We want to hear from you!

[Rad Synner]

Hello everyone, hope that you are all doing well!

So, we wanted to take a moment to talk with you about Synner and get some feedback from you. Basically, we are asking all of you to tell us:

- What you think about Synner
- What you would like to see
- What you dislike
- How can we be better

We believe that it's really important to have this open conversation with all of you so that we can truly do our best because in the end, we are all building Synner together!
So, whatever you have to say, feel free to do so with no judgment and if you feel uncomfortable to leave your opinion in the open like this, feel free to send me or any other of the mods a private DM where we will be happy to address your feedback or concerns!

I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts!

 

[idssdi]

Well, for starters I feel like the school is pretty dead at the moment. There's barely any engagement in the forums or questions asked and incentive to start doing that pretty much doesn't exist and I check multiple times a day because that's habit I had since the beginning of I would be new here I would have literally no reason to stay.

For starters when I saw you can get a guitar lesson from Syn by getting one of the nfts I was honestly pretty pissed off since he has a guitar school and his engagement is pretty much non-existent here besides the aotm(still love you Syn but had to be said ). If you can just buy an NFT and get a guitar lesson from syn you can question what this school has as an added value besides it being free since there's no engagement. And no I'm not opposed to crypto nor nfts before anyone wants to go that road.

Furthermore, I've been here from the beginning and there was lots of engagement from a whole lot of people and I think part of that is because it felt a little bit more free, now I feel like you have to be a lot more careful of what you do and what you say and I can't really truly be myself anymore. There's barely any banter or jokes or anything like that anymore and that's kinda boring really so I would really have that feel the old school had back. You can just hop on and there would be people you could talk and joke around with.

 

[Ryan Vega]

The only thing I hate about this site is that I can't upload directly to it and I have to use links from elsewhere. Other than that everything is great I recommend people here all the time. More of those special guest lessons would be cool too like the one where you had dude from trans siberian, those exclusive masterclass' always get me excited

 

[Ed Seith]

Well, for starters I feel like the school is pretty dead at the moment. There's barely any engagement in the forums or questions asked and incentive to start doing that pretty much doesn't exist and I check multiple times a day because that's habit I had since the beginning of I would be new here I would have literally no reason to stay.

For starters when I saw you can get a guitar lesson from Syn by getting one of the nfts I was honestly pretty pissed off since he has a guitar school and his engagement is pretty much non-existent here besides the aotm(still love you Syn but had to be said ). If you can just buy an NFT and get a guitar lesson from syn you can question what this school has as an added value besides it being free since there's no engagement. And no I'm not opposed to crypto nor nfts before anyone wants to go that road.

Furthermore, I've been here from the beginning and there was lots of engagement from a whole lot of people and I think part of that is because it felt a little bit more free, now I feel like you have to be a lot more careful of what you do and what you say and I can't really truly be myself anymore. There's barely any banter or jokes or anything like that anymore and that's kinda boring really so I would really have that feel the old school had back. You can just hop on and there would be people you could talk and joke around with.

The rules are the same as they've always been. As Syn said from the very beginning (when he was here all the time), it absolutely HAD TO BE a safe place for anyone to be. Some people have trouble with that. For them, there are consequences.

The NFTs are something the band is doing. It's something they're excited about and they're trying to engage their fans in exciting and interesting ways with it. I'm not personally interested much, but it's important for EVERYONE to understand that doing NFT stuff is NOT taking their time away from other things (new music, touring, etc.). While I'm not interested in NFTs per se, I do appreciate that they're trying to add real-world value to these digital tokens - that, to me, is where their attempts to innovate are relevant.

Again, if they weren't doing NFTs, the album would NOT be out sooner. The tour would NOT start sooner, and Syn would NOT be here more often. There's a ton of shit for the site that's coming, and I know we've talked about it and previous deadlines have passed, but there are a lot of reasons for all of it. Some will be made clear at a later date, and some won't (because aside from being public figures, the guys all have rights to privacy where they can get it). There's a ton related to the site that Syn is working offline and a lot of stuff is going frustratingly slow.

As far as new music, hell, there has been SO MUCH new music in the last month that I'm GLAD they didn't put out a new album in October. I want new Avenged to drop in the middle of a no-man's land of relevant metal releases so I can savor the fuck out of it.

As far as Syn being on the site - even if he's not here all the time like he was in the early days, this site is still his DNA and his input. His brand. His MONEY making it happen. By this point, he shouldn't be the Big Draw of the site - LEARNING and COMMUNITY should be. Perhaps we, as a leadership team, need to do a better job making that happen. That's kinda why this thread was posted in the first place, so ideas and thoughts could be shared.

