Lick Library.

Alnico

Ok, so I'll start this by saying that *when* you do get onto a lesson, it's all stuff I didn't previously know and I can't knock it for teaching me the stuff I didn't know, Ok.....I get that BUT............and it's a big "But",.......

WTF is going on with that pre historic website and why make out that it's all free when it bloody isn't?

"My Lick Library" is close to useless unless of course, you've actually bought something.
Well, hang on, I've paid £25 for the month to get apparently "Unlimited Access to streaming over 100 DVD's"?
Haven't I?

Well No, not exactly.
Yes you have in as much as you do get to choose from over 100 DVD's of THEIR CHOICE and most of them are 'Jam With.....' etc. or 'Play Rock Guitar', etc
So that Steve Vai DVD you wanted to watch to learn 5 of his most popular songs..........That'll be an extra £11.99, please.
GRRRR

There are *some* DVD lessons you can stream yes, you can choose from over 100 BUT whatever the function of 'My Lick Library' actually is, it's certainly not to make it easy for you to find them again. It only seems to want to log the things you've been and bought.
GRRRR

Ok, so let's have a look at Jam Trax (Backing Tracks to any Adult).
So there's a lot of them, you can actually download these as MP3's which is a good job because "MLL" will not fucking keep track(No Pun Intended) of ANY of your history with that, no matter if you do click the rating stars or click the star for "Favourite" in the index.
GRRRR

The main Index of the 100 DVD's has some really good titles IN NO FUCKING ORDER AT ALL, it's just completely random.
The 'Modes' DVD's of which you only get to look at 6, (I'm still a beginner with this but I'm sure there are 7?) are in any order they feel like putting them up in but when you get into watching one, Danny Gill or whoever says that you should have watched "Blah" DVD first...............ok, So now I need a notebook next to the laptop? WTF?
GRRRRR

I'm soon getting my first ever 7 string guitar.
Guess what?
ALL the 7 string stuff except for one Online lesson with Jamie Humphries that makes it clear from the offset that all he's going to do is tune the 7 string to a B baritone tuning and ignore the top E string, is all paid for content..............Wait, when I signed up they MADE OUT like I would be able to watch all this stuff as part of my £25 per month membership?

So I get the "Play in a day" version of the 7 string tuition unless I go and pay for 'Sam Bells 7 string secrets' at the now very common sight of £11.99 (They graciously offer a 40% discount on any DVD you buy so it's £11.99 instead of £19.99). Sam Bell, BTW on all the video's I've seen so far (The peasant edition, FREE video's that don't really say a lot because they're just previews for the paid content OR they say so much that you couldn't possibly understand them unless you've been through the previous DVD's, which you have to pay for !), looks like he's just come off a 3 day stag weekend bender and I've seen some laid back tutors before but he just sighs with this "Can't be arsed" tone in his voice the whole time. I honestly didn't think I would ever watch someone with less Character and on screen presence than Dave Kilminster but now I've seen Sam Bell, I'll apologise to Dave for that, He's by far not the worst presenter I've seen now! Yeah, that really inspires me Sam, cheers for that!
GRRRR

The only saving grace of the entire thing that I've seen so far is Andy James who genuinely loves what he does and is genuinely a good tutor BUT you try navigating that bloody site and finding all his stuff and THEN try finding it again next time, You need a hand written fucking map on a bit of paper.

I don't mind paying for stuff, I'm not tight with money but I hate *feeling* like I've been conned and I despise people and organisations that in 2017 run clunky, awful sites like this, especially those that get paid £25 per month from each member !!!

So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't mind the fact that It costs per month in fact, I saw that as a massive saving with total convenience 'At Home' over the cost of travelling to lessons and the time I would pay for with a face to face tutor.
I also don't strictly mind the fact that some media is paid for on top of that, especially as I will get to keep the DVD afterwards BUT that bloody website and the *way* they let you find that out............

Man, I'm pissed off right now.

