A cool read JK.
Wow that puppy was cute! I have wanted golden retriever for years, but my boss and better half wont allow me 
But we have very similar cats, same colors and same fluffy tale.
Its a pretty huge thing to move location and house, there is a lot of things that needs to happen for everyone in the household. Dont know a single thing about Noosa, but the climate looked awsome. I had below - 25 deg. Celsius for the last week now. My car battery is done by the cold and the piped to my shower froze up couple of days ago. So i am super jealous of everyone that lives in warmer climate right now 
I too moved place almost years ago, and it interrupted my guitar playing as well. Went from big house to smaller place. So i know what kind of challenge there is to not keep everyone awake and so on.
So i rarely play acoustic when kids and wife are home these days, makes too much noise.
Last couple of months i have played more and more electrical unamped… its not 100% since a lot of dynamics and nuance gets lost. But it kind of works out. I dont bother to carry an amp from my daughters room every day. So i just pick up the Strat and play without amp. Not noise free, but there is no complaints so far. I see you have a GTX50, something i have considered for my self down the road… do you like it? We have one amp in the household, two actually… i have one very cheap Marshall. But it is very limited in settings and its pretty big and ugly… not something my wife is very happy having around in the house think that Fender looks cool. And its cheaper than the Yamaha THR we gave now…
I think you are doing great though, in youre guitar journey, could easily see you doing open mics or joining a band if you have time and interrest for it…
i have taken a step back, and started beginners all over, it was actually quite difficult to find my way back to the point i need to start. So i decided to start on module two. So i aim to get through those beginner modules without to much breaks this time. I have been to sloppy and stopped the course midway in module 3 last year.
I have also started on theory course as well.
But this time i will mainly use the electric doing the courses. As much as i wants it i just can not play as much acoustic as i want anymore.
Well, did not plan to write this much and spam down youre LL JK
Wish you and youre family all the best in uoure new house and location. Looking forward to see some more AVOYPs from down under at some point
Thanks for the LL update, JK! Been looking forward to hearing how the move went and how guitar was fitting in to that 
I know I said it before in the Christmas thread, but your puppy is super cute! 
Although I do remember what a challenge they are! 
Be careful it doesn’t get in to that room unattended - bye bye cables! Been there before… 
That TMP’s looking mean on the floor, mate! 
I chased mine yesterday but looking like early Feb now 
The joys of living in the basement of the world There is another NZ music retailer that appears to have them in stock already, but I’ve paid a $1k non-refundable deposit to the other, so… guess I’m waiting 
Like the simple goals for '24, if you tick all those boxes this year, you’ll no doubt be a lot further down your guitar playing journey, plus would have had a lot of fun! 
Enjoy the SC! 
Sooooooooooooo jealous!!! 
Thanks for checking out my log Lisa. Yes the puppy gets lots of attention IRL as well. We have been taking her out a bit to get her used to certain situations while she’s young - carrying her as she’s not fully vaxed yet. And sooo many people call out “puppy!”.
The guitar practice stuff, yeah, I’ll work out a solution eventually. I’ll just have to adjust.
Do you have a dog at all Trond, and no golden retriever? Or just cats? You know what, I grew up with cats, but always wanted a dog. We got our first dogs shortly after getting married and wow, dogs are great. If you can swing getting a golden retriever do it. Puppies are very full on but once the dog is trained and grown… worth it.
-25C - wow. The coldest I’ve been in, ever, was about -5C and that was when I was in Chicago for a week 15 years ago. It’s summer here too, so we’ve been at the beach a lot. It never gets really cold here. Can’t build a snowman, I guess? And can’t do anything in summer without sweating like mad. I like the warmth 
I remember you mentioning moving. Big place to smaller place, yep. That’s what we did too. There is a lot to adjust to. I literally just came to the computer before bed to reply here - and had been playing my electric unamped on the couch while my wife read a book. Not ideal but sounds familiar!
The GTX50 is really good btw. Looks cool, sounds great. I often get comments on the tone of my recordings here and really that’s all down to that amp. It has a couple of things about it that aren’t perfect but it sounds great and is easy to use. Most people get the GTX100 because it comes with the footswitch, and you have to buy it separately for the GTX50, I bought mine used with a footswitch for quite cheap.
Thanks dude. I’m pretty nervous about a real world open mic because of my singing. I feel OK on the guitar side. A band, I might, I’ve thought about it - there are SO MANY good guitarists everywhere though. Way better than me. So I’ll go the low commitment route and see if I can get a drummer or something to jam with
If you feel you should then that’s a good idea. Don’t undersell your skills though… you are an amazing performer on guitar. Going deep on the course will probably help make you even better.
