We want to hear from you!

[Calvin Phillips]

Im gonna be 100% percent honest, I joined this site in 2019 everything was going well, it was active, I made friends but most those friends I made happened to leave the school cuz no one seemed to want to help out or drama behind the scenes. I feel like I do not fit in here at all! This school was my safe place but now it’s not it’s essentially ruined me and made me do stupid things to impress people.

when I was posting videos a lot I noticed no one would really like or comment but the more well loved members would get flooded with love and support. The school almost has a high school clique vibe to it sadly. I know this can’t be controlled by the amazing staff but I thought I put it out there.

one thing I sadly did to try to get more people to notice me is the bat country solo, I felt like I was going too slow and learned it in a week, more like tried and it flopped so so bad I didn’t even hit one note right and I was annoyed cuz no one was honest or told me how bad it really was! Everyone lied or didnt say anything

I think we have to put it out there that it’s ok to give helpful critism to people cuz it could benefit them so much and if someone happens to get mad it’s not your fault! You were just trying to help. It’s others choices if they want to listen or not


Lasty like lots of people have said the school has been really dead lately! I decided I’d come back and start fresh but it was so dead and it seems like their nothing new or anything to excite or keep the members going. I’m not saying new stuff had to be pumped out constantly there just has to be a way to keep the members going and active

People like you hide in the shadows now. I feel amlot have lost their motivation like you. It feels good to just hear "hey I like how youheld that note extra long"

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Thank you so much for your comment, it actually makes a lot of sense and I happen to think that the last part is a great idea and that you make very solid points about who appears on the Synner IG page. I will definitely bring this up to my fellow mods and see what we can do next!

I see your point dude. And I think that maybe we should find a way to put back more focus on the riff section. I also see your point about the Synner page! As I said to Iris, I will bring up everything you said.

Thank you for your honesty dude! I really appreciate it!

We could easily fit one minute clips into synner. I mean theres enough covers to do one or two weekly. Just need to ask for the video to be edited to a minute.

 

[Lindsey]

Yessss i'll bring it up to the tech team and see what can be done to make it so that the announcements be more flamboyant! @Lindsey has been doing a killer job in the past couple weeks and so I totally want her to get more recognition!

Thanks!

The only reason I haven't responded in this threat is because I have nothing to add to what has been said. I've read bits. I think the mods/ admins are doing a great job here!

 

[Gemma G.S.]

Everything I feel has pretty much already been said by others, but I feel like it's worth mentioning this: I wholeheartedly agree with those who said that it's turned into more of a social media site than a guitar school. And I think that's a lot of the reason why I haven't been as active lately, it lost the draw for me after the rebrand a little bit because it feels to me like the focus has shifted away from guitar and more toward clothes and the brand (which I also love, don't get it twisted, I throw my money at Syn Gates merch like I'm not broke af )

But when I came here like a year ago, it just felt different in a good way. It felt like a supportive place of learning and not a lifestyle brand type thing. I understand things and people and goals evolve over time, but I also think we need to go back to our roots and what (I assume) started this site in the first place - learning guitar and teaching each other to be better. And having fun, that part's important too.

I dunno though, just my two cents. Do more guitar stuff

 

[Ed Seith]

But when I came here like a year ago, it just felt different in a good way. It felt like a supportive place of learning and not a lifestyle brand type thing. I understand things and people and goals evolve over time, but I also think we need to go back to our roots and what (I assume) started this site in the first place - learning guitar and teaching each other to be better. And having fun, that part's important too.

I dunno though, just my two cents. Do more guitar stuff

They're good cents. I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying that we all had our reservations about combining, but the Dude who pays the bills and has his name stamped all over it had the final say.

In the end, however, it really is ENTIRELY up to the members to keep it school-focused. We can try to drive that with some contests, and we do that with some success, but running contests is a lot of work and, really, being a better guitar player is the best reward in the goddamn world, so....

