So I started a vlog on YouTube, still private at the moment but as I get some more episodes recorded I may release it publicly. I’m going to keep it mostly family friendly but my goals are to play some great 80’s and 90’s rock/metal with some modern outlaw country and my progression toward that goal, should be a good perspective from another oldheads learning new tricks
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I’m going to post text updates here of course since the vlog is gonna be private for a while
Completed G1M1, fingers are sore of course. Gonna keep running thru the practice routine before I start M2. My D / A transitions are smoothish but I’m a perfectionist and they need to be better before I call myself ready, hopefully another week of practice or so and the calluses will be built up better and pain will subside a bit
Good stuff Tony. Keep at it mate. Looking forward to the first public episode.
Cheers, Shane
right now the episodes are short, couple minutes each and are exclusively me talking about the experience so far. I dont feel confident enough to record playing. also still playing with lighting since I haven’t done this before so I’m using the camera/mic built into my laptop, I’m sure quality will be kind of weak. 
this is kind of a ‘self-accountability’ record to help keep me motivated to practice and stick with my routines
as an aside, tangentially related I guess, part of my journey is also improving my personal health as well. My wife had a major emergency surgery back in April (not health related, acute problem) and it was a wakeup call for me to get healthy so I can be there for her and my kids. I’ve been losing weight and have dropped 35lb in the past 2.5 months, 50lbs total since my peak weight. BP is down to normal range though my cholesterol is still high, but that was pretty well expected given that I’m still a fair bit overweight. I still have another 30-ish to get to a healthy BMI so there will probably be some entries related to that as well.
Mind and Body right?? gotta get myself right
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Great hope you post soon love to here it good luck.
Looking forward to seeing your vids when you feel comfortable enough, Tony!
I started just a month ago & have been documenting everything in videos on YouTube as well… It’s super motivational looking back at the progress made in even this short space of time (and even if the progress is small most of the time!)… plus plenty of people are always happy to offer their advice for us to either take or leave… so I’m looking forward to visually watching the progress in your journey as well when you feel the time is right!
Practice is going well, finger pain limiting the amount of time I can go in a session still. Don’t hate, I’m an IT guy, have been for 30yrs, my hands don’t get beat up like the did in my teens and 20’s so it’s going slow building up the calluses. Pay know mind tho I’m still working on the M1 practice routine until my perfectionist butt meets my standard. I e already gotten past Justin’s recommendation but I still miss a bit to often for my own comfort. A few more days of practic and I’ll start M2
finally felt comfortable enough to move on to G1M2. finger pain subsiding so my practice sessions are going longer now, which is good news. so I’m getting my practice in every evening. I seem to remember Justin saying ~4 days per week, I’ve been going 6 days per week.
Also had a case of GAS and bought a new guitar (Epi LP Std 60’s) and a spark go amp. The LP is a significantly different playing experience than the Jackson, so there’s been an adjustment and I’m trying to spend equal time on both with practice and lessons. The Spark Go has been great for my evening practice sessions as it doesn’t disturb my wife and daughter when they go to bed (the go in between 8-9p) so I’m able to play plugged in a get some really great sounds out of it, which helps motivation.
I think for me, one thing that is nice about being able to get nice distorted tones at low volume makes rock/metal songs sound like you’re actually playing them. for example, not that I can actually play it though I’m trying to learn it, Master of Puppets unplugged sounds horrible and you really dont get a feel for the ‘chug’ on the song without the distortion. Now i can do that with a backing track even and not disturb the whole house!! to me that is a huge bonus
Had a rough couple weeks practice wise. Travel for work one week, brought a guitar with me but only got about 20-30min total in a week, just terribly busy with work. Got home and my boys had come home from school and started feeling sick, two of us ended up with Covid, finally started feeling better today a little bit of course I’m on call for work this week and was up til 6a on a call. So much typing both forearms feel like they have carpal tunnel. Been resting them with ice packs and Advil. Hopefully a couple more days and I’ll be back to the routine
Wish you well with the guitar adventure, Tony, and the health.
One thing to keep in mind is the in-between availability setting in YouTube viz Unlisted. Unlisted videos are viewable by anybody who has a link to the video but does not show up in any searches in YouTube or other engines. I think it is safe to share links to Unlisted videos in the Community. I don’t recall anybody getting hacked or trolled via a shared YouTube link here.
I appreciate that there other good reasons why one may not want to share but thought I’d mention that in case you are not aware.
Hi Tony, hope things go a bit smoother again. Wish you all the best for moving on!
Yeah I get that, it’s a self confidence thing, when I’m ready I’ll share a link, right now it’s been exclusively talking about my progress/journey and no playing yet. I’m a couple weeks overdue for an entry anyway
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I was very wary of putting up links on YouTube etc and sharing but have found it very good for keeping track of and seeing improvements. I even sing (of a fashion) on a few. I won’t be going on tour any time soon but I have had a lot of positive feedback from people on this forum.
Good luck with your journey.