Maybe I've missed something and those that know me will know I'll be the first person to hold my hands up and apologise if I have but so far, all I can see is a horrible website and a system that seems to rope you into paying more once you're in.
The only upside to this is that I can cancel anytime I want to and (So it says) it won't keep charging my card after the next renewal date the following month..........I'm really glad I didn't sign up for 6 months right now!

Have I missed something?

Or have I stood in a well-known puddle that I haven't previously heard of?

Is wanting a nice, easy to navigate website too much to ask for paying what appears to be a base-line subscription charge and then having to pay for what they appear to look at as premium content?

I'll say it again, it's not that i strictly mind having to pay it's the *way* they've done it and then the fact that the website won't get any better once I have done, I just get a DVD through the post and If I can find it again on the site, I can stream it as well..........or at least I presume I can. Actually I don't know that for sure because their shit website tells you next to nothing except how to pay more money.

I have until August 8th to make my mind up over the next monthly renewal.

 @Chris777
 @Blackjack

I wholeheartedly apologise for recommending this website to you both, I hadn't looked into it far enough to realise all this when I told you how good I thought it was, because I was so busy that day and until now I hadn't taken the time to actually start using it, I just believed the hype they fed me when I signed up.

If either one of you have spent that £25 and you feel the same way about it as I do, please let me know and I'll find a way of getting it back to you, I really am genuinely sorry, you're both friends of mine.

I constantly tell people I'm not very clever because I guess I've always felt like I've been that way and now I really fucking well feel it.
So now I feel conned and stupid.

Cheers Lick Library.

\Rant.

xRandomreg

I signed up last week for a second time
ove been a member before so I guess I know the limitations
if you pay 6 maths gold up front you get 12 free DVDs plus acces to a lot of online content

basically you get your money in DVDs +++ straight away then access to all the online stuff - not streaming DVDs though

I've found this good value.

hope that helps 
andrew

Alnico

Randomreg said:

I signed up last week for a second time
ove been a member before so I guess I know the limitations
if you pay 6 maths gold up front you get 12 free DVDs plus acces to a lot of online content

basically you get your money in DVDs +++ straight away then access to all the online stuff - not streaming DVDs though

I've found this good value.

hope that helps 
andrew

Yes ok, I see what you're saying to a point but do YOU get to choose the DVD's that YOU want?

Also, How do you live with that awful website?

sweepy

Going to be interesting when DVD's become history, the drives are already no longer fitted to Mac Pro's

Alnico

sweepy said:

Going to be interesting when DVD's become history, the drives are already no longer fitted to Mac Pro's

You can download the DVD's.I'm actually just having this exact discussion on WhatsApp.

I've had another look again just now.
I still maintain that the lessons themselves are really good, I love it once I'm into a lesson but the website itself is a nightmare to use.
I can't help feeling like it's done on purpose to push sales of DVDs / Downloads and it just makes it a pig to use.

That's the crux of my problem with it, that and the fact they seemed to make out it was ALL free and THEN tell you it's not.
Guess I should have seen that coming.

Oh wait,......so there is a free lesson!
LOL.

No,.......it cost me £25 to find that out.


I suppose the upside is that the discount on the DVD's / downloads works in your favour if you buy a lot of them.

TTony

I've always bought what I want when they have one of their (fairly regular) BOGOFF deals.  

That makes the DVDs £10-£12 each, which is incredibly good value for the content.  Rip them to MP4 and stick them on a mobile drive, and I can watch them wherever & whenever I want, on a whole range of devices, without having to worry about internet connectivity.

And the website works.

:P

Jalapeno

Ditto on buying - LickLibrary DVDs are a staple on eBay.

Alnico

TTony said:

I've always bought what I want when they have one of their (fairly regular) BOGOFF deals.  

That makes the DVDs £10-£12 each, which is incredibly good value for the content.  Rip them to MP4 and stick them on a mobile drive, and I can watch them wherever & whenever I want, on a whole range of devices, without having to worry about internet connectivity.

