Level of difficulty

[LuGo]

Hello together,

I'm found this site last friday and I love it. And I've got a question: Can you make a level of difficulty for the arrangements? I learn piano and look for songs I can play with my level of knowledge. E.g. a numbersystem from 1 to 5, 1 as the easiest and 5 the hardest. And my English is not the best? Can you correct this post? This would be grate.

Thank You

LuGo

[Winter]

I feel like we had a discussion about this same topic elsewhere... Hmm..

[Jamaha]

We indeed have.

From what I remember, the biggest problem with it was that difficulty is rather subjective. What one finds difficult might be easy for others. Sure, it probably would be possible to give some sort of difficulty rating as a rough guideline. But that's not happening anytime soon, at least.

[fingerz]

Yeah. If you want to find out how difficult it is, you could just try playing it or asking the arranger how difficult they think it is.

[LuGo]

Yeah I know what you mean. Maybe you could wraite after the song well it's for beginner (e.g. by pokemon b/r/y viridian forest) or for advanced learner (e.g. Pokemon G/S/C: Gymleaderdefeated) or experts (e.g. the duet pieces)-

[JDMEK5]

Yeah, trying it for yourself is probably the best. I sometimes go by listening to it. Although it's not always accurate.
I've heard stuff which, at first, I thought: "No way." but I've downloaded anyways just to listen to, then somehow memorized the melody in my subconscious mind, picked it up on piano, and after I realize that I can actually play it, add the left hand, and boom!
I've involuntarily learned a new song! (e.g. Bowser Jr.'s Fiery Flotilla - SMG2)

I like my music program because it can put the note names inside the noteheads.
It's not like I actually need it, or know if finale can do it, but it's a little tidbit feature, and I like it.

[Meta-Ridley]

Did I post about this before? I forget...

I think it would be fair to make sure that all the pieces can be played by pianists of say 5 -7 years of experience or over.

[Cobraroll]

^At first, I read that as "I think it would be fair to make sure that all the pieces can be played by pianists of say 5 -7 years of age or over."


Either way, while some arrangements are easy to some, they can be challenging to others. Some are quite easy most of the way through, then have one really challenging part before going back to being easy (see Master Hand Battle from Super Smash Bros. Melee, for instance). Difficulty is subjective.


However, there are some pieces that are obviously easier than the rest, pieces that require very little experience to get properly. For instance, File Select and Hazy Maze Cave from Super Mario 64, or Elite Four from Pokémon R/B/Y.
I think that we should recognise these easy sheets somehow. Myself, I started playing piano because I wanted to play game music, and the simple pieces on site helped me improve a lot. So I suggest that we should at least consider to give credit to sheets that, for instance:

• Don't play more than two keys at once in one hand, and barely that
• Don't play faster than eighth notes anywere in the sheet
• Have bass lines consisting of mostly half or full notes, or really repetitive eighth notes (see for instance Super Mario 64 End Theme or the aforementioned R/B/Y Elite Four)
• Don't have more than two #s or bs in the key signature (which should be consistent throughout the piece)
• Don't span more than an octave and a half or so for each hand (and no overlapping)
• Have very short span between fingers when playing several keys at once
• Preferrably keep the distance between keys constant when playing several keys
• Don't use fancy markings or terms
• Never jump more than an octave between notes, unless there is plenty of time between them
• Play only the melody with one hand, and only the bass with the other

Wow, after writing this I realize that being easy is harder than it sounds like. This could account for perhaps thirty songs on the entire site, but it really helps singleing out the easy ones.

[Meta-Ridley]

Hahaha, glad you re-read it and didn't think i was a moron.

But seriously, for the Master-Hand arrangement, that extremely difficult part (subjectively) isn't even in the piece! I hope it gets looked at in the "Fixing the Sheets" Project.

But by a similar criteria method, we could single out all the extremely difficult (subjectively) pieces on NSM. That's where it gets complicated.

[insaneintherain]

Maybe have a "Beginner's" section and a "Virtuoso" section for those who want easy songs. Probably wouldn't be huge, but a thought.

[MaestroUGC]

Hehehe...

[fingerz]

I think you mean "Beginners" and "Insane".

[insaneintherain]

I think you mean "Beginners" and "Insane".

Why do you like my name so much???

[Jub3r7]

Hehehe...

Oh u

[fingerz]

Why do you like my name so much???

That was by accident. XD
I meant insane as in almost impossible to play. The word was just hopping around in my head after our discussion.