Andrea, congratulations on finishing grade 3. I have just finished also after over 2 years. I wish you much fun learning grade 3 songs and other guitar adventures during consolidation. I also hope that any lingering health problem can be resolved and lead to a healthy 2025.
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Hi Andrea!
Was listening to/streaming music today & for some reason the God of Algorithms kept sending me Beatles songsā¦
The Beatles have got to be one of the most musically diverse bands everā¦ song after song & they were so different! I donāt remember specifically which songs I heard but Iām sure āYellow Submarineā, āNorwegian Woodā, āThe Long and Winding Roadā and āBlackbirdā were some of them. It struck me that, you donāt have to follow any single track in your musical journeyā¦ pursue Blues if thatās your desire and switch to Jazz or Swing or Country when the mood strikes! This thought made me think of you and your worries about which direction to chooseā¦ the songs and/or techniques you include in your repertoire are YOURS!
Unless youāre in a band and have to defer to others, you can play whatever you desireā¦ itās like a hike in the mountains, if you donāt like your current path, simply backtrack and choose a new direction on the next pathā¦ youāll find new experiences and learn along the way! Also, with guitar, what you learn is only going to help you later!!! Take it easy & enjoy the ride!!!
Good luck with your consolidation!!!
Tod
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Best of luck with everything, Andrea. Congratulations for finishing grade 3, you could explore some blues in grade 4/BLIM after you finish consolidation. 
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@SteveL_G99 Congrats on finishing Grade 3, Steve, I know, you are very dedicated and structured with your practice! Iām still a bit out of my focused approach, but will take it up again in January. I currently learn a few christmas songs and just play whatever comes under my fingers, whilst moving on at the fingerstrum course.
Thanks for the good wishes, I send them back to you 
@CATMAN62 Arenāt those algorithms sometimes a fancy thing? Almost daily, I discover or rediscover music!
My musical taste is very broad and therefore I canāt narrow it down to certain musical direction I want to learn to play! Same with playing, there is not āone directionā I like much more than others. I have fun with everything. Sigh! If I had the time, Iād try everything out there 
.
I know, that Iām able to change direction whenever I want, but I guess a certain āplanā will keep me from wandering around without ever getting to somewhere 
.
I think I will simply follow the lessons in Grade 4, Blues knowledge and techniques will serve me well wherever I finally go.
So true. Very often I learn a certain technique that helps me in a complete different context!
Thank you Tod for your encouragement, I always appreciate your nice, friendly and thoughtful comments 
!
@Boris1565 Thanks for reading my log Boris! Youāve come a long way with your journey in only 3 (?) years! Congrats on that! Hope you had a blast with BLIM. Must be a great course!
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Thank you Andrea! Yes, 3 years very soon.
BLIM is amazing, canāt recomend it more!
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December 16th, 2024
One of my good intents for 2024 was to post a few videos of my playing this year, but in the end I ended up with only two videos in March 
.
Iām still no performer and this rough year took all my energy, so there was nothing left to invest into recording something.
Then, our charming @roger_holland posted his new christmas thread We wish everyone a happy holiday season 
and I decided to give myself a kick in the ā¦ to do at least a recording of my humble attempt on āSilent Nightā.
I started this on acoustic guitar but the ongoing buzzing of one of my strings was so annoying that I finally switched to electric guitar, inspired by Rogierās electric version of āSilent Nightā.
A few weeks ago, I bought myself a Fender Mustang Micro Plus, a really great piece of gear and I mucked a bit around with the given presets.
The āSwirling Echosā preset was a nice starting point to play around and create a different sounding āSilent Nightā version with a few changes out of it.
Today I decided to record during my practice session, even, when itās still a work in progress and far from perfect. Iām running out of time with my other christmas preparations and later this week, I would have had another excuse not to post ā¦
So this is just a simple take, no cutting, no polishing (neither for the video nor for my face ). Itās just me and the best I could get out today after several sleepless nights (thatās the dark side of the full moon 
) on a weak day!