Haha, it was fun to read your comment. Spam my LL as much as you like Thanks Trond!
Oh you know the practice space pic was for you Jeff 
One thing I haven’t done a lot of yet is surfing. I took my foamie out in December, and snapped my leash on the fourth wave . I’ve put a new leash on now but each time we’ve gone to the beach since I’ve taken the bodyboards as the kids have developed a strong interest in them. And it’s still catching waves even if it’s neanderthal style
TMP and puppy… well, she has licked it and tried to nibble but I told her off for that pretty quick! I can’t wait for her to grow out of this constant-vigilance puppy phase and become a bigger dog that I can trust. Will take a good few months for that. Last time we had puppies they chewed up our back door, and table and chair legs when we weren’t paying attention . Hopefully there is no guitar damage.
Oh no! Early Feb! That sucks! Plenty of stock over here from what I can tell. How rubbish that your deposit isn’t refundable. Doesn’t seem right if they don’t have the stock.
You are gonna love it when you get it. At the rate I’m going exploring the features of it you’ll master it before me. Although if I haven’t posted an AVOYP with it before you I’m really doing something wrong… seeing as mine is sitting right there.
Well, next time you holiday in the SC, it’s a surf and a jam. Hopefully I am half decent at catching a wave by then . Because I suck now!
JK @jkahn
Sounds like quite a busy end to 2023, glad the move went alright.
In terms of your plans for the year ahead, first two are obvious but I think the third one about meeting up with other guitarists must be a very high priority. I know your skills are way beyond mine, I have seen you in OM. I don’t really want to mention my experience but you know I go to the local guitar club and there is no doubt playing with other guitarists, I have learned and experienced things that I wouldn’t have done at home.
All the best for 2024.
Michael
PS better not show the the photos of the puppy to my wife, unless the puppy comes with guitar then it might be worth the risk.
Haha, look at everyone here clogging up JK’s learning log
Just kidding, we claim we do it for ‘documentation purposes’ but I think most of us like the interactions and relationship building
New life the Jewel of the Sunny Coast; the coolest gear; happy families and new puppy; the finest of resolutions for the new year… Sure what could possibly go wrong?
Seriously, mate. Part of me is surprised you have the time to write such a in-depth update, but you’ve always been generous with your community contributions.
Love following your progress
Hehehe… -5C’? that is shorts and T-shirt weather mate…
But seriously,i know Chicago is called the windy city. -5 deg C with wind is awfully cold… we get about 2 werks every year a cool weather front from Siberia, hence the extrem cold. But when that cold weather arrives it is no wind and clear blue sky. So i actually prefers very cold temp and no wind than -5 and a lot of wind. It actually feels much colder when there is wind involved…
No we do not have a dog, just the cat. I grew up with a dog though.
Yep, Golden retriever is on top of my list, no doubt… cool laidback dogs that would fit me nicely but sadly my wife dont want one. So i have to do with a cat… witch is also great!..
Yeah. I have seen that the GTX100 have a pedal board included. I keep track on the GTX on the used market. So i will probably strike if a good deal pops up… The 100 is a little bit bigger in size isnt it?
Dont think about voice JK… youll do great, go with something dark J Cash kind of style and you will smash it
I agree with you 100% about skilled guitarists. I realized when i first went out to an open mic session taht Just in the small city i live in outside Oslo. About 18k inhabitants… there is loads of them. Pro musicians, studio musicians that are amazing and so on… And there is the hobby musicians, that are still on a crazy high level that i can just dream about… And that is just in my little area There is a university in my city and they have a music line on that school. That is part of the reason there is such a hugh amount of skilled musicians around my place.
Well, i miss a lot of fundamental stuff, so i want to try and go back a bit… i have been so on and off doing course stuff for a very long time. I aim to at least get most of the basics down and be done with the module 3, also want to really understand how that neck really works and linking scales together and such. Im facinated in what Shane is doing, i have been thinking about maybe going down the blues path at some point maybe. Love the style and is a great way to use an electrical… i cannot just hammer out power chords all the time, my wife would probably freak out
Fair enough mate! Just be good to get out in the waves regardless! 
Yeah so does! There are about three main music retailers in NZ and I really only use two of those and the one I sourced the TMP through is the one I use the most. They’re totally cool usually but I suspect their relationship with Fender might not be as tight as the others… I arranged a pre-order with them, so the $1k deposit seemed reasonable as they needed to commit to the deal, but just a bummer it’s taking this long… Will definitely have my homework done before it arrives though!
100%!! Would love that!! Right at the top of my holiday wishlist, ticks all the boxes for me! 