And the website works.

:P

I agree that the DVD's / downloads are good value but how do you get MLL to work?
If I go into the 'Ultimate Collection' for example, to watch one of the 100 DVD's I can watch for free, there is no way of saving it to favourites but if I watch a preview of a paid DVD it saves that to favourites on its own.
I think it's the MLL aspect of it that's wound me up the most because it feels unusable which made me feel stupid and the fact that the paid stuff seems to work just fine made me feel conned.

It's likely I'm wrong, it happens a lot but I'm not so thick that I can't work a website and as a new customer to them it doesn't feel very good.

*That's* my point if I have one.

TimmyO

Do the trial on Turefire.com

You can bookmark courses, mark each individual lesson as done or in progress, and create yourself playlists of any lessons from across any courses

Alnico

TimmyO said:7

Do the trial on Turefire.com

You can bookmark courses, mark each individual lesson as done or in progress, and create yourself playlists of any lessons from across any courses

Thanks Tim,
I was thinking of going that route.
I'll give it a go this week.
I've got the LL sub until August 8th so I'll take advantage of some of the discount on the artist specific stuff that drew me there but from the small amount I've seen true fire looks way better organised. 

Are you a member there?
It sounds like you are from your post.

If so, do you find their site functionality good? 
What you've describes sounds ideal.

Sorry for all the questions....

Are the add-on costs reasonable on top of the subscription?  Or do they not have that ?

Thanks for your help with this I appreciate it a lot.

monquixote

I prefer true fire and they have lots of offers.

Alnico

monquixote said:

I prefer true fire and they have lots of offers.

I'm going to look into true fire over the next few days.
Thanks, @monquixote and @TimmyO

While I've got the LL Sub I'll try to buy as many of the song specific DVDs as I can because, despite the clunky horrible website, I really rate some of the lessons and especially the Andy James and Guthrie Govan Lessons but with Treufire looking so much better I don't think I'll be staying with LL for any length of time.

Shame, I had really high hopes and I'm walking away with a really negative impression of the people who run it...............and Sam Bell. Seriously he's a great player but he's got a voice and a character for radio.............maybe a gardening show or something.
Other players on there I appreciate are Jamie Humphries and Danny Gill. They're both excellent players.
There's probably more but I doubt I'll see them now.

Thanks for your help here guys and putting up with me ranting.

 

missmisstreater

The only thing I take issue with here is "The only saving grace of the entire thing that I've seen so far is Andy James who genuinely loves what he does and is genuinely a good tutor"

My stuff is all stuff I stand behind and I care deeply about the content and supporting people who have questions about it.

Other than that? Yeah, I spent 5 years banging my head against a wall trying to make changes for the better, but noone would listen to me. I can't explain why. I know what they need to do to fix it... because I'm their market. I spend more money on instructional material every month than 90% of their members.

I'm not a yes man. If something is shit, I'll say it's shit. I feel that was a direct conflict with what the higher ups there want. So our relationship seems to have just abruptly stopped.

bingefeller

LL isn't much cop and I've never found their DVDs to be any good.  

If you like Andy's lessons then his own website would be a better option if you really wanted to improve your technique.  It would work out at about £380 a year, and you're currently paying £25 a month, which is £300 a year.  With Andy's site you can personally ask him questions and get feedback on your playing via any videos you send him, so it's like a virtual lesson with him.  

Alnico

missmisstreater said:

The only thing I take issue with here is "The only saving grace of the entire thing that I've seen so far is Andy James who genuinely loves what he does and is genuinely a good tutor"

My stuff is all stuff I stand behind and I care deeply about the content and supporting people who have questions about it.

Other than that? Yeah, I spent 5 years banging my head against a wall trying to make changes for the better, but noone would listen to me. I can't explain why. I know what they need to do to fix it... because I'm their market. I spend more money on instructional material every month than 90% of their members.

