When do you move on to the next lesson?

I’ve completed all the way to Seven Worlds, level 3. I feel like I understand it pretty well but it isn’t exactly fluent. Just wondering if I should continue practicing the first 3 levels or continue on. How did everyone else approach this? FWIW, I’ve been playing guitar for quite a while - but this is taking my knowledge to a new level.

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Welcome to the forum @Ofitz

IFR isn’t like most ‘courses’. It’s a circular (or maybe I should write spiral?) process. You never truely ‘finish’ any level. Each time you come round again you seem to gain a bit more.

So in a way my anwser is to say that the choice is not an ‘or’ but an ‘and’, i.e. move on when you feel ‘comfortable’ or ‘ready’ (& only you can define those concepts for yourself), but don’t totally leave behind the things you’ve already done. You might keep them as part of your routine, or you might revisit them occasionally but briefly, or you might leave them out for a while, then cycle back & restart as if from scratch.

There is no “One True Way” with IFR, except maybe a guideline to follow your interest so you’re always doing something you want to do, and most likely enjoy doing.

That’s just my take on it. I hope it helps. I also hope you’ll be seeing other opinions too soon. :smiley:

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Welcome Ofitz. That’s an amazing level to be at. How has this new level been woven into your playing? Are you hearing and playing at this new level? What are you noticing?

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I look at it this way. The material to learn is like a cross country road trip. You can go non-stop in a few days, or you can drive leisurely and take a month. You can take side excursions. You can even backtrack. It doesn’t really matter the path you take, as long as you are kinda moving in the direction of the destination.

Personally, I work on one thing as long as it interests me. Then I move on to something else. But I keep circling back. I don’t think you ever really know anything well enough that you don’t have to circle back at some point and learn a little more about it, or learn to do it a little better.

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Well, I’ve been playing for almost 35 years. I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to understand theory and putting it to use. No one ever said, until this program, that studying in that way divorces you from really playing. I was always stuck in a pattern. Now I know where I am and I can intelligently move to a sound I want - up or down the fretboard. It’s been really fun so far. The best program I’ve used to date!

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I get that, for sure! I enjoyed trying to learn jazz theory for many years and the reward was… I learned some jazz theory. And I was able to spot some of it in action while studying a chord chart. But it never helped my playing electric bass. I have many IFR materials. I went through the entire Ear Training for Musical Creativity course, and it was awesome. But then I wasn’t able to practice due to high demands of time at school. I’m hoping the IFR Deep Foundations Workshop will be just what I need to keep up the pace of the lessons to actually apply the ear training to what can be done on the bass.

I learned what scales to use over which chord, which took me a very long time to do. Plus the walking bass song every bass teacher starts with is Autumn Leaves, so I had to learn too many scales to fit the too many chords in the song. ii7, V7, I, IV (why the IV?, then I learned why), vii7b5, III7, vi7. UGH!!! Too much!

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Hello and welcome to the forum @Ofitz.

Good advice here from the others already. Just follow your own heart and your own head. Continue with a lesson for as long as you feel you are learning from it, then move on, but remember you can go back to it if and when you fancy it.

And have fun.