Still a few days left for practiceā¦ 
!
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You are there Andrea, a bit more practice to change chords faster, but it sounds great already.
I love the tone - the clean tone + reverb combination is perfect!
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Thanks Boris! Still a week to goā¦ !
terrific
love the sound on the electric
Andrea
Well played. A very clean perdormance and the sound from your guitar is superb. Happy Christmas!
Brian
Hi Andrea,
Wow that was lovely 
There are many very slow versions and with a lot of echo/ambiant(?), and this version fits very well in that list ā¦ without a little exaggeration it is a wonderful start to the day and It is nicely in my head now 
ā¦
and thank you very much for your kind words.
And I actually think that this song should not only be in your ll log( yes a link) or in a Christmas thread (yes a link is oke) created by a me/community member and we sayed we liked it ifā¦
All that hard work with this outcome deserves its own spotlight in my not so humble opinion 
. ā¦what do you think I will do when/if (I have a version without a Christmas tree and a kapo on it???) We wish you a Merry Christmas" is finally good on the video after all these months of practice spread over 2 yearsā¦ Itās not like you (or even I) post so much AVOYP 
Shine my lady shine
I wish you and your loved ones many silent/peaceful nights 
Greetings 
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@Boris1565 Thanks Boris for watching! I reduced speed very consciuosly due to delay/echo, but I guess, I should speed up a bit. Will try to work on this within the next days!
@MacOneill I gave it a try, I normally had taken the acoustic, but it turned out, it sounds great on electric too.
@beejay56 Thanks for the kind words, Brian! I also wish you Merry Christmas!
@roger_holland Thank you for listening and your kind words, Rogier! It makes me happy to read you had a good start into the morning with this little piece of music!
You are too kind . Oh yes, those āeasyā fingerpicked tunes from Justin need lots of practice hours, but there is so much to learn from those and I get a lot of benefit for other things on guitar too.
I first planned to record this in a more festive athmosphere with a little more attention, but Iām still not exactely where I want to be with it, so I thought it should stay as w.i.p. for this year ā¦
good to hear, that others, like you, have to invest a lot of time into those pieces 
.
Iām not a born āRampensauā (is there a word for that in English??).
Thanks for the good wishes, Iāll send some back to you !
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Yes there is, thatās āBrianā
Greetings
sounds good to me Andrea I am just starting finger style finding it a bit of a challenge but hope to get there one day like the sound of the guitar very clean no bum notes
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Lovely, Andrea! Just Lovely!
Beautiful tone, Beautiful guitar & overall wonderful performance! Just a touch of āpolishingā & Iād say you should be extremely satisfied with your hard work, especially considering your health issues of late! Great job! You should be very proud!
Tod
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@Guitarman63 Thank you, John! If you like fingerstyle, youāll have a lot of fun with it. Sometimes itās harder than it seems, but itās worth to push through frustration. For me, those picked chord melody arrangements need a lot of effort, but they teach me a lot.
@CATMAN62 Thanks for listening, Tod and for the nice comment. Indeed, Iāll use the remaining days for polishing the whole thing and hope Iāll not mess it up on Christmas day . I saw your beautiful stable of guitars in the other thread. Would be happy to hear them one day !
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Well I would like to learn that style have just found a great lesson on āOh Christmas treeā with tabs and having a go, its not complicated but I need a lot of practice
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Hope? You donāt have to āhopeā, Andrea! I just watched your video again & youāve definitely āGot Thisā! You will be fine - just remember to breathe!!! I find myself holding my breath when Iām really concentrating often! Keep it light & fun - donāt worry!
Someday soonā¦ Iāve been getting closer to being able to play when the camera 
is rollingā¦ 
Tod
That was lovely. The swirling mod sounds a bit like a chorus effect perhaps. It really makes it sound nice.
Thanks for posting.
Late to the party 
well that sounded really great Andrea. Youāve clearly been practicing efficiently and have made a lot of good progress. Looking forward to seeing the progress you make in 2025. All the best for Christmas and New Year.