Well, 2025 has been an amazing guitar year for me. I’ve been playing for over 45 years, but this year feel like it’s been the best for decades. I played in a couple of bands when I was at school in the 80s but other than a bunch of week-long workshops over the years I haven’t played alongside other musicians for 35 years, until 2025.
I retired in January and have been throwing myself into all things guitar – in particular playing with others and performing. At the beginning of the year, I joined a local jamming group and so much has come from that. I ended up in the venue’s ‘house band’ and we have done various gigs and numerous open mic events – we have just done our final gig of the year on last Friday. I have played a few solo OMs this year too.
Through those contacts I joined a second jamming group, and we have just set up our own group in Aylesbury (anyone near Aylesbury who fancies playing with us, then give me a shout – it’s a very mixed group – a lot of beginners … I guarantee you are good enough to join us. It’s low pressure and we don’t take anything too seriously.)
Most of my progress has been made from playing in the band / jamming. Here’s my learning highlights …
• Nothing is as much fun or will accelerate your leaning as fast as playing with other musicians – whatever the standard. If you start looking around there might be more opportunities than you expect. Go to open mics, hang around and chat to people – I was amazed at how much was going on in my local town.
• Triads are everything! If two guitarists are playing the same chord shapes then it’s just boring or muddy at best – However one playing open chords and one playing triads / small chord shapes in a different register, that sounds great. Triads are also perfect for solos, learning to follow the chord changes playing notes from triads (and a few additional notes if you are up for it) will get you out of most situations playing live! Also using the major scale on a single string has been invaluable for a quick improvised solo and moving from one position to another.
• It’s easy to ‘over play’ when playing with others – the temptation is to always be playing something. Sometimes the best thing to do is play nothing, and if not nothing, then playing very little – one or two notes might be all that’s needed in a bar – you don’t need to fill every beat!
• For me performing live, the two essential pedals are an overdrive and a boost – being able to boost for a solo or lead part is essential – several times I’ve gone to turn up my volume and find I’m already at 10.
• Third most useful is a delay – gives a wonderfully full sound that in the context of a band sounds very different from playing on your own.
• If you’ve got room left on the pedalboard I’d then add a graphic equaliser (very useful for cutting through a mix and/or getting out of the way of other instruments – thanks for the tip Keith ) and a compressor (in combination with some drive I can get great sustain with this).
• Using a mic and a pedalboard live are skills that need practice. If you know, you know! The same can be said for learning to use volume, tone and pickup selectors during a song.
• Your sound at soundcheck in an empty room or hall will be very different from how it sounds when it’s full of sacks of water talking to each other.
• Getting monitoring right is hard but essential (we use traditional foldback speakers rather than in-ear). You need to be able to hear yourself play and sing clearly. Again, it might be fine at sound check, but as things get noisy you might find you can no longer hear yourself (an argument for IE monitoring perhaps)
• Record your rehearsals – ideally with a good mic where the audience is going to be – I’ve had times where I thought I would be loud enough and wasn’t and vice versa.
• Performing gets much easier the more you do it, but nerves are always there a bit, and that’s ok.
• Learning songs is a skill – the more you do it the easier it becomes. Music theory can really help here too – understanding what you are playing and why makes it much easier to remember (for me at least)
• I listen to music very differently these days – I’m paying much more attention to what each instrument is doing and how they sit together in a mix.
• When I’m playing in the band I’m super attentive to the other musicians – listening to what they are playing, watching the singer – if he’s away from the mic then that solo is going to need to carry on for a bit, turning round to the drummer at the end of a song if it’s not obvious so we all finish together etc.
• Last, but not least, go and support live music – and I mean the small artists, pubs and clubs. Grassroots music needs support now more than ever. I have been to more small gigs than I can remember this year.
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve had this year – looking forward to more of the same in 2026
Great write up, Paul! Thanks for sharing your amazing guitar year with us.
There’s tons of good advice in your post, really invaluable. Also, it’s fantastic when the joy of making music is being shared. Hope 2026 will be an amazing year for you, too, filled with music and all the good stuff in life.
Its been good to follow your progress this year via your #BBP updates and keeping the posse aware of what you been up to. Great to see you not only excelling out in the real world but this has also upped your game considerably, as your confidence visibly grew. So from that perspective thank you for sharing that step by step journey, its been a privilege to watch you continue to make great strides.
Great read Paul! You started your retirement exactly how I imagine to spend mine. I am ~1hr drive from Aylesbury, I would love to join you guys for jam sometime next year. I will also let you know when we have jams in London, so you could join if you would like.
Great write up, and I’m happy for you! Totally agree, there is simply nothing better or more rewarding than playing with other people… and perhaps even perform live for a happy audience
Wish you equal musical success in the upcoming year!
Thanks for adding this detailed update. Firstly, congrats on a great year it sounds like you are living the dream mate
Some great points in your write up that I am sure we can all take something from, I know I have (I really need to stop avoiding Triads and knuckle down ).
Hopefully next year is as fruitful musically for you.
thanks Michael - yes, indeed those are fundamentals for playing with others - good points!
Cheers Richard - this community and in particular the OMs have been invaluable on my journey - thanks to you, @DavidP, @TheMadman_tobyjenner and all the others who put so much effort into providing these opportunities.
Cheers Toby - Thanks for all the support both for me and the community #BBP forever!
Thanks Ashu - I spent quite a while putting this together over a couple of weeks, wanted to make sure I covered the key things!
Awesome - let’s keep in touch - we have monthly OMs and local bands too which you might enjoy.
Cheers Hans - glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks Kasper - yes, my favourite clip of me playing doesn’t feature me or the band - it’s just people dancing to our music - that makes me so happy!
Thanks Craig. Yes, loving life, and yes you need to work on triads - eat the elephant one bite at a time - learn one shape and make music with it, use it and let it become part of your playing. Don’t try and learn everything all at once - it will be overwhelming.
Thanks Jason - I feel very lucky to find myself in this position, and this community has been an important pillar for me.
Cheers David - and as mentioned earlier, the OMs have been critical in getting me here, thanks for all the work you guys do for the rest of us - it is very much appreciated
Thanks, Paul, for sharing so many gems from your experience. This one really hit home for me. I’m just getting to the point where I “know” where my fingers are going next and why, a big step beyond just repeating patterns that you have absorbed. That “knowing” is the bridge to being creative. Your story shows how much more I (and a bunch of us here) have to learn.
Very useful tips and pointers Paul
I’m just finding my way around triads, and encouraged by how useful you find them. Will spur on my practise!
Thanks
Richard
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