With that said, I know I can be better about posting and commenting on guitar stuff and being more active as a musician on the site. I've had some personal issues that have made me reluctant, but I will commit (after this week, as I will be out of town) to doing some form of guitar-specific content for the site with greater frequency (I am also really looking forward to the launch of SynTV, which I can use to that end, as well - all the mods and select members can) and also to paying more attention to riffs and videos that others post (trying to avoid too many of the folks who are pro-level with multi-camera shoots and pro mixing and focus on the real STUDENTS).

Most of what's been shared here CAN BE FIXED, but it's important for the community members to accept their role in keeping the site guitar-focused and learning-focused.

Not enough guitar school content? ADD SOME. And give attention when others do. I will recommit to it, and all of you should, as well.

Much love, peeps.
-Cap

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

They're good cents. I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying that we all had our reservations about combining, but the Dude who pays the bills and has his name stamped all over it had the final say.

In the end, however, it really is ENTIRELY up to the members to keep it school-focused. We can try to drive that with some contests, and we do that with some success, but running contests is a lot of work and, really, being a better guitar player is the best reward in the goddamn world, so....

With that said, I know I can be better about posting and commenting on guitar stuff and being more active as a musician on the site. I've had some personal issues that have made me reluctant, but I will commit (after this week, as I will be out of town) to doing some form of guitar-specific content for the site with greater frequency (I am also really looking forward to the launch of SynTV, which I can use to that end, as well - all the mods and select members can) and also to paying more attention to riffs and videos that others post (trying to avoid too many of the folks who are pro-level with multi-camera shoots and pro mixing and focus on the real STUDENTS).

Most of what's been shared here CAN BE FIXED, but it's important for the community members to accept their role in keeping the site guitar-focused and learning-focused.

Not enough guitar school content? ADD SOME. And give attention when others do. I will recommit to it, and all of you should, as well.

Much love, peeps.
-Cap

 

[Kfir Yaakovi]

They're good cents. I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying that we all had our reservations about combining, but the Dude who pays the bills and has his name stamped all over it had the final say.

In the end, however, it really is ENTIRELY up to the members to keep it school-focused. We can try to drive that with some contests, and we do that with some success, but running contests is a lot of work and, really, being a better guitar player is the best reward in the goddamn world, so....

With that said, I know I can be better about posting and commenting on guitar stuff and being more active as a musician on the site. I've had some personal issues that have made me reluctant, but I will commit (after this week, as I will be out of town) to doing some form of guitar-specific content for the site with greater frequency (I am also really looking forward to the launch of SynTV, which I can use to that end, as well - all the mods and select members can) and also to paying more attention to riffs and videos that others post (trying to avoid too many of the folks who are pro-level with multi-camera shoots and pro mixing and focus on the real STUDENTS).

Most of what's been shared here CAN BE FIXED, but it's important for the community members to accept their role in keeping the site guitar-focused and learning-focused.

Not enough guitar school content? ADD SOME. And give attention when others do. I will recommit to it, and all of you should, as well.

Much love, peeps.
-Cap

While everything you say is great on paper, well, putting the responsibility on the users is wrong in my opinion, unless no one cares if the school die.

I mean, yes, the more the users will interact, post, engage, it will be more alive here, thats logic.
But if people are not doing it, or people don't find a reason to, the school will die. Now we can say its on the users, but the result will remain the same. For me it's like a company - we can blame the customers for not buying more, but eventually we dont make it very attractive and at the end, its the company that dies and the Founder who loses.

Most people are here for a reason, and I don't think there is much to change from the admins about it. You are all doing amazing work but eventually this is Syn community, if he choses to less interact here, and rebrand everything and push his agendas somewhere else, thats fine, but this may result his work here to die. I mean, why not search answers on google, upload vids to youtube/IG and talk in discord or other chats?

I don't know, even back then when it was alive it felt everything was around contests, and activity picks were when Syn engaged.

I don't know, I hope everything will get better eventually

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

I agree with both Ed and Kfir. To be honest it's a lot of pressure to put on some students. Hearing some people say "I promise I'll be better about being more active" sounds kind of like pressure, when Kfir and others have made points that they don't feel inspired to be active.