Thanks for speaking up!

 

[Gabby Heafy]

It's been almost 2 years that I am in this community, and I can say that I have met amazing people and they are always there to help and share their knowledge to others. I know that the school is not always fully active, it is totally understandable that this happens and it is completely logical that Syn is not always here, but I know that all these incredible changes in the site, and the love that he puts into his school, this makes it more than clear that he is always present in some way.

About the subject of the NFT, it's something that excites me and I see super interesting for the future, I don't think that this is an obstacle for Syn not to have commitment in his school, far from it! Surely he will have better and new projects for here!

I am more than happy and comfortable with this school. I think it could be improved to make more challenges and contests without having a big prize but with more recognition and being able to know more the knowledge that other new or not students have. Sometimes it is not easy to keep everyone happy, but the best thing is to contribute ideas, good thoughts, and try to make the school better every day.

You have my support and love, I know that I don't contribute with guitar techniques and others, but you know that I am always here to help you and try to contribute the best of me!

 

[Alicia Willis]

It's been almost 2 years that I am in this community, and I can say that I have met amazing people and they are always there to help and share their knowledge to others. I know that the school is not always fully active, it is totally understandable that this happens and it is completely logical that Syn is not always here, but I know that all these incredible changes in the site, and the love that he puts into his school, this makes it more than clear that he is always present in some way.

On the subject of the NFT, it's something that excites me and I see super interesting for the future, I don't think that this is an obstacle for Syn not to have commitment in his school, far from it! Surely he will have better and new projects for here!

I am more than happy and comfortable with this school. I think it could be improved to make more challenges and contests without having a big prize but with more recognition and being able to know more the knowledge that other new or not students have. Sometimes it is not easy to keep everyone happy, but the best thing is to contribute ideas, good thoughts, and try to make the school better every day.

You have my support and love, I know that I don't contribute with guitar techniques and others, but you know that I am always here to help you and try to contribute the best of me!

Thank you Gabby ! We appreciate having you in our community ! The Synner community isn’t just about guitar, and moving forward that fact will be highlighted a bit more.

 

[Rad Synner]

The only thing I hate about this site is that I can't upload directly to it and I have to use links from elsewhere. Other than that everything is great I recommend people here all the time. More of those special guest lessons would be cool too like the one where you had dude from trans siberian, those exclusive masterclass' always get me excited

Yes we do acknowledge that it can be annoying to not be able to directly upload. What I can tell you is that we are working on something for direct uploads on Synner but it's gonna be a significant undertaking and so it will take a bit of time before it gets implanted here!

Though be sure that we heard you loud and clear!

As for the Master classes, SynTv will open a new door of possibilities so we are really excited for future more events like these!

Thank you so much for your input Ryan, it's really appreciated!!

 

[ari.mac]

I love Synner, it's the "place" where I started my guitar journey and where I met some wonderful people! I'm sad it is a bit dead now, I'm guilty of this too because I'm having zero time these days to record stuff for the school. I really hope that with all the things that will come in the future the site will be back in full force! And I can't wait to have more time as well to contribute a lot more.

Having Syn a tiny bit more active would be wonderful, not going to lie. But I understand he has a lot on his plate at the moment. I mean I don't have time and I just have a regular job
Edit: I also have to say, I feel like Ids in regards of the guitar lesson with Syn with the NFT, but maybe there will be something for the synner students as well?

So, as we wait for the newness, maybe there could be a new contest? I saw a lot of new faces with the last contest and there was a lot more engagement. It doesn't have to involve big prizes, even just something symbolic.
Love to all my synners ❤

 

[iridecently]

I agree with @ari.mac, I absolutely love this place because I made friends here that I now talk to on a daily basis and I think that is the strength of this school.

However, I think its important to recognize that the site is nowhere near as active as it has been. I am totally part of the problem here, I had my move and honestly never really returned to the site due to all sorts of reasons and excuses. But I think it's important to look at the feedback people are giving and are gonna give here, because there has gotta be a reason that people no longer engage like they used to.

I by no means want to put the blame on Syn here, but at the same time this is his school and I imagine part of the reason people join is to interact with him and learn from him (it definitely was for me). Not having him around and meanwhile seeing guitar lessons appear as a benefit for NFTs feels weird and I get that people might get upset by that when all we've seen from him on here for a good while now is AOTM posts. Like I said, not saying this is entirely to blame, but it really doesn't help.

