What do you think about a "Critique Corner"?

[TBman]

I was thinking a new sub forum could be useful. A spot to post works in progress for the sole use of getting feedback. Show & Tell is nice, but the competition for views is high. Posting in "Play & Write," although a good spot for it, doesn't bring attention to the idea of "works in progress for review."

I don't have a good sense of what sounds good coming from my fingers. Some things I have posted sound good, and later on sound terrible and things that sound so-so, seem to sound better to me over time when I'm not overly critical. Getting honest reviews would be really helpful. I'm one of these older players that can record and post music, but most of the time it's a matter of "just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should."

What do you all think about a new sub forum for the purpose of critical review?

[BoneDigger]

The biggest issue I see with Show and Tell is a bit of a cliquish mindset where the same people get comments and most of us post and get crickets. To some extent that's based on differences in playing styles. Someone who strums out a song is less likely to get comments than someone who can elaborately finger pick on a pro or semi pro level. I eventually just quit posting anything there. The lack of responses is a hard thing for most of our egos to take! [emoji1787]

I would LOVE a place where I can post up songs I have recorded or wrote and get tips. Whether it's from a performance perspective, a lyric perspective, or a recording/mix perspective, it would be helpful. Some folks have aspirations of doing open mics or busking, and having some input on their arrangement could be very helpful.

[The Bard Rocks]

The Powers-that-be will not go for it. Over time, I've seen a number of suggestions for new sub-forums. They all seem to get forgotten And maybe a good thing, too.. If each one was adopted that has been suggested in the last 5 or 10 years, we'd have to wade though quite a lit of sub-forums. But I bet the Powers will read this and if you get enough positive comments, they may scratch their collective heads and think on it.

I regard such suggestions to be a little like shareholder resolutions. They never seem to go anywhere either. Though I no longer continue to follow such things, I cannot think of one that succeeded.

[TheGITM]

Originally Posted by TBman

I was thinking a new sub forum could be useful. A spot to post works in progress for the sole use of getting feedback. Show & Tell is nice, but the competition for views is high. Posting in "Play & Write," although a good spot for it, doesn't bring attention to the idea of "works in progress for review."

I don't have a good sense of what sounds good coming from my fingers. Some things I have posted sound good, and later on sound terrible and things that sound so-so, seem to sound better to me over time when I'm not overly critical. Getting honest reviews would be really helpful. I'm one of these older players that can record and post music, but most of the time it's a matter of "just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should."

What do you all think about a new sub forum for the purpose of critical review?

Most likely, you'd end up with the same thing we see in the other more specialized topic forums... you'll get a group that's active all the time and end up with another Show and Tell scenario. I really don't have any issues with the Show & Tell stuff. I post whatever, whenever, and generally don't expect much feedback.

I think that the Play & Write forum is where that stuff should be, but again, it's got it's regulars...

Just PM me links to your stuff and I'll critique it for you...

[jaymarsch]

I’m not sure that a separate sub forum is necessary. We could use Play & Write and put WIPFR (work in progress for review) in the thread title. I think that the most important thing when asking for a critique is to be specific about what kind of feedback that the poster is seeking. If it’s too open ended, the feedback is often too general to be useful.
By starting it this way, the mods can see if it is successful and being utilized. It’s that info that could determine if a sub forum is warranted.
Best,
Jayne

[Marshall]

I've thought for a long time that the other forums "Play and Write" and "Show and Tell" are too ambiguous. I'd love a "Songwriting" forum. But when I go to P&W or S&T, I find such a wide range of topics and discussions that i don't have the patience to wade through to find what I'm interested in.

So I don't go there.

[MJ Slaughter]

Even if we could add a like or other such emojis to their post showing the poster that you enjoyed it even if you don't want to bother giving a comment would be nice.

[TheGITM]

Originally Posted by MJ Slaughter

Even if we could add a like or other such emojis to their post showing the poster that you enjoyed it even if you don't want to bother giving a comment would be nice.

