Hi Shane ,
Very heartwarming congratulations to you, 
For me you are the best example of what someone can achieve in terms of guitar playing in this community, you are a great example that I should actually follow a little more 
, because I look at how you play the blues with (appropriate 
) jealousy… 
We wish you a wonderful and good new guitar year 
Greetings 
I love the enthusiasm you have Shane, and how key Justin Guitar, Richard and others have been in your journey. I’m two years behind you and I always read your posts. I’m like the high school sophomore looking up at the super-cool senior, hoping some day I’ll be like him.
Very wise words Shane. By focusing on the the Blue your playing has gone to the next level very quickly.
Congratulations on your 5th anniversary, looking forward to the next 5
Playing Music is the greatest gift you can give yourself.
G’day, mate!
Congrats on the 5-yr anniversary 
As Dutchie points out, you are a fine example of how far focus and dedication will get you in a relatively short space of time. But much more importantly, you have been rock solid in your support for others, esp in the blues/theory and practice department.
Can’t recall you ever being dismissive about anyone and I’m not surprised you were gifted the BLIM course.
You keep right on the path you’ve chosen, Brother!
Thank you all for your kind very kind words.
I continue to owe a great debt to all of you.
Cheers, Shane
Congratulation @sclay on your 5 years anniversary. You will always be light years ahead of me in terms of ability and I do enjoy your videos. One of the few people that I do watch. Glad you have found your thing. Not sure I have yet!!
Many thanks Stuart.
We all learn from each other mate, no matter where we are at.
Hope all is well.
Cheers, Shane
Hi Shane, congratulations on your 5 year anniversary with JG. You have shown a lot of dedication and progress and have always been an inspiration for me with your guitar playing and your helpfulness in the community.
Congrats on the 5 years 
… looking forward to many more years of updates from ya!
END IF YEAR UPDATE/ REVIEW
Well I thought I’d put in an end of year update for 2025, if only for my own record .
Things developed very nicely on the guitar front this year, my 6th ; very much enjoying playing, and deepening my understanding of the Blues in particular; continually refining technique, spreading my wings a bit, and learning a few new tricks.
My ‘wheelhouse’ this year has very much been Funky Blues, Jazz Blues, Ballad Blues, and Minor Blues; and of course, Peter Green.
Different chordal structures, techniques, and rhythms; great for learning, and a whole lot of fun.
Alongside Justin, and this great forum, I’m continuing with some structured Blues courses from Corey Congilio and Jack Ruch; two world class players, and teachers. Did a mini BLIM refresh around midyear as well. Great reference.
Some specific progress highlights;
I’ve taken a much deeper dive into the Blues forms this year, both rhythm and lead. Some structured coursework with around 50 Blues rhythms has really helped to learn and solidify quite a few Blues harmonies. I now have a ‘core’ rhythmic set that is growing nicely. Ongoing study of various Blues etudes this year has helped alot with lead playing and soloing; from key centred playing to more chord centred playing; and how to effectively combine the two.
A lifetime of development ahead here, but I’m starting to feel foundationally pretty solid here.
I’ve put alot of work into arpeggios particularly this year.
Like many others I’ve spoken to, it can take a fair while to really start to incorporate arpeggios into your playing. And I’ve certainly experienced this too in past years, sometimes very frustratingly. This last year though, has seen some very solid, real world progress, where the fingers are incorporating these arppeggios more naturally now, and automatically.
I altered my practice of arpeggios re the above, and it paid off. Many hours of varied musical exercises, set pieces, and songs, have helped to really embed some of these arpeggio shapes, particularly the dominant and minor 7 forms.
I’ve found in particular, that playing progressions in one position really helps to illuminate not only the forms, but shared notes across arpeggios, and the defining notes within them. This has been a significant musical teaching for me this year, and arpeggios are now feeling much more like real musical tools.
Many years of development ahead though.
Scale work. I’ve been continuing my work on scales ( arent we all ) - major and minor diatonic/ pentatonic. Have made some solid progress this last year, practicing and playing them in various musical ways.
Some great exercises I’ve used include ‘restriction’ , where I’ll limit myself to certain strings, certain parts of the fretboard, particular rhythms etc; force myself to hit a certain chord tone on a certain beat, play only horizontally, switch modes from major to minor, taking a scale around the Circle of 5ths, in one position; or more ‘fuller’ exercises where I’ll start at the octave shape, then move through the diatonic/ pentatonic scale, then the root chord, then the triads, then arpeggio. Very, very beneficial this last one.
Chords - Taught myself alot of new extended chord voicings this year, particularly ‘jazzy’ ones, and have spent considerable time incorporating them in my playing. As a result, I now have a handful of new and cool ones in the toolbox. An added benefit is this has helped considerably with both fretboard navigation, and voice leading.
Managing tension is now officially at a much more developed stage. I’ve certainly put in alot of work into this over some time now, and I feel like a much more fluid, lighter player even moreso this year; utilising tension when needed, and releasing it immediately after. Still working on it , of course. This, in combination with a much shallower default pick depth, and refined attack, has has shaped my playing, and my resulting tone.
I can also say the ‘pinky’ finger too has officially come of age this year, and lost its ‘special’ status. Its now just another finger really, which has increased versatility.
Havent learnt a whole lot of new songs this year, but thats fine. I’ve been more finding my own voice in the Blues genre, apply what Im learning, studying alot of set pieces/ etudes etc, and doing alot of improvisation.