I think setting up more contests and challenges would be a good way to get people out of their shell again. Bringing back titles like Student of the week (back when the site had an instagram) I think would really help people feel seen and their efforts recognised, because in the end that's really all people want.

 

[Edward John]

Well, for starters I feel like the school is pretty dead at the moment. There's barely any engagement in the forums or questions asked and incentive to start doing that pretty much doesn't exist and I check multiple times a day because that's habit I had since the beginning of I would be new here I would have literally no reason to stay.

For starters when I saw you can get a guitar lesson from Syn by getting one of the nfts I was honestly pretty pissed off since he has a guitar school and his engagement is pretty much non-existent here besides the aotm(still love you Syn but had to be said ). If you can just buy an NFT and get a guitar lesson from syn you can question what this school has as an added value besides it being free since there's no engagement. And no I'm not opposed to crypto nor nfts before anyone wants to go that road.

Furthermore, I've been here from the beginning and there was lots of engagement from a whole lot of people and I think part of that is because it felt a little bit more free, now I feel like you have to be a lot more careful of what you do and what you say and I can't really truly be myself anymore. There's barely any banter or jokes or anything like that anymore and that's kinda boring really so I would really have that feel the old school had back. You can just hop on and there would be people you could talk and joke around with.

Totally agree, my friend.

 

[Awex Came]

I've said this before and it's been mentioned already, but I think the school needs more engagement from Syn and PG. They both live busy lives which makes it hard, and I think a lot of the point of this school was to teach eachother and have community leaders oversee it, but it would feel a lot more personal and active if we heard more from Syn. If you look at his activity, it's been only AOTM for many months now. A simple chime in from him on a thread here and there would do a lot.

I think the communication needs to be more transparent as well. They've announced pedals, amps, live streaming, and the app for quite a while now. Some of them had estimated arrivals which we're far past and we have nothing, which is fine and understandable, but simple communication from someone about them would make it a lot better. "Hey, the pedal is still coming. We're having production issues with the factory" or "Hey, we decided the pedal needed more tweaking so it will be a few months" or "We just tested our first live stream privately and it was a success. Possibly expect it in this timeframe." Transparency and communication will go far and keep us active and engaged.

Also, I don't think there's been a quarterly stream with Syn and PG in a quarter or so.

Although I focused on some negatives, there's still tons of great things we can't take for granted.

EDIT: Also, the rebrand to Synner a while back is interesting. Almost makes it seem more like a social media/brand rather than a school. Not sure if that was the point, and I don't hate it but it was just a thought.

 

[Anna.VG]

I joined this place this year and ive met a lot of amazing people in here but i agree with some comments people made earlier; it would be amazing if we get to see syn more active, i understand that he has a busy agenda and that he has a lot of things to do but at the same time this is his school! The site is pretty dead, honestly. (I mean i cant post anything releated to guitar because i dont know nothing but i try to support everyone in here) Even with the aotm you can see that, a lot of people used to leave their reviews but now its only like 5 or so that do that...

And i get that this can be frustrating for you, mods, we know youre working hard with the new app, trying to mantain the site active in some way, answering peoples questions, merch and those things and i appreciate all the things you do!

Maybe when the app launches and all these amazing things starts working (Like the live streams) people would interact a lot more!

But if you want more interactions dont do giveaways lmao

 

[Alicia Willis]

I've said this before and it's been mentioned already, but I think the school needs more engagement from Syn and PG. They both live busy lives which makes it hard, and I think a lot of the point of this school was to teach eachother and have community leaders oversee it, but it would feel a lot more personal and active if we heard more from Syn. If you look at his activity, it's been only AOTM for many months now. A simple chime in from him on a thread here and there would do a lot.

I think the communication needs to be more transparent as well. They've announced pedals, amps, live streaming, and the app for quite a while now. Some of them had estimated arrivals which we're far past and we have nothing, which is fine and understandable, but simple communication from someone about them would make it a lot better. "Hey, the pedal is still coming. We're having production issues with the factory" or "Hey, we decided the pedal needed more tweaking so it will be a few months" or "We just tested our first live stream privately and it was a success. Possibly expect it in this timeframe." Transparency and communication will go far and keep us active and engaged.

Also, I don't think there's been a quarterly stream with Syn and PG in a quarter or so.

Although I focused on some negatives, there's still tons of great things we can't take for granted.

EDIT: Also, the rebrand to Synner a while back is interesting. Almost makes it seem more like a social media/brand rather than a school. Not sure if that was the point, and I don't hate it but it was just a thought.

