Few words
Intro
Jam
Backing Track
Cyndi, as promised
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Happy 45th wedding anniversary Toby. I hope you and your bride have have a beautiful celebration.
Your musical progress and discoveries make my head spin. You’re a machine! Your organization of material is also admirable. Got lost in the smokestacks, splits and toggles. Question, are toggles tiny little togs, even smaller than budgie smugglers?
Blue Boy has such a haunting sound, and there’s a relaxed vibe I don’t often hear or see when you play. You seem to be really blended with what you’re doing. What a nice way to spend some of your 45th anniversary.
Great jam there Toby, sounded good to me. Also think your Squier looks great, love the pick guard. I’m thinking of replacing the Squier humbucker in my HSS Squier with a Seymour Duncan one for some meatier tones, it’s a bit shrill right now. Did you replace the pickups yourself?
Thank you Maggie. :
It was a quiet day as Jill’s recovering from a bout of IBS, exacerbated by the “normal” conditions but every cloud as they say. Sorry for all the tech speak but I have to please the gear nerds out there 
I guess with the budgie smugglers the time of year is a factor but the toggles are very small and sit between the pickups and the vol/tone knobs (oo err missus!). Anyway, musically these laid back easy blues BTs give me time to explore the licks. Yes, there is some planning before hand, in how I will stack them up position wise as the track progresses but the slow tempo gives me a chance to extend or truncate each lick for a different feel. Its building to the next course that will teach solo sections. So as usual its foundation work. Oh a big contrast from New Diary Chapter One and a chance to lay off the vocal acrobatics! Glad you enjoyed it.
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Cheers JK glad you liked it.
I overhauled the Squier back in '18 and it was a complete gut and rebuild. There is a full write up of the project in my old Roadcase / Learning Log which you may find interesting. Tried to link to the entry with no success but its the 2nd post Dec 21. The pickguard was from ebay but a huge contrast the the original stock white. The pups are great and have some lovely tones when pushed and Iron Gear have a wide selection and good prices.
Cheers
Toby
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Thanks Toby, I’ll go check out your road case on the old forum.
JK its been copied across here, I just could not target the 2nd entry directly. Its the one with the basses, you’ll just have to go back a long long way to near the start !!
https://community.justinguitar.com/t/the-madmans-learning-log/3938
Just skip the waffle at the start !!
Love the the way we pass the ball and keep the light-heartedness flowing, Toby.
Enjoyed the intro and another borrow from Cyndi. I did sample the the final ‘treat’ … copped a few moments of the intro, jumped ahead to a line or two a minute or so in, and stopped there. Sure there are folks hear who’ll enjoy a nostalgic moment listening to that, but it is not me.
Chuckled at how you blamed, Clint, for supplementing lick learning from the other teacher. But seriously, for anybody wondering, it is naturally OK to learn from other teachers, be it songs or technique, this is not a committed monogamous relationship with Justin. We just ask respect for Justin and not to shift a supplementary reference to anything more.
Ah, a strat upgraded to have HBs … the best of both worlds then … the comfort of a strat and the tone of an LP 
I think adjusting PUPs, vol, and tone is a great way to force you to allow some breathing space between licks and lines and of course one can just marvel at people like Jeff Beck who make all that wizardry look easy.
Top job on the jam, my friend, certainly not a noodle. Loved the tone, repetition of licks and lines, shifts in position, and the use of guitar controls. All round tasty, a laid-back bluesy rock ballad (and Cyndi’s somewhere else, cause she’s not at this party).
I did chuckle at the glances at Reaper to get the timing of the ending just right, which was excellently done, nailed it.
In the spirit of technique study for self, I observed the thumb at 2’30" and, dare I say, also watched for the balance between hand rotation and other action in the bending … this bending is far far harder than it looks.
Congrats again on the anniversary and wicked way to celebrate.
Nice! 
Enjoyed that thanks and I appreciated the breakdown and approach and breadcrumbs to follow 
It’s inspired me to have a go in a similar approach thanks!
I can see a themed Open Mic or Challenge thread in the not too distant future…! 
Hi Toby,
Nice,… loved the chatter…just in time you could keep it tidy (the edge the edge 
)…great backing track with a nice noodle over it…indeed a few bending “things” …But that should not spoil the fun
Greetings
Be careful what you wish for ! I think I would give that a wide berth. So was the inspiration for the impro or the video intro ? Either way go for it. Thanks for the positives.
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Thank you Rogier, glad you enjoyed the package and yes I did pull it back from the brink, nearly tripped but managed to save the day. Amazing what crazy things spring to mind when talking nonsense!
If I had a dime for every crazy spring…I’d buy everyone here their dream guitar
Hi Toby, some great chops in there, your strat sounded fantastic and I really enjoyed the impro! And I can feel in the air someone soon finding a cool BT of Cyndi’s Girls just wanna have fun and improvising over it all the best!
Hey Toby,
Firstly, congratulations on your 45th wedding anniversary. A beautiful milestone.
Great little jam there. I’m pinchin a few ideas if ya dont mind.
Loving the new guitars too.
All the best.
Cheers, Shane
I want to drop an ‘it’ in there at the appropriate point, the song that for me is worth a listen every now and then just for the one moment of drum fill magic.
As for ‘cool’ and ‘Cyndi Girls BT’ … that could be a stretch … are you foreshadowing something to come from you 
Hey
Not ignoring you, dealing with some other “stuff”, off for that coffee.
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I wish David, unfortunately lately been very busy and I barely touched anything new! Keep doing same things over and over, want to transcribe one song that’s a bit complicated but so far I am stuck on intro as there are so many chops to go through, that shall keep me busy for a while so I will leave the idea to someone else
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David
Thanks for the comprehensive reply ! I think Cyndi might have run her course. Only really recall 2 of her songs and had to do “research” to drop on the Boy Blue reversal for a handy title. You certainly listened longer than I by the sound of it !
As to monogamy I could not agree with you more. In fact Justin even talks about finding other teachers and how to be clear about what to get out of them. I can’t recall if it was in response yours or Gordon’s impro which prompted Clint to share but it led me to some great material, that I can use to supplement Justin’s lessons. But although I may share the odd source I am not about to blow trumpets, as you say respect.
And yes the old Iron Gear Pimp !! It was about time it was dragged out of the rack and put to good use. The pups I installed have some wonderful tones and it was nice to experiment before filming, seeing what complimented the BT. Those Elevated Jam Tracks always have some kind of crunchy section in them but this time I was ready to turn the tone and stay on top. And you are spot on regards the glances to Reaper. Although I have the stock licks in my head, I never have a set plan for how many times or what extension and truncations will come to bear. But you get a gut feel you are about to run out of bars, so a quick look is always needed, well for me anyway. In fact I could have got another half lick in as I was a bit premature. The timing of the harmonic at the end was good but the plan was to go to full crispy tone and switch the double coil Smokestack “single” but I left it on the bridge pup. So that will save for another day. Might go to the Key of E folder for the next round !
As to the bending lessons I think Justin and Cory would be a better fit than me ! I still don’t get it quite right but you keep working at it and it will suddenly fall into place and you’ll wonder why it took so long to find that feeling. Its like another F chord !
Keep rockin and noodling lad !
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