I've had two wonderful guitar lessons, in which my tutor's assessed my technique, and suggested that I'm actually rather better than i thought I was. I've been playing roughly grade 4 pieces, but he thinks essentially I've been slacking off, because I can generally just pick up these pieces and play them, and haven't pushed myself on to harder pieces. (The joys of being self taught, I guess). He's suggesting I work towards taking the grade 8 exam at the end of this year. It's a bit of a shocker, as I'd anticipated maybe doing grade 5 then! But we started playing some grade 8 rep, and I can feel it's actually quite attainable, so I suspect he's probably right, and that it's just going to take some serious application for me to be playing rather more complex pieces than I'm used to.

Given that I haven't sat any graded exams on the guitar, do you think it might be wise to try for grade 6 midyear, and then go for grade 8, or should I just put my energy into preparing for grade 8 at the end of the year? (I won't be crushed if I fail, and resit, so that's not a worry for me.)

On a non-exam related note, I'm working through the villa-lobos cinc preludes now, and absolutely loving them. They're great fun to play.

Oh, forgot a fairly salient detail - I'll be taking grade 5 theory in the summer too, so need to factor that into overall workload. I'm not worried about the grade 5 theory, but I will need to do some prep for it.

Hmm, personally I'd take the grade 6 first. I think it's nice to do something before grade 8 just because it's a good confidence booster. You also have to ask yourself if you want the grade because then on paper you'll be able to say you're grade 8 or because you actually want to be that standard. To do your grade 8 at the end of this year would mean working on very little else I would imagine.

Do the grade 6. It's a really nice syllabus for that grade, some of my favourite pieces are on it.

Alix -x-

I'm leaning that way. I'm toying with just doing the Performance Assessment, using the grade 6 pieces, perhaps. And I think I'll do the grade six at the end of the year, and then do grade 8 in march, so I can spend the year working on a range of rep at that kind of level.

While I don't mind repeating grade 8, I do want eventually to have a distinction in it, as I want to go on to higher study.

Thanks, Lix. Your response helps.

Wow, meercat, that's very impressive for a self-taught player!

It depends on the person I guess, but if I was in that position I would rather do something in between: performance assessment might be a good idea, as you could even do some music from different levels of the syllabus, ie grade 6 7 and 8, and then the examiner would be able to give you comments on your grasp of pieces at all those levels

I have the same problem with not pushing myself (not on guitar though!)

I've just realised that I have to have grade 5 theory before I can take anything above grade five anyway, so I think I'll definitely do the grade 6 - either PA or exam in the winter at the end of the year and see where I'm up to then move on from there.

I'm not a guitarist but if you were coming to me as an oboist, I'd certainly recommend doing something other than jumping straight into Grade 8. A Performance Assessment is a good idea if you meet the age requirements (you have to be over 21) but, otherwise, I'd encourage having a go at Grade 6 for the experience of taking the exam. It always feels very different in the exam room to simply playing to yourself and your teacher.

Best of luck anyway.

Being comfortable at grade 4 and being good enough for grade 8 are worlds apart, although if your tutor feels you are up to it, that is probably good. I would suggest grade 6 before going for 8. At grade 6 you are using universal fingerings for scales & arpeggios, so it will familiarise you with what your needing up to grade 8.
What are the pieces of grade 8 rep you were trying?

We've started the Villa Lobos etude in Em, and I've had a look at the Tarrega. It isn't tripping off my fingers, but I can feel it's within my grasp. I'm anticipating a fair bit of work to get it flowing and sounding good. He isn't saying I'm at grade 8 standard, but rather that I can get myself there by the end of the year, if I apply myself. What he is saying is that I'm not at grade 4 standard. I suspect he was trying to jolt me out of my repertoire rut. And having tried some of the higher grade rep, I can kind of see his point!

I'm not desparate to jump ahead - it feels a bit daunting to be honest. I was quite happy to think of myself heading towards grade five at year end!

I'll have a chat with him when I see him again, and suggest grade six at year end.