Beatup6string's (formerly called Giskard) learning log

Community Hub Learning Logs
21

A look back at 2025.

I feel like this year has pushed me past one plateau and onto another climb.

It all started last year though - with BLIM. The course opened my eyes to the progress I could make if I set myself specific goals, followed a plan, and put more hours into the guitar. When the course ended, I had enough momentum and motivation to set myself twin goals for the year - repeat BLIM so I consolidated what I had learnt, and start and finish Grade 4. Thats what I focused on for the first few months.

Near the end of BLIM, I was fortunate enough to win a 1:1 lesson with Justin. That took place in April, and no surprise, I got great advice on structuring my practice routine towards these goals, and several tips on technique, theory and learning to improvise solos.

In August, I attended my first Justin Guitar Workshop! Each morning featured lessons in theory, musicality, singing, playing in a band and guitar techniques and concepts (alt tunings, thirds…). In the afternoons we were randomly assigned to a band, and tasked with agreeing a song we all wanted to play, figuring out complimentary parts, rehearsing them and then performing in front of the class at the end of the day. What started off as “utterly nerve wracking”, especially when I signed up to sign and play a song solo, somehow ended with “wow we just played two songs at the restaurant”, and more recently, Community Open Mic’s in August and November!

BLIM and the workshop led to closer connections with several people in the community, and some of us meet over Zoom calls to compare notes, talk guitar, ask questions etc. Two of my new friends live close enough to meet up in person and jam, and we are working on four songs for a January meetup! Videos may be shared if things go reasonably well and everyone’s comfortable doing so…

A few thoughts and self-reflections:

  • I wish I had overcome my fear of singing earlier. Learning to play and sing a song has led to a deeper understanding of the song, as well as ideas for adapting songs for a solo performer situation.
  • Strumming along to songs with the app was a lot of fun the last few years, but learning to play them on my own or with other humans has made me pay much closer attention to what makes each song different, and the specific techniques needed to play them. For example, the rhythm of the Day Tripper riff, the use of bass runs to link chords in Sweet Virginia, the triad riff in End of the Line, and how the interplay between palm muted hits on the bass note and strums on the thin strings makes While My Guitar Gently Weeps sound a lot more like the original!
  • Even after several months of barre chord practice, I still accumulate tension in my fretting hand, which makes changes harder and tires me out. I’ve started five minutes of “as relaxed as I can be, release pressure, release tension, then move to the next chord” practice. Hope that helps.
  • Forearm angle wrist angle, finger position, where exactly I make contact with the fretboard really matters for barre chords and melodic lines and legato picking and vibrato.
  • And I need to make sure I reach the right finger angle and position each time I move my hand/fingers, else rolls and slides are harder, and vibrato quality suffers.
  • Bending is a lot better than a year ago. Bend vibrato and quick bends and bends as part of triplets will stay on the todo list.
  • My sense of time has improved, eg I can mix chords and licks or shuffle and licks in a E major blues and stay on time more often than not.
  • Fartlek Subdivisions helped with fretting/picking hand coordination and general rhythm awareness. I need to make time for Strumming SoS in '26.
  • But I don’t always remember where I’m in the changes. Which makes it hard to play a two measure turnaround and I resort to the old 1-7-5-5 more often than I want to.
  • Blues licks/ vocabulary gave me a lot of phrases to fall back on… Major scale improvs are noticeably harder without these building blocks. I tend to pick a melody line and play around with it, not sure how long that will last!

Gear acquired this year:

  • My first tube amp (Blues Junior)
  • Boss RC-5 Looper (drum tracks are a nice change to playing over a metronome)
  • Cordoba Mini-Bass
  • Les Paul Standard

Plans for 2026:

  • Solo Acoustic Blues
  • Grade 5 (and maybe a folk song or two)
  • Strumming SoS and Justin’s Rhythm Workbook
  • 4 Open Mics (or more if I can swing it)
  • Learn some Rock songs ahead of Rock Immersion
  • Just Keep BLIM’ing :slight_smile: keep jamming over songs in different keys, gospel slides, 9th chords, so much more to get under my fingers!
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22

A ‘first quarter’ check-in to keep myself honest and (perhaps) help anyone following similar trails through the guitar world.

  • Solo Acoustic Blues: I started the course, and have learnt the first piece, started the second, but I am going to go slow on this, and might park this for a few months until I complete Strumming SOS.

  • Grade 5: Worked through the first two modules! Decided to consolidate my E and A shaped barre chords and work on making them feel comfortable, sound comfortable, and connected smoothly before moving on.

  • Fingerstyle folk song - does Girl from the North Country count? That’s what @Richard_close2u taught me recently - I was lucky enough to win a 1:1 lesson with Richard, and a most enjoyable lesson it was! I intend to get it ready for a future OpenMic.

  • 1 OpenMic done so far, 3 to go. I wound up hosting that OM, which was a new scary-but-fun experience for me!

  • Strumming SOS: Why didn’t I do this years ago! I am only halfway through ‘Foundations’ and can already hear the difference in my strumming.

  • Rock songs - it’s a broad term, so hopefully these all count.

  • Day Tripper was the hardest to get under my fingers - that riff-in-B still trips me up, and I can’t play and sing at the same time (yet). It’s also a good Dom-7 barre chord workout.

  • While My Guitar Gently Weeps told me that I needed to work on barre chords (per above). I learnt a simple bass accompaniment when I played this with two JG Community friends.

  • Sweet Virginia helped me work on linking chords and ‘new twiddles’. I have learnt the vocals and now need to connect vocals and guitar parts together in time for an OM.

  • End of The Line was a great workout in triad riffs, and memorizing lots of lyrics! I played this at the Jan 31st OM.

  • Born Under a Bad Sign is work-in-progress. I’ve got the riffs under my fingers, now I need to memorize each section and play along with the song.

  • Just Keep BLIM’ing: I started taking lessons with Dave Birnie, and am drinking from the firehose. We are working on improving my technique (bends, vibrato, legato), fretboard knowledge (minor and major pentatonic scales and the chord-shapes that go with each pattern), a Peter Green song (Stop Messin’ Round), solo analysis, etc. It’s a lot of fun, and I am playing more difficult stuff than I’ve ever played before. The song has 3 solos, and the first one took me a long time to get under my fingers. The second is going a bit faster and I started the third one this week. I am going to keep at it until I can play the whole song.

  • Singing Lessons: I took my first ‘proper’ vocal lessons this week! The tutor thinks “we have something we can work with” - phew!

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