There has been some suggestions that we move to monthly instead of weekly. This is because people are getting busier as lockdown eases (in some countries) and because the songs are going to be getting harder and probably need more effort. On the flipside, if we do something like monthly, it would take 4 years to get through all the songs. I don’t think anyone is in a rush though and for those that move through songs quickly you can always do other covers outside of the challenge to fill the gap. I’m fine to do whatever the majority wants.
Below is a poll. Please only vote if you are taking part in the challenge or plan to.
The sax forum as a “tune of the month” feature and they further breaks it down to beginner, intermediate and advanced (not that we should do that) as well.
Seems to work well on that cadence.
We might even pick up some others along the way if folks like a song and want to cover it Vs feeling like they are rushed or should do them all etc.
For me, 2 weeks is already a long time. I’ve been done with the first 7 songs for maybe 3 weeks now. Can’t wait for the next set of backing tracks to be uploaded.
Maybe you could change the format and open up all 50 songs. Not sure how much work that would be for the person creating the backing tracks (which is very appreciated by the way), but that would allow everyone to work at their own pace.
I think that 2 weeks is fine, I’m behind on posting HTH but it’s a flexible challenge, everyone does their pace, skips songs, whatever works for them
I miss the enthusiasm of the first couple of songs, Going to 1 month might cool it down even more
I think the problem if we open all 50 songs is that it’s then a free for all and we won’t learn as a group anymore, which is one of the primary purposes of the challenge.
50% for Two Weeks
33% for Three Weeks
17% for Monthly
For me personally, I think two weeks is fine for the “Easy” songs as many of those you can just play along with the tab once you’ve practiced any tricky parts a bit. However, I’m a bit worried about the Medium and Hard songs getting done for most people in two weeks. I don’t want people getting discouraged that they are falling behind the pack. Obviously these are Josh’s ratings of the songs, but I’ve had a look at some of the Hard songs and I can tell you that it would be a struggle to master some of those in two weeks for most of us. Now, those are a ways away, but I think even then our skill won’t have overcome the time needed to master them quickly. A full song of Billie Jean (in “Hard”) for example is going to be a challenge technically and for endurance.
So, what I’ve been considering is these two things:
Leave it at two weeks as that seems to be the poll winner and just see how it goes.
Plan to allow 2 weeks for “Easy”, 3 weeks for “Medium” and 4 weeks for “Hard”. We are half-way through the Easy songs. There are 28 Medium songs. There are 11 Hard songs. That would mean the challenge gets extended by roughly a year.
Personally, I think I’m leaning towards #2, but keen to get others thoughts on this. I’m not sure if others had considered the difficulty scaling and the impact that might have on their preference.
Just a reminder that we’re doing every three weeks for the Medium songs and every four weeks for the Hard songs. We just started our first Medium song so it kicks into effect now. This should also give people (like me) a chance to catch-up on the Easy songs. I’ll adjust the schedule in the main thread here and master spreadsheet here accordingly now.