Continuing with my 'go deep, not wide ’ mantra, all this has allowed for a very focused mindset on a few foundational musical elements; and of course, it’s kept me honest.
So, every single practice session this year had the above basic structure,
with innumerable variations.
I did not make the leap , or even have the urge, to reach out and play with others this year, despite thinking at times that it would be
‘a good thing to do’. I’ve always been pretty much a lone traveller in this life, so at 56, I dont think that’ll change anytime soon.
Thank you all for your continued friendship, encouragement, feedback, and advice. Its been a great guitar year.
The people in this community really are a treasured part of my life.
A joyous and festive season to you all, and a productive guitar year for 2026.
Cheers, Shane.
What a great year, Shane, your dedication is an example to all. You show what is required and what can be achieved if one puts in the effort.
Yeah, I know, I think I say that on a regular basis, but it is so true.
I’ve enjoyed all you’ve shared this year and know the better is to come.
Sounds like a fruitful guitar year full of growth, Shane! Great wrap up of the year.
I can only echo what David just said: You are a role model in regards what can be reached within a relatively short amount of time if you put in effort and are dedicated to what you are doing. It’s a pleasure to follow your growth as a guitarist and musician.
Have a great 2026 as well!
A very productive, 2025. A true example of what can be achieved with focused and dedicated practice.
I do enjoy listening to Jack. He’s a great musician and his melodic offerings are a great compliment to Justin’s lessons. It would be great if Justin got him on for a 2026 blues club livestream.
Wish you a happy new year and a productive 2026.
Changed all Guitars to 9 gauge
Detailed self note basically, for reference/ education; but if interested read on.
I made the switch from 10-46s to 9-42s on my Telecaster about 7-8 weeks ago.
Two practice/ playing sessions after making the switch, I changed my other 2 electrics to 9s as well.
And I doubt I’ll ever go back. Not sure why I hadn’t tried this before in over 5 years of playing.
I suppose I’ve always operated upon the rationale that keeping variables to a minimum while really mastering the basics was a good way to go; then time slips away, and 6 years pass.
Anyway, its been a great move, particularly for my Blues playing.
I checked all the basic metrics again after a fews days - neck relief, intonation etc - and to my surprise, I did not need to make any real adjustments on any of my 3 guitars. ( Future reference: check after 1-2 weeks).
Well Xmas came and went, then February already, and I started to notice some obvious tuning issues. Checked intonation, and a few strings were WAY out. My other 2 guitars were out as well.
Must have crept up on me without me noticing, together with festive season slackness. It’s a reminder to do more regular quick checks, specifically re intonation. Was probably losing a bit of sustain too without realising it. No fret buzz or anything though.
Anyway, I did a full setup on the Tele yesterday; took a while as I hadn’t done one in a while, and needed a refresh on a few details.
Old strings off first, then a good spit and polish. Fresh strings on, stretch, and tune up to pitch.
Let it sit an hour or so. Have some lunch. Then retune.
Truss Rod
The Tele neck was not bellied at all, but almost straight; at about 0.15mm. Adjusted to 0.25mm. All sweet.
Action
Reset to;
1.6 mm low E,
1.2 mm high e
Then used radius gauge to set the other 4 strings ( which were pretty spot on anyway)
As my touch has lightened considerably over time, these lower end heights are much more suitable for me.
Intonation
‘Sharp city’ here, as expected.
D and A strings were out quite a bit - up to 15 cents on the D. Whoa. 
.
Higher strings less so. All adjusted. Done. Intonation adjustments can be so tedious…
Pickup Height
Adjusted heights to reasonably low at 4mm/3mm on the neck, 3mm/2mm on the bridge.
Will see how this settles in over a week or so, and do a quick check. Now to do my other Artist Tele, and my LP.
Cheers, Shane
Well, I for one was quite interested
Do you think that stretching strings by hand before setting intonation is OK? I thought that it was better to set the intonation first, assuming that a factory-fresh string has no variation in stretch, whereas there’s no guarantee of that after giving it a tug or two.
I’ve found that intonation can shift as a string ages, but when a new (unstretched) string is fitted it is perfect again. It’s time I put a new set on the Strat - not only is intonation a bit off but the fretboard is accumulating grime too. I’ll check intonation again then.
I’m also interested in this as I’m considering doing the same thing. I have a guitar dedicated to Eb standard and I usually string it with 11s, but recently I had to put 10s on it and it’s a lot nicer to play. I’ve always had 10s on my standard tuned guitars - not exactly sure why, probably because that was the default way back then. However 9s seem much more popular thee days.
Thanks for your interest
Stretching strings is mandatory in my opinion, as part of the string changing process; even moreso if you’re doing a setup. Anyone saying any different is simply wrong.
The change in my case over a few weeks I believe was due to the actual wood of the guitar adjusting to the lower tension of the 9s. My actual open strings remained pretty much perfectly in tune, as they generally do. It was my error not to recheck intonation after a week or 2.
Cheers, Shane
Hey Paul,
The biggest difference I found was the easier full bends on the high E, and the tighter, less muddy sound on the lower strings.
Not sure how you’d go tuned down a 1/2 step though…might be a bit loosy-goosy. Might be brilliant.
Only one way to find out.
Cheers, Shane
Great video on the topic. You are on to something. 