It's definitely a catch 22. But I'm going to play devil's advocate boldly: the students DID vibe. We all made huge efforts NATURALLY because we LOVED it. But Kfir made a great analogy. If at some point no one's buying the product the company eventually has to look at what it's doing.

Ed is right that contests take a lot of work. But we never had contests originally and we still took off flying. The fact that we have to issues contests to up the activity and the vibe feels like bribery.

I honestly just thought of it: I don't think the rebranding is what truly affected the site. I started issuing contests many years ago trying to up the engagement a little and inspire people.

Don't forget we all should let Radu and the team know we want to see or what changes you'd like to see made. We've voiced our frustrations but don't forget to leave a note about what you'd like to see improve

 

[Ed Seith]

While I hear what you’re saying, Kfir, and I hope it will change soon, for now Syn is largely avoiding public convos about anything but the NFTs. There are reasons for that, and we can’t get into it. I think as we get closer to new album time, there will be a fresh injection of excitement, from the site in general and from Syn himself. Hopefully, he will be more engaged via the SynTV when we’re able to launch it (meeting soon about it, but no status yet), but if it becomes all about “where’s the album, what’s the holdup?” it will get old for him real quick.

Ultimately, there’s little we can do about Syn not being here a lot. He made it clear from the beginning that his hope was that the school could thrive without him, that his name was to kick-start it, but it should be a place where people could learn and share safely whether he had any involvement or not. That part hasn’t changed, and I’m not sure it will, even though we’re definitely NOT THERE. His vision is his vision.

I don’t think any of that helps, but it is what it is.

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

While I hear what you’re saying, Kfir, and I hope it will change soon, for now Syn is largely avoiding public convos about anything but the NFTs. There are reasons for that, and we can’t get into it. I think as we get closer to new album time, there will be a fresh injection of excitement, from the site in general and from Syn himself. Hopefully, he will be more engaged via the SynTV when we’re able to launch it (meeting soon about it, but no status yet), but if it becomes all about “where’s the album, what’s the holdup?” it will get old for him real quick.

Ultimately, there’s little we can do about Syn not being here a lot. He made it clear from the beginning that his hope was that the school could thrive without him, that his name was to kick-start it, but it should be a place where people could learn and share safely whether he had any involvement or not. That part hasn’t changed, and I’m not sure it will, even though we’re definitely NOT THERE. His vision is his vision.

I don’t think any of that helps, but it is what it is.

Very well spoken, Captain.

 

[ari.mac]

(which I also love, don't get it twisted, I throw my money at Syn Gates merch like I'm not broke af )

I agree with everything but I felt this statement in my soul

 

[Alicia Willis]

Good Morning y'all !

I've been reading and rereading everyones responses and I just want to thank you all for being so candid about what you dislike right now.

I'd personally love to hear what you guys want to see on the site though. I've only seen a couple of comments from people giving some solid examples of things they would like to see/have on the site. Hit us with some more of those !

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

Good Morning y'all !

I've been reading and rereading everyones responses and I just want to thank you all for being so candid about what you dislike right now.

I'd personally love to hear what you guys want to see on the site though. I've only seen a couple of comments from people giving some solid examples of things they would like to see/have on the site. Hit us with some more of those !

Good morning, Peach! I would like to echo what Arsia said a while back. I really would like this to be more about my dashboard and where I've left off, and maybe see some things on the side like "how far I've come, what section I'm on, my time spent on lessons, my last lesson completed, little practice notes", ANYTHING. It's kind of distracting when I log on to practice and I see all these cute little red numbers. I said it years ago and I'm still saying it now. I wish this site had a cool entrance screen where you could either "enter the school" or "enter the community". I mean it doesn't have to be that grand, even if I just logged in and saw something that was MY student dashboard and progress in the school. Maybe you guys could create student/fan badges? So people know who's a guitarist and who isn't? Not sure if that's on board with the rebranding thing but just a thought! You all rock!

