the wrong place. Same question as Edward, how do you get to the practice plan?
I would like to add that I am very disappointed with the site. I gave up using the it because it does not really help me improve my learning.
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HI all, I found some interesting videos after responding to the questionnaire. These will be part of my daily routine for some time now. Again, I agree with Michael Moulton in the sense that a wider access to scores would benefit us. Even if we have to pay for them, discounted prices would be welcome as well
. Thanks for the feature! -
Would it be nice if every video has tick ( in progress , completed ) so we can tick ...
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Practice plans would be so helpful to guide me in choosing the appropriate pieces & technique practice. Please post how to use practice plans.
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I agree with David Krupka above. A true practice plan is something worked on between a teacher and individual student. I have never looked at ToneBase as a substitute for having a good teacher, but rather as a self-guided resource. Like David said, the questionnaire never asked about my interests. For instance, it correctly identified that I cannot play tremolo well (because that's what I told it). But I have never been very interested in playing tremolo pieces. Sure, if I could magically acquire the skill, I'd be happy, but putting in the time necessary to do it well is not something I have ever felt the desire to do. If that were to change, I know that TB has some great resources for me. I didn't need a practice plan to tell me that.
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Ok so I filled out the questionnaire and had a look at the suggested videos. I’m afraid none of them were of any interest to me. I really like the Level System but this practice plan isn’t something I’m looking for. I’m pretty aware of my weaknesses and I have a personal routine already in place to work on them. This might be valuable for beginners who don’t have a private teacher to work with them.
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Since the release of the practice plan, I have tried it a few times and I like how it presents a selection of knowledge videos which may be helpful to address my weaknesses. As a beginner to classical guitar, this could be very helpful. As everyone knows, there is a lot of material on this site and anything that helps us navigate the site is welcomed! However, if I recall correctly, the site already had something like this in the My Level page where suggestions were made to the user through a series of 10 levels. If so, then I am not convinced that the “Practice Plan” adds any value over and above what was already available.
I wonder if calling this a Practice Plan is appropriate. To me, a plan should provide a clear path that one should follow to reach their goal of improving their skills. I find that while the Plan makes suggestions as to what I could you to advance my skills, I still need to sort through them to determine if they are appropriate or not. Furthermore, I also need to weed out the videos I have already done since the site is not consistent in marking the videos previously completed. All in all, there is no clear path.
Another area of concern is the quiz used to determine what one needs to study. When I complete the quiz, which I have now done several times, I get placed in either level 3, 4 or 5 depending how I have responded to the questions. I have been using your level system since joining just over a year ago and I am currently well into level 2. That is quite a difference than how the quiz is placing me. Part of the reason for this discrepancy is how one interprets the various answers we can select from in the quiz. For example, how well do you know the guitar fretboard? The answer of “Can venture into higher positions, including the 5th or 7th positions” does not consider how well one can do this. In my case, I can very slowly figure out the notes in the higher positions because I know the notes in the 5th and 12th frets and I can count up or down as needed. That doesn’t mean that I can do this quickly or efficiently. I would think that this should impact what I should study. To improve the response of the quiz, I believe that the answers to be selected need to clearly state the level of competency that needs to be achieved for each answer.
Hope that helps.
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Hi, it's interesting but due to my difficulties, relaxation is missing in the studio and in the questions
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Being one of the crusty elders, I also tend to only want to focus on what I want to. As Eric and David Krupka (fellow crusty elders though, perhaps less crusty and less elder) I don't have much inclination to focus on tremolo though it comprised half of the suggested lessons.
I wonder if part of the preliminary questionnaire could include listing 5-10 pieces one currently plays and another 5-10 pieces one wants to start on (selected from the offerings on Tonebase). This, I think would provide a better foundation for suggested lessons. I don't really know how TB is devising their plans (I heard mention of algorithms which is beyond me). But if something like this could be incorporated I think it might help to provide more meaningful and personalized focus.
BTW I would include cross string trills as a companion skill with tremolo. They seem related technically and might provide a broader appeal.
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Jack Stewart Watch it, Jack - I may yield a few years in the age department, but I make up for it in crustiness!
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