Beginner's Safe Space 2026

Community Recordings Beginner's Safe Space
1

Welcome to the 2026 Beginner’s Safe Space.

Posting your first Audio-Video Of You Playing (AVOYP) is a big obstacle for some.
So, we have this topic just for members taking their first steps. If you have never posted before and would prefer not to create your own topic, with the spotlight on you individually, then you are more than welcome to join in here.

A few house rules:

1]
We would like this topic to be for Beginners only, working through Justin’s Beginners Course Grades 1-3.
Ideally your recording will feature you playing one from the hundreds of songs at those grades on the Songs lesson page and / or in the Lessons & Songs App.

2]
We would ask that you limit your uploads in the Beginner’s Safe Space to a maximum of three per person. This could be three recordings of the same song, showing your progress. It could be three different recordings, perhaps from the same grade, perhaps spread out across several grades of learning.

3]
When you reach this maximum, or before if you feel confident enough, we ask that you then begin to use the wider Progress + Performance Audio-Video of You Playing Area.

Additionally, you can make use of the Learning Log section to create your own space for collating your AVOYP recordings, keep a learning diary / journal, post photos of your gear etc in

Jump aboard and join in.

Be positive - about your own progress and towards others.

Have fun.

:slight_smile:

Thank you.

Previous Safe Space topics.

2025: Beginner’s Safe Space 2025

2024: Beginner's Safe Space 2024

2023: Beginner's Safe Space 2023

2022:Beginner's Safe Space 2022

2021: Beginner's Safe Space 2021

5 Likes
2

Hi Richard! I’m close to the end of beginner grade 3 and would like to try a first AV recording. Would an iPhone be an acceptable recording device at this level?

Thanks!
Jim Moore

1 Like
3

Yes lots of people use their iPhones for this and it works quite well.

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4

Hi Jim - good vibes to you.
Smart phones are great for quick and easy recording of audio and video. Use landscape so we can see the full span of both hands etc. Use a 3rd party host such as Youtube, Google drive or similar and post the link (make sure it is not set to private).

5

Got it. Thanks! Haven’t had anyone listen to my playing in 35 years!

1 Like
6

Posting my first video of me playing. I selected “Let It Be” using my electric guitar, as my acoustic is old and will not tune correctly. I used a capo to change the key to E♭ and sang the melody an octave lower than Paul M. did. That was the only way I felt comfortable trying to sing while playing. Frankly, I’m a fan of Hootie & the Blowfish simply because my limited vocal range happens to match Darius Rucker’s. Anyone who listens to this is encouraged to offer critiques and suggestions of any sort!

11 Likes
7

Wow Jim ,
:smiling_face_with_sunglasses: :clap: :clap:
Congratulations on your first video, that’s a big thing… :partying_face:and as a big compliment I say "this is something of a level that is not often posted in the ‘safe place’…
Nicely sung and the guitar is clearly the playing of someone who has been doing this for a while… very fun to watch and listen to… :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

Greetings,Rogier

8

Brilliant job Jim - I have got to agree with Rogier, you just graduated from Beginners’ safe space in one hit. Hope to hear more from you soon :slight_smile:

9

Very well played and sung, great performance, hope to hear more from you.

10

Thanks for the encouragement! I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually enjoy it.

1 Like
11

That’s encouraging! I hit that spot in grade 3 whete Justin encourages us to have a repertoire of 10 songs we can play all the way through. This is the third song in that list. It’s taking me a lot longer than I thought it would to pull this off and at this point I’ll probably go back to the regular lesson plans before I complete the list. Still, there a couple more songs I hope to learn first. I may put videos of those out if I can play them OK.

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12

Thanks for the encouragement! Moving on to the next song in my list, so it will be awhile before I’m ready to try another video.

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13

Jim

Your performance is well above beginner’s grade. Very well played.

Brian

14

Yes, well played and sung Jim. Time to move topic to AVoYP. Well done.

15

Thanks for the encouragement!

16

Appreciate the encouragement . Next time I’ll post a video there.

1 Like