Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

A place to discuss Playground's main curriculum, the Bootcamp.
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doozer
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Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:54 am

Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

Post by doozer » Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:58 am

Wow, I've been struggling with the newly added Bootcamp Intermediate 19 D Major Triads lesson for over a month and still haven't made it up to the "slow tempo". I really am enjoying it but it seems way too early in the sequence of lessons. Anyone else think this one seems out of place?

doozer
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Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:54 am

Re: Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

Post by doozer » Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:13 pm

Guess its just me huh? :lol: Well I finally got to 100% on slow tempo so I'm calling that good enough for now!

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sw1tch73ch
Posts: 539
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:23 pm

Re: Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

Post by sw1tch73ch » Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:00 pm

I haven't gotten there yet. So I don't have much to offer other than the usual go slow, get it under control, and speed up a little bit, rinse and repeat.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

Swampfox
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:40 pm

Re: Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

Post by Swampfox » Sat Jun 01, 2019 8:14 pm

Doozer,
Are you still playing? I just started 19 about a week ago. I stopped doing lessons in a linear fashion a few weeks ago, so I work on different things at the same time. I haven't gotten to the challenge yet, but I think it's a really important lesson. These are really important chord progressions. I surprised there isn't a I-vi-ii-V, or ii-V-i, but otherwise these exercises show Root movement, and voicing motion though using inversions. These lessons also show that rather than just moving chords in blocks, you can use inversions for harmonic move by subtle finger changes, and encourages you to move your fingering in 2 dimensions rather than just one. It also demonstrates how chords are interconnected harmonically. This is good stuff.

chrisecurtis
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Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 2:28 am

Re: Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

Post by chrisecurtis » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:40 am

I found there's a massive jump between the exercises (which I managed) and the final one, which is the chords of the song, which is much faster, with fiddly rhythms that the computer is extremely precise about. Still nowhere near getting it. I've ignored it after spending many hours on it and am now at least a dozen lessons further on, which I'm managing to get 100% on without too many tries. Part o fthe problem is not liking or knowing Ed Sheeran, so not having a clue what it sounds like in real life.

It's part of a wider issue with Playground Sessions. The app does no analysis of how you are playing, only how accurate the timing and pitch of the notes you play are. (To be fair it would be hard to code analysing how you are playing but I can think of several ways to do it) This means that there's zero feedback about the quality of your playing (e.g. are you too staccato, too soft, how far ahead or behind are you, how consistent etc.) There's no analysis of what you are finding hard or easy either (I read music well, but my hand independence is not great yet: I can see I'm often fine in one hand and late in the other and I can quite often choose which one!). This means that any attempt to grade and sequence pieces is very much an average, having nothing to do with the player's skills and which ones s/he needs to develop. You sometimes get extremely hard exercises that seem out of sequence, and it's very hard to know whether that's just me not ready, or the exercise not being appropriate for that point in the course.

I plod on thinking it's all good to learn, but sessions is a long way away from being any kind of piano teacher.

Swampfox
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:40 pm

Re: Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

Post by Swampfox » Mon Jul 15, 2019 9:44 pm

Yes, I've found that in the challenge portion of the Triad lessons is more of a challenge than in most of the bootcamp lessons. The syncopation of the Sheeran piece made it even more challenging. I don't necessarily think Dm is out of place but the C minor exercise at 170 BPM that follows does seem to be a bit early.
The software does sort of tell you how early or late you are if you miss, it's on the score. The program definitely does not rank the overall quality of your play. Which, in my case, I can hear is pretty inconsistent. Eventually I'll get a real teacher.

blispers
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 1:39 pm

Re: Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

Post by blispers » Wed Jul 17, 2019 12:02 pm

I did this as the Chords practice Triads and the last challenge recorded for both Boot Camp and the course. I only had to get 100% once. That was nice.

PianoPablo
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 6:23 am

Re: Bootcamp Intermediate 19- D Major Triads is difficult!

Post by PianoPablo » Wed Jul 08, 2020 6:33 am

Wow, I created this account to say exactly the same thing. The Ed Sheeran Major Triads lesson (It's now lesson 20 in the intermmediate bootcamp) is a massive jump in technical ability from the previous lessons. As in, to the point of being really demotivating.

It's like we went from having really simple songs broken right down into parts, to now having a whole song with new chord progressions in one single lesson.

It's pretty poor lesson planning IMO.

Up until now i feel that every lesson, I've left with a really clear new principle, progression, chord etc. I would get through 4-5 lessons in a practice session. And now BAM I'm spending 4-5 sessions trying to get through this bootcamp lesson and master this song. The momentum and motivation has evaporated.

Thinking of taking a different tack to my practice now...

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