@Denny99:
What makes players “advanced”?
- They are able to [play] alternate picking at 200bpm
- They are able to sweep picking[sic] like crazy
- They are able to play any style/kind of music
I think your first few items could use adjusting.
Re: 200pbm: Are you talking about quarter notes, or sixteenth note septuplets, at that tempo?
(I kid; I assume you mean merely sixteenth notes; but even so, Eric Johnson's an "advanced" player and probably doesn't play 800 notes per minute, at least I don't recall that. As a rough recollection, I'm betting "Zap" tops out at around 700.)
Re: Sweep Picking Like Crazy: I think this is too specific. If it's a given that the "vanilla" (commonplace) form of playing is alternate picking, then, to qualify as "advanced," a player should demonstrate performance-competence in
at least one other "rum raisin" (unusual) kind of playing. It could be tapping, it could be sweeping, it could be chicken-pickin, it could be uncanny use of legato. Stanley Jordan doesn't sweep pick; but surely
he qualifies as "advanced?"
Re: "any" style/kind of music: Additionally, I think there are "advanced" players who can "sit in" adequately well with
various styles of music, but not necessarily
any style/kind of music. Not
convincingly. I probably wouldn't be convinced by Eric Johnson doing death metal. And feel free to include other folks: Alex Lifeson? Clapton? Hendrix? John McLaughlin? Don't those guys belong in the top tier of a three-tiered hierarchy?)
I'm not trying to be mean! Please take this as friendly suggestions of improvements.
It's a good list overall, but I think those items need tweaking.