That feature is available in newer versions of this software. From what I gather, these forums are on a fairly old release - version 3.8.11 - the current version is 6.04 - so at least 3 major releases behind the current software version. I believe that the version we are on was released back in 2009. So, it's been 15 or so years since the site was upgraded.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by TBman

I was thinking a new sub forum could be useful. A spot to post works in progress for the sole use of getting feedback. Show & Tell is nice, but the competition for views is high. Posting in "Play & Write," although a good spot for it, doesn't bring attention to the idea of "works in progress for review."

I don't have a good sense of what sounds good coming from my fingers. Some things I have posted sound good, and later on sound terrible and things that sound so-so, seem to sound better to me over time when I'm not overly critical. Getting honest reviews would be really helpful. I'm one of these older players that can record and post music, but most of the time it's a matter of "just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should."

What do you all think about a new sub forum for the purpose of critical review?

Hi Barry…
I think your post landed in the closest thing to a Critiqué corner there is on the forum…

[Jeremy]

Originally Posted by jaymarsch

I’m not sure that a separate sub forum is necessary. We could use Play & Write and put WIPFR (work in progress for review) in the thread title. I think that the most important thing when asking for a critique is to be specific about what kind of feedback that the poster is seeking. If it’s too open ended, the feedback is often too general to be useful.
By starting it this way, the mods can see if it is successful and being utilized. It’s that info that could determine if a sub forum is warranted.
Best,
Jayne

I like this approach.

[J Patrick]

I’m not sure the AGF is the best place for a critique sub forum. The issue I see is the potential for unwarranted comment and bruised egos that may be the result. Criticism is a good thing when you know and trust the source but an open forum invites input from literally anybody. Sure, some folks are astute enough to evaluate the merit of the critique but others may not be. Opening oneself up is difficult for some players and while they don’t have to post anything the desire for validation might provide the motivation.

I’ve seen too many players pin their self worth on the opinions of others and I know there can be negative consequences when criticism is offered in a non safe environment which is something that can’t be guaranteed here.

It’s a better idea I think to maybe find a few trusted folks to form a private group to share songs and critiques. Just my .02

[Acousticado]

Fwiw, there are songwriting websites dedicated to this and more. Just Plain Folks is just one of them.

[abn556]

When recorded my playing always sounds bad to me. I tend to record things I am playing just to remind myself of it later. It often makes me cringe.

[foxo]

I’ve found that when I’ve asked for honest feedback in the thread title I have got it on Show and Tell. Sometimes flattering, sometimes less so, but more often than not highly constructive. I do see what Bonedigger means about the same folks getting the bulk of the responses from the same people though and that’s why I rarely post my stuff these days. No criticism of them - they’re all great - I think people are just less inclined to comment if they haven’t got anything but great praise.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

The biggest issue I see with Show and Tell is a bit of a cliquish mindset where the same people get comments and most of us post and get crickets. To some extent that's based on differences in playing styles. Someone who strums out a song is less likely to get comments than someone who can elaborately finger pick on a pro or semi pro level. I eventually just quit posting anything there. The lack of responses is a hard thing for most of our egos to take! [emoji1787]

I would LOVE a place where I can post up songs I have recorded or wrote and get tips. Whether it's from a performance perspective, a lyric perspective, or a recording/mix perspective, it would be helpful. Some folks have aspirations of doing open mics or busking, and having some input on their arrangement could be very helpful.

It's tough in S&T to get comments/reviews. I always thought singers got more attention than instrumentalists.

There are so many folks that post their tunes in S&T that do not post otherwise that threads just roll off the screen fairly quickly. That's one of the things that irk me about S&T.

There are so many tunes posted by "members" that do not interact otherwise on the forum that it is sort of ruining the experience a bit for others that do support the AGF as charter members. If S&T was a "charter member" only subforum I think it would be a better place to post things up as it would stop the "dump and run" threads by "transients" for lack of a better word. You would expect, if you comment on someone's tune, that when you post something they would also respond to your tune. These "transients" just take and don't give back to our online community.

I guess a solution is to put "Critiques welcome/needed" in the thread title in S&T or Play and Write.