Hey A.C. ! Thanks so much for your insight. I think I can speak on the behalf of everyone that we agree with you whole heartedly there indeed does need to be a bit more transparency. That’s definitely something we will strive for moving forward.

As for the rebrand, you are correct in that it will no longer be just a “school” but rather a “lifestyle” which will encompass much more than just learning guitar.

 

[Alicia Willis]

It is apparent that there is a common theme of the community being dead. I'll admit, it most definitely isn't as lively as it was during the first few months, even the first year, when everything was new and exciting. This is to be expected though as people come and go.

We have many new faces here too and I would just like to remind everyone, old and new members, that this isn't just Syn's site, or the Mod's site.

IT IS YOUR SITE AND COMMUNITY

Syn wanted this place to be a welcoming community for all where like minded individuals could gather and learn from each other.

Everyone here is entitled to make posts, create challenges (as our awesome Member Lindsey recently did and in the past with Dominik's challenges), and engage with each other.

Have fun with the site ! Everyone here is incredibly talented in their own ways; reach out to those like yourself and create something magical.

 

[Arsia Rose]

Hello everyone, hope that you are all doing well!

So, we wanted to take a moment to talk with you about Synner and get some feedback from you. Basically, we are asking all of you to tell us:

- What you think about Synner
- What you would like to see
- What you dislike
- How can we be better

We believe that it's really important to have this open conversation with all of you so that we can truly do our best because in the end, we are all building Synner together!
So, whatever you have to say, feel free to do so with no judgment and if you feel uncomfortable to leave your opinion in the open like this, feel free to send me or any other of the mods a private DM where we will be happy to address your feedback or concerns!

I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts!

Hi there, I'm kind of new still so I don't have years of experience here like some do. But as a new student I can say what I've seen so far. I'm not sure what you mean by "synner?" Like the clothing store or the website or both? Could you clarify on this a bit more?

What I would like to see- I don't like the fact that when I log in I see a bunch of just random feed posts. I like the categories and they're fun. But I wish it took me to perhaps my own profile with the last lesson I left off at or something. It takes me 4 clicks to get back to the lesson I left off on but I can see what all the students are posting the moment I log on.

What I dislike- I dunno. There's a few things. It feels more about community than personal growth tbh. Like there's way more focus on the forums and stuff with how they're laid out like you have 6 tabs at the top above forum posts and maybe only questions will ever benefit me. But I have nothing that helps me track my progress as a student. I really have been enjoying the lessons a lot.

How can we be better- Not a whole lot I can offer there. Maybe just give the option of what I mentioned before and i'll be happy!

thank you for all of everyone doing this. i really love the lessons a lot and they've been helpful.

 

[Arsia Rose]

Well, for starters I feel like the school is pretty dead at the moment. There's barely any engagement in the forums or questions asked and incentive to start doing that pretty much doesn't exist and I check multiple times a day because that's habit I had since the beginning of I would be new here I would have literally no reason to stay.

For starters when I saw you can get a guitar lesson from Syn by getting one of the nfts I was honestly pretty pissed off since he has a guitar school and his engagement is pretty much non-existent here besides the aotm(still love you Syn but had to be said ). If you can just buy an NFT and get a guitar lesson from syn you can question what this school has as an added value besides it being free since there's no engagement. And no I'm not opposed to crypto nor nfts before anyone wants to go that road.

Furthermore, I've been here from the beginning and there was lots of engagement from a whole lot of people and I think part of that is because it felt a little bit more free, now I feel like you have to be a lot more careful of what you do and what you say and I can't really truly be myself anymore. There's barely any banter or jokes or anything like that anymore and that's kinda boring really so I would really have that feel the old school had back. You can just hop on and there would be people you could talk and joke around with.

being a new person this is kind of sad to hear. Would have loved to be here in the beginning.

 

[Chris Johnston]

Everybody has given amazing responses already but here's my two cents;

I've definitely noticed the lack of engagement recently, as I check the site daily to see what's happening in the forums and to see if I can help with anything. It boggles my mind still how the site isn't heaving with thousands of Guitarists, given how open and generous the platform is & how responsive Syn & PG are. But I guess people only know that once they join

I think one thing that would keep people on the platform/get people on the platform would be to have more video engagement from Syn - not in an overly produced, formal lesson type format - More of an iPhone shot 1 take 'Syn jamming, telling a Guitar related story, sharing his insights & challenges of playing live, taking us through an A7X solo, what he's working on' type thing. I'm thinking along the lines of what John Mayer does with his live streams, just a chill, shooting the shit type vibe. I'd personally get a lot out of Syn talking candidly about his playing & his lifestyle, not in a set-up media interview/masterclass type deal

I feel like this is something that could be posted in the forums & people would lap it up. Stories & tips in an informal setting also has a huge share factor that could help bring more traffic to the site - (For example, posting a 10 second snippet of the full video on youtube/socials with a link to join the school) as people love seeing behind the curtain and feeling like they're sat on the couch across from their Idol just learning from them. So yeah, just a simple thing, but I reckon occasional Video posts in the forums from the School leaders instead of text posts could make the Teacher/ Student relationship that much more personal

Thoughts on this?