 

[Alicia Willis]

Good morning, Peach! I would like to echo what Arsia said a while back. I really would like this to be more about my dashboard and where I've left off, and maybe see some things on the side like "how far I've come, what section I'm on, my time spent on lessons, my last lesson completed, little practice notes", ANYTHING. It's kind of distracting when I log on to practice and I see all these cute little red numbers. I said it years ago and I'm still saying it now. I wish this site had a cool entrance screen where you could either "enter the school" or "enter the community". I mean it doesn't have to be that grand, even if I just logged in and saw something that was MY student dashboard and progress in the school. Maybe you guys could create student/fan badges? So people know who's a guitarist and who isn't? Not sure if that's on board with the rebranding thing but just a thought! You all rock!

Thank You ! I honestly really love this idea. Even if it is something as simple as a drop down at the top that has all of your lesson progress readily available.

 

[Dia]

While I hear what you’re saying, Kfir, and I hope it will change soon, for now Syn is largely avoiding public convos about anything but the NFTs. There are reasons for that, and we can’t get into it. I think as we get closer to new album time, there will be a fresh injection of excitement, from the site in general and from Syn himself. Hopefully, he will be more engaged via the SynTV when we’re able to launch it (meeting soon about it, but no status yet), but if it becomes all about “where’s the album, what’s the holdup?” it will get old for him real quick.

Ultimately, there’s little we can do about Syn not being here a lot. He made it clear from the beginning that his hope was that the school could thrive without him, that his name was to kick-start it, but it should be a place where people could learn and share safely whether he had any involvement or not. That part hasn’t changed, and I’m not sure it will, even though we’re definitely NOT THERE. His vision is his vision.

I don’t think any of that helps, but it is what it is.

Okay, I'm not that active on here but I've never heard of Syn saying or making clear that he hopes the school would thrive without him. Not on here. Not anywhere.
Isn't that why the school was made in the first place? For him to just help his fans with guitar playing, teach them and engage wih them?
Not "I'm gonna set this place up, leave em to it and let the fans take over".
That's pretty much the opposite of why a lot of people have come to this place.

And reading through the posts/comments, it really gives off the "students are the ones who need to change things" vibe and that's just.. odd.
No offence but it also feels kinda odd that you're trying to speak for him again and again.
In Syn's case (because he definitely seems too busy to read through all these threads) he should be informed about what's happening on here currently and that it's simply not going so well. And not sugarcoated... *actually* informed. And he'll go from there.
That'd be a start

 

[William B.]

Can a7x news or offical stuff related to them or side projects be posted here too? Like a normal thing?
I stopped using all the social medias and only scroll youtube and almost never log in so I don't really get updated
from pappy gates too he said he was practicing stride piano

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

Okay, I'm not that active on here but I've never heard of Syn saying or making clear that he hopes the school would thrive without him. Not on here. Not anywhere.
Isn't that why the school was made in the first place? For him to just help his fans with guitar playing, teach them and engage wih them?
Not "I'm gonna set this place up, leave em to it and let the fans take over".
That's pretty much the opposite of why a lot of people have come to this place.

And reading through the posts/comments, it really gives off the "students are the ones who need to change things" vibe and that's just.. odd.
No offence but it also feels kinda odd that you're trying to speak for him again and again.
In Syn's case (because he definitely seems too busy to read through all these threads) he should be informed about what's happening on here currently and that it's simply not going so well. And not sugarcoated... *actually* informed. And he'll go from there.
That'd be a start

Hey there! I'm not gonna speak on behalf of any staff member, but I do remember several years ago when this school 1st got launched he had a YouTube video that talked about it. In that video he said that the driving force of his school was going to be the community and very centered around the force of the community. Also I have to make an edit, when I was on this school from the very beginning, he was very active. And I was one of the students he engaged with on a regular basis. It caused a hell of a lot of problems with the other students. Any time 1 student got attention from him and another one didn't it started a huge roar between students. I got a lot of hateful messages and some really nasty shit got said to me. I'm not sure and I cannot speak for him if that's 1 of the reasons why he has taken a little bit of a step back but I'm sure it has something to do with it.

