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Anyone taken any RGT examinations?


Thunderthumbs
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I'm interested in looking at gaining some form of qualification, and was looking at the [url="http://www.registryofguitartutors.co.uk/exams/bass/bass_guitar.htm"]Registry of Guitar Tutors[/url] examinations.

Has anyone any experience of these, and if so, would you recommend them or not? What are your experiences having taken them? Did you definitely improve you as a bassist? Has it gained you anything regards work and/or reputation?

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This was a solid foundation of my bass playing and its a shame my school replaced it with some sh*tty private tutor crap. RGT really do have a solid basis, and excellent structuring imo.
The early grades, foundation and 1 are a bit pointless and tedious, but as you start moving higher, they really gain weight.
At least in my experience.

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[quote name='metalmaniac' post='116028' date='Jan 8 2008, 01:56 AM']This was a solid foundation of my bass playing and its a shame my school replaced it with some sh*tty private tutor crap. RGT really do have a solid basis, and excellent structuring imo.
The early grades, foundation and 1 are a bit pointless and tedious, but as you start moving higher, they really gain weight.
At least in my experience.[/quote]

Cheers.

I've just reached a point where I want to try and iron out bad points, improve what I'm not good at, etc.

Although I'm very experienced having played bass for about 25 years, I know my limitations, but I want to push myself beyond those limitations. It's a little like having been a learner driver for 25 years, and never having passed my test.

Did you pass the early stuff in conjunction with a tutor and/or having lessons, or do you reckon it's just stuff you could pass with theory books and practicing at home?

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The RGT books are very self explanatory so you could theoretically go through it yourself.
I took RGT when I first started out, and my teacher was always on acoustic guitar. This gave me the opportunity to do bass lines, solid backing whilst he played the chords, so it was a real cool thing for me having only been playing bass for 1 or 2 months.

However if you have 25 years experience i'd say you might as well go solo.

I mean, I'm sure if you phoned them they'd tell you the score.

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[quote name='metalmaniac' post='116207' date='Jan 8 2008, 02:02 PM']The RGT books are very self explanatory so you could theoretically go through it yourself.
I took RGT when I first started out, and my teacher was always on acoustic guitar. This gave me the opportunity to do bass lines, solid backing whilst he played the chords, so it was a real cool thing for me having only been playing bass for 1 or 2 months.

However if you have 25 years experience i'd say you might as well go solo.

I mean, I'm sure if you phoned them they'd tell you the score.[/quote]

Cheers for that.

Much appreciated.

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Even with your experience I'd recommend going with a tutor with experience of taking students though the exams - even if only for some mock exams. At least until you know what to expect.

I'm in a similar position in terms of my experience (and self taught). I decided I'd like to do some teaching and I thought the RGT qualifications would be good to have. I came in at 3, then did 5, 6 and 7. Grade 8 left - probably Easter if I get my finger out.

If you are experienced and can follow chord charts reasonably well then the "performance" and "bass pattern" parts of the exams should be easy marks. However as you progress, naturally these become harder, plus you will need to learn shed loads of scales and arpeggios / inversions in different positions and you'll need to learn to recognise chord voicings and intervals. Towards the higher grades music theory is tested a bit more - but not to the extent of dedicated theory exams.

Definitely help you musically, but I'd recommend learning to sight read alongside them (if you don't already) as they don't really develop that side too much. Also - they aren't cheap.

PM me if you want any more info. And good luck!

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The books will give you a very structured practice route but they are a bit dry on their own. Hats off if you stuck to it though.

If I didn't take the exams I know I wouldn't have put the same amount of work in to internalise the stuff.

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[quote name='JD1' post='116597' date='Jan 8 2008, 09:50 PM']The books will give you a very structured practice route but they are a bit dry on their own. Hats off if you stuck to it though.

If I didn't take the exams I know I wouldn't have put the same amount of work in to internalise the stuff.[/quote]

And that's where I think I'd have the same problem.

I could have a hundred theory books lying around, and probably wouldn't put the required effort in.

The recognised qualification, as in, having the piece of paper that'd say I'd passed wouldn't be the rewarding part for me. It's would be knowing that I'd pushed myself beyond my expectations to attain it.

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