 

[Rad Synner]

Hi there, I'm kind of new still so I don't have years of experience here like some do. But as a new student I can say what I've seen so far. I'm not sure what you mean by "synner?" Like the clothing store or the website or both? Could you clarify on this a bit more?

What I would like to see- I don't like the fact that when I log in I see a bunch of just random feed posts. I like the categories and they're fun. But I wish it took me to perhaps my own profile with the last lesson I left off at or something. It takes me 4 clicks to get back to the lesson I left off on but I can see what all the students are posting the moment I log on.

What I dislike- I dunno. There's a few things. It feels more about community than personal growth tbh. Like there's way more focus on the forums and stuff with how they're laid out like you have 6 tabs at the top above forum posts and maybe only questions will ever benefit me. But I have nothing that helps me track my progress as a student. I really have been enjoying the lessons a lot.

How can we be better- Not a whole lot I can offer there. Maybe just give the option of what I mentioned before and i'll be happy!

thank you for all of everyone doing this. i really love the lessons a lot and they've been helpful.

Hey Arsia, thank you so much for reaching out and giving us this valuable feedback!

Let me answer your first question, Synner is the platform. It was known as the Synyster Gates school but then it was rebranded as Synner in an effort to expand possibilities and the scope of this platform! So to answer your question, pretty much both!

For what you would like to see, I will take this feedback and talk about it with the technical people and see what can be done about that but I understand your approach! You seem to be able to mold this platform as a way for you to focus on the lesson if I am correct? I'll see what can be done

To help you track your progress as a student, we do have our achievement system that helps individuals to track their progress or to interact with the platform! For the lessons, we have a button at the bottom right of the lesson that allow you to ''mark the lesson as complete''. This is our way to give some tools to students to track their advancements.

But now if I may ask you, do you have an idea of what you would want us to bring to this platform? We are always open to hearing what we could do more!

 

[Gabby Heafy]

Everybody has given amazing responses already but here's my two cents;

I've definitely noticed the lack of engagement recently, as I check the site daily to see what's happening in the forums and to see if I can help with anything. It boggles my mind still how the site isn't heaving with thousands of Guitarists, given how open and generous the platform is & how responsive Syn & PG are. But I guess people only know that once they join

I think one thing that would keep people on the platform/get people on the platform would be to have more video engagement from Syn - not in an overly produced, formal lesson type format - More of an iPhone shot 1 take 'Syn jamming, telling a Guitar related story, sharing his insights & challenges of playing live, taking us through an A7X solo, what he's working on' type thing. I'm thinking along the lines of what John Mayer does with his live streams, just a chill, shooting the shit type vibe. I'd personally get a lot out of Syn talking candidly about his playing & his lifestyle, not in a set-up media interview/masterclass type deal

I feel like this is something that could be posted in the forums & people would lap it up. Stories & tips in an informal setting also has a huge share factor that could help bring more traffic to the site - (For example, posting a 10 second snippet of the full video on youtube/socials with a link to join the school) as people love seeing behind the curtain and feeling like they're sat on the couch across from their Idol just learning from them. So yeah, just a simple thing, but I reckon occasional Video posts in the forums from the School leaders instead of text posts could make the Teacher/ Student relationship that much more personal

Thoughts on this?

totally! It's a very good idea that should be considered. I agree that this school should be full of good guitar players, I have invited many people on the discord channel to join and enjoy this site, but I think they still don't know it well at all, it's a good place to learn and share their knowledge.

 

[Rad Synner]

I just want to specify that I see everything you guys are saying and keep the feedback coming and if you have ideas, share them with us!

Now, if you see that I haven't answered your message, don't worry I haven't skipped you! I am just thinking right now of doing a video to better answer all of you and say more with my spoken words more directly rather than with a text message!

I am just saying this to assure you all that I am carefully reading everything you say and we will discuss about it all and come back to you with hopefully answers that will satisfy you!

Thank you so much for answering the call!