I'm not a yes man. If something is shit, I'll say it's shit. I feel that was a direct conflict with what the higher ups there want. So our relationship seems to have just abruptly stopped.

Hello Levi,

I'll say all this publically as my initial Rant was public.
There's a very good reason why I said what I said and I can understand you taking exception to it, however......

I saw your video's in the index but I didn't get as far as watching them, so I have no Idea what your videos are like, which led me to say what I did........"The only saving grace of the entire thing that I've seen SO FAR........."
The reasons I didn't get as far as your videos were the issues I ranted about above.
Also (Which I didn't make clear and I'm at fault for not doing so), I've seen Andy's video's before so already knew of him, however, I had previously never heard your name or seen your video's. That's wrong on my part to have phrased it all like that so I'll apologise for that directly to you and the other tutors as well.

 I was a very first time user and the awful way that site works wound the hell up out of me and made me switch it off in anger, so I didn't get as far as your video's or a lot of the others. Even more so now I feel like that's quite a shame. There's a lot I haven't seen yet however, I was careful to say at the beginning of the OP that Most of the lessons I had seen appear to be excellent and once I'm into the lesson, they're very good and enjoyable. It's the site functionality and the system they use to get the subs that annoyed me.

I do fully believe you when you talk about your commitment to it.
I will apologise for the nature in which I ranted however as it's a true indication of how I felt after my first few hours of watching and trying to learn, I'm not going to edit the OP. I will leave this public apology to all the tutors but I think that Sam could just cheer up a bit to make it a LOT more enjoyable watching him!

I can totally understand the frustration you talk about, I've been in similar situations myself in different trades and I think we both have a point that isn't being listened to.

Thanks for pulling this up here because I feel like it's given my issues some weight and thanks for agreeing with the principle which pissed me right off, but please also see that not only did I not mention you by name but also (Which I really could have made clear in the OP had i not been so bloody angry) I could have and should have named all the tutors that are so good and as you say, "Stand by their work".

My Sub runs until August 9th so I tell you what, no matter how clunky and annoying the site is, I'll make a point of finding your material and let you know honestly what I think of it. I'm sure that in my position of needing to learn I'll find it interesting and learn something from you and I do believe you genuinely care about what you do, so let me have an open experience with it and I'll let you know how I go.

Is that fair enough?

ennspek

I have used truefire and it works really badly on my android tablet. I haven't tried it on the laptop.
No problem with the content though.

missmisstreater

Is that fair enough?

Don't be silly - think nothing of it mate!

I could look through everything you said and give you tips and pointers... but I agree with you. It's a bad website with no sensible user functionality... and as helping people with problems is now not part of my job description... It's easier to just agree with you when you're right.

I hope they sort their shit out. I do. I wouldn't have given up 5 years if I didn't think there was potential for something amazing.

The way you make something amazing though is to listen to your customers and employees.

missmisstreater

Alnico

missmisstreater said:

Is that fair enough?

Don't be silly - think nothing of it mate!

I could look through everything you said and give you tips and pointers... but I agree with you. It's a bad website with no sensible user functionality... and as helping people with problems is now not part of my job description... It's easier to just agree with you when you're right.

I hope they sort their shit out. I do. I wouldn't have given up 5 years if I didn't think there was potential for something amazing.

The way you make something amazing though is to listen to your customers and employees.

I hope your situation gets better, that sounds awful.

Thanks for the reply and the PM.
I'll work my way around it all for now and try to get the best out of the lessons on there that I can.

Looking forward to seeing yours now,

All the best man.

missmisstreater

Oh man, things couldn't be better!

I'm writing books, transcribing more than ever and transitioned into the Youtube thing which is supported by an awesome Patreon

I should have made the jump sooner!

Alnico

missmisstreater said:

Oh man, things couldn't be better!

I'm writing books, transcribing more than ever and transitioned into the Youtube thing which is supported by an awesome Patreon

I should have made the jump sooner!

I'm glad to hear that.

Well done.