 

[Alicia Willis]

Okay, I'm not that active on here but I've never heard of Syn saying or making clear that he hopes the school would thrive without him. Not on here. Not anywhere.
Isn't that why the school was made in the first place? For him to just help his fans with guitar playing, teach them and engage wih them?
Not "I'm gonna set this place up, leave em to it and let the fans take over".
That's pretty much the opposite of why a lot of people have come to this place.

And reading through the posts/comments, it really gives off the "students are the ones who need to change things" vibe and that's just.. odd.
No offence but it also feels kinda odd that you're trying to speak for him again and again.
In Syn's case (because he definitely seems too busy to read through all these threads) he should be informed about what's happening on here currently and that it's simply not going so well. And not sugarcoated... *actually* informed. And he'll go from there.
That'd be a start

Hi Dia. As RedMage aka Jak stated, during the inception of the site Syn did specifically state what this community was to be and what that vision was.
As for informing him of what's going on with the site, that is precisely why we posted this thread so we can get the community's thoughts and feedback. He will be made aware of all

As for the bit about. "students are the ones who need to change things", I think that may be misconstrued. The team greatly values everyones opinions and wishes for the site and will do everything we can to see them to fruition, but if the community doesn't engage then we would basically be right back at square one.

 

[Dia]

Hey there! I'm not gonna speak on behalf of any staff member, but I do remember several years ago when this school 1st got launched he had a YouTube video that talked about it. In that video he said that the driving force of his school was going to be the community and very centered around the force of the community. Also I have to make an edit, when I was on this school from the very beginning, he was very active. And I was one of the students he engaged with on a regular basis. It caused a hell of a lot of problems with the other students. Any time 1 student got attention from him and another one didn't it started a huge roar between students. I got a lot of hateful messages and some really nasty shit got said to me. I'm not sure and I cannot speak for him if that's 1 of the reasons why he has taken a little bit of a step back but I'm sure it has something to do with it.

Yeah I can imagine that'd be a reason why he's so inactive currently. I'm sorry you had to go through that, it sounds like hell. People can be so cruel.
My point is that it'd be so much better and would also prevent so much unnecessary.. drama? (I guess that's what I'll call it for now) if he would just say at least something about it. You know? It doesn't have to be a big paragraph or anything but just explaining to the people on here why he's currently not doing much with the school would ease so many minds already.
The fact he's still not aware of what's happening kinda feels like a problem because this whole situation has been going on for a while

 

[Syn Gates]

Hey everyone!

A lot of great comments here and I really appreciate the turn towards focusing on suggestions. Emotion welcome but suggestions will help you all the most.

Transparency

Live Streaming

COVID and writing and recording a new record has made things terribly slow in the development of final goals. I can’t build anything else until SynTV is built. Resources are just super limited and Team Audentio(angels from above) is literally working with a skeleton crew and funding a lot themselves because of the undertaking. I just simply can’t throw 10s of millions of dollars to create a live streaming feature that competes w Twitch or YouTube…which it absolutely needs to in order for a smooth experience and engagement. This takes monumental amounts of time both on AND off the clock. Good news is we are almost there!

Live streaming was always the main feature to get real results as a guitar player. A place where all levels of of active and helpful students could share their knowledge directly with you and answer questions with words AND demonstrations. Again ALMOST HERE!!

The Syndicate

This club will be built out after live streaming and certain features we agree on are built. This will run similar to Deathbats Club but will not be a part of an NFT collection. It is for people who have purchased certain types of guitars or merch as well as for high value community members.

This brings me to “high value”. This term has confused and even offended some on social media. What I mean by “high value”, is simply kindness and education. If you are a kind, engaging, and super helpful student, you will be rewarded with access to The Syndicate. Perks may include but are not limited to, meet n greets, a group lesson with PG and me, private lessons with Synstructors, exclusive merch, discounts on merch, and more.

NFTs

After 5 years in crypto and 65 hours and counting in NFT education, I believe it to be the future of the Internet. Web3 is a decentralized version of the Internet. A great example is the social media platform BitClout. BitClout is modeled after Twitter but with open source code. What does this mean? It means that you can build your own BitClout app as many have already done. Even cooler is the fact that you could bring that tech into this school as our own personal social media experience.