That actually sounds like a brilliant idea! Finding a drummer to jam with would super fun I reckon, especially if they had a good practice space
Yep that really really sucks. If one store has the import licence for something you are stuck paying their prices.
Great to see you are settling in to the new abode, I imagine its been chaos. Had to Google the area but looks like you have some fantastic beaches close by. 
Good to see some realistic plans for the year, as I suspect you’ll have plenty of distractions. That pooch just melts my heart, after a year without our Sophie. Miss her to bits but the no longer necessary dog walking has freed up extra practice time. So I am making the most of it for now.
Music room looks neat and tidy, with everything to hand and I am sure will work out fine despite the limitations you mentioned. Look forward to this year’s progress,
Hi, JK. I’ve only just begun this guitar mission in October, and I also went with the Mustang LT25 amp. I’m interested in what led you to move to the GTX50. I feel like the speaker on the LT25 leaves a lot to be desired. Do you find that the GTX50 is considerably better in that regard? How about the modeling? Do you like it better for that, too?
Probably not as high priority as you might think Michael. Although I do try to rope in anyone around me for a jam - unsuccessfully, but that’s just friends and family - time-wise, I mainly prioritise the kid’s stuff. Which leaves any activities that take me away from home that aren’t family based pretty low priority.
Also, I think I’d be more keen to jam with a drummer than another guitarist ;-). It would be simpler. I get the feeling for it to be successful I’d need to lead it so I’ll need to prep some jam-worthy songs.
I have been following your guitar club stuff - looks like that is working really well for you!
Oh yeah, free guitars with every puppy!
Yeah, you’re right Brian, I do it for the community interaction. I think most of the regulars do. A list of how many minutes I spent on C-shaped barre chord to E shaped barre chord changes would be boring. Boring to read, boring to write. That and I don’t even know…
What could go wrong? Oh loads, I’m just a glass half full guy and don’t like moaning too much. Although I definitely do.
I don’t know how I found the time to write the update either. It had been swimming around in my head for days, and I sacrificed some guitar playing time to write it . How long it’s taking me to write replies has got me feeling guilty!
Yep, the 100 is a bit bigger, I’m not sure how much bigger as I haven’t seen them side by side.
Oh man… it takes me hardly any time to learn strummy songs, but singing I have to practice over and over again to do an acceptable performance. Whereas I know some people just open their mouths and it’s good. And there are SO many good singers as well as good musicians.
Good musicians, good guitarists, good singers, people my age that have been playing 30 years - all that stuff is intimidating. Which is why I want to check out an open mic first before performing. Also when I look for jam buddies it would be other middle-aged noobs probably and not with pros
Yeah lots to learn down that direction. Do it for a while, if you’re into it continue and if you’re not try something else. There’s a lot of major scale & blues stuff in grade 4.
Thanks Toby. Yeah it has been chaos, and still is. Puppy is making it chaos now! Being full on and naughty. Will you get another dog at some stage? You can’t ever replace a dog but it can be a great new friend.
And yeah, there are lots of great beaches here.
Hi Bob! Being 3 months in you’re still really early in your journey. An LT25 is a pretty good starter amp. The main things that led me to upgrade were wanting to introduce footswitches for tone changes in songs, and also wanting to hook up my amp to my PC through an audio interface for recording. It is also really fiddly to tweak settings.
When I had my LT25, I had a squier strat. I thought the LT25 sounded a bit weak. I borrowed a friend’s Gibson Les Paul for a week, plugged it in, and WOW - the LT25 sounded great! So the amp can sound great. I just had to learn how to tweak the amp settings, and get a better guitar eventually.
The GTX50 is lots better than the LT25 in everything it does. Better speaker, better modelling, better app, better headphone & recording interface. I like it a lot, I did just upgrade to Fender’s top modeller as well now.
Upgrading your guitar gear along the way is part of the fun. But… as soon as you plug in the better gear, you’ll realise you still sound exactly like you. So keep that in mind.
All being well for sure but all very dependent on my wife’s health and the times isn’t right at the moment. But never say never.
Yep. i totally agree with you on that. But that said… the musicians i have come to know is very nice and humble people, that are on a different planet when it comes to music skills, but yet very down to earth and cool… i am pretty sure it is the same with youre local musicians… or at least most of them…
And yes, go hang out and get to know someone before you do it, and get
A feel for how things are «flowing»
Right about now is when I have to remind myself that it is a hobby, a fun creative pasttime that has many benefits and not a competitive sport with an associated striving to be better than those that cross your path.
I’d like to think and hope that open mics are not like golf clubs ie those established who have decent ability encourage people to participate, grow, and develop rather than look down on novices and newbies (as seems often the case at golf clubs)