With BitClout, every user is given their own coin, a type of crypto currency built off the blockchain . People can buy your coin if they like the value(kindness and education) you are creating and the value of your coin increases. It’s a way to literally invest in people and companies that provide value to you rather than create a popularity contest based off likes and useless comments.

At the moment, BitClout has completely eliminated trolling by virtue of the coin. If you’re a dick, nobody buys your coin. There is also no data mining or ads. The value, both monetary and human, comes from the community FOR the community. I suggest that you try out this form of social media before we give up on social media altogether because Fuckerberg steals our data, manipulates our emotions, and keeps us glued to his fucked up world with the most high end algorithms in existence.

Now I’m not saying we are going to implement BitClout, but this is an example of the culture behind Web3 and NFTs-they are giving the power back to the community.

Also, there are inherent problems currently like environmental impact from SOME blockchains but the overwhelming enthusiasm and confidence that the smartest people in the space have, is beyond exciting. They also believe that finding a way to reduce and eliminate harmful amounts of energy usage in blockchain could usher in the tech to fix this problem globally. Either way, great progress is being made.

Tough Love

And now for the fun part lol. The way this community runs is ENTIRELY up to you. If you want a certain type of engagement, then engage that way. It does NOT mean it will work. Every CEO, serial entrepreneur, and investor will tell you. Nothing ever ends up like the original vision. It’s a living and breathing life form we have given birth to and as hard as we try to send our child to Harvard, he might wanna move to Nicaragua and surf everyday.

The only people with real control(as long as I don’t Zuckerberg the tech), are you guys.

Which brings me to me. This site isn’t for me and isn’t set up to function only when I’m here. In fact, it’s a pyramid scheme. YES, a mother fucking pyramid scheme. Believe it or not, many wonderful things in this world are pyramid schemes. This is one of those wonderful things.

This was set up for YOU to learn, teach, and govern one another. Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, I couldn’t spend enough time here to help you all accomplish your goals. YOU have to spend the time here, engaging with one another. Encouraging one another. And most importantly, empathizing with one another.

Back to NFTs, I do not owe any of you guitar lessons, more time, or an exclusive club. Avenged as a whole had the desire and capital to create an amazing opportunity open to ALL fans. How with only 10 thousand you ask? Because, less importantly, is the opportunity to earn one for free from our private reserve if we see outstanding community members providing high value(kindness and education) to others. More important is the sheer fact that we are bringing our fans with us into the future by creating something that will hopefully push them to educate themselves on a potentially life changing space with a Utopian ethos- An Internet where you keep, control, and monetize your own data.

Synner

The only thing that really excites me is to bring ultimate value to you guys. That transcends guitar. I have no interest in creating another guitar educational site. The goal is to embolden all of you with a surplus of tools ranging from entrepreneurship to music and beyond. If you simply just learn how to be a great guitar player, you may just go straight to the YouTube hamster wheel because it’s the easiest place to go monetize this craft. The days of guitar heroes in surplus are dead and it’s quite possible we are a dying breed just like the super star clarinet players, the rock star sax players, and many others of yesteryear.

I know that this comes off as a horrifyingly ugly and cimmerian outlook but I don’t feel that way. I feel like this way of keeping things real allows you to stay in front of the eight ball instead of behind it. Also, with this type of information, you can go try to fix it if u are so inclined. Bring great A&R back to scout and develop great guitar bands. We look at labels like they’re bad, and some things they do are, but not when it came to giving bands money and a great producer to spend the right amount of time in a great studio to make amazing music. It takes a bit of magic to capture lightning in a bottle record label capital() could make it much easier.

The tools at Synner HAVE to provide you with the insight that I have gained in my experiences in all facets of business or I will have failed you. These include but are not limited to- website with e-commerce development, broad musical skills ranging from playing and producing to marketing and distribution, investing, future tech, networking, mindfulness, entrepreneurship, legal protection, financial management, and much much more.

I hope that this clears some stuff up for you guys.

Bottom line, we are just getting started

All my love, seriously, ALL of it!

SYN
:syngates: