Fantastic update, Shane. Your playing does indeed showcase the learning, be it playing solos you’ve learned to aid learning or your own playing. I could see you having an awesome time at one of Justin’s workshops and from what I see that is the level you are playing at.
And once again I think that shows what dedicated deliberate practice will deliver if one has the determination and discipline to apply yourself in that way.
Look forward to hearing how you progress this year.
Great update Shane really read it with interest and huge admiration as you are doing I plan to start doing this year hopefully. Although it is a bit terrifying how much time it takes to digest it all I reckon none of us will ever be able to fully catch up so we might as well enjoy all those little victories along the way 
Hi Shane. I think that would be the best outcome. Have a nice guitar year.
COMFORTABLY NUMB SOLOS
Progress: Solo 1
Solo 2 - 1/2 complete
Just an entry here mainly as a bit of marker for myself, as I continue to work on this solo.
Happy with progress so far - got a little caught up on that first quick little run of Gilmour’s in the main solo. Has taken me a couple of weeks to get it accurately up to speed, so thought I’d post my progress, as it feels like bit of a milestone.
As I said, I’m happy with it so far. A couple of notes are a bit out here and there, but I’ve accepted that on any one take with something like this, thats gonna happen, and is just a function of my stage of development. I’m am confident this will smooth out over time. Hopefully not a long time… 
Very much appreciate any honest assessment, particularly from those who have mastered these solos, to gauge whether my self assessment is in the ballpark somewhere. If all good, then, its onto the second half 
Cheers, Shane
Sounds ace to me, Shane, so I am sure your self-assessment is a home run. You look so relaxed as you play, I sense no tension, even on the faster flurries. And what a wonderful tone. Rock on with the second half
Thanks for the feedback, and kind words David. Second half looks a bit tricker.
Cheers, Shane
3 Year Anniversary!
Well, this month is 3 years with Justin Guitar. What a ride! In some ways, it feels like yesterday; in other ways, much longer.
Thank you to all for your continued friendship, guidance, and straight up advice. And thanks for the great privilege of you all sharing your struggles, your triumphs, and your great music with me.
Very pleased with my development this last year, thanks to Justin’s teaching, folks in this great community, and some consistent, focused work on my end.
This last year has very much been about really broadening and perfecting the basics, playing without tension, and expanding my horizons with alot of improvising/soloing, utilising scales, triads, arpeggios etc
Have learnt alot of very cool stuff this year that has helped me to really tie together alot of concepts, and start to apply them more consistently in different contexts.
Still learning songs Richard, but the focus has been on what I call ‘guided exploration’. As I said, I’ve started to learn and apply some cool stuff, but the real aha moments have come at times when I’m freestyling on the fretboard with a couple of concepts in mind.I think when you keep coming across central concepts from different angles, and in different contexts, it really can open up new ways of understanding and playing.
Very much focused on intervals as a key concept. Intervals in scales, intervals in chords, the chord/ scale relationship etc.
Have not played much acoustic at all this last year. Its pretty much all been on the electric, and with a heavy slant on the blues.
Have ditched the singing for a while. Not that I dont enjoy it, but I enjoy the blues improv/soloing more, and really want to focus on this area.
Anyway, enough of all that. Another great year - onward and upward.
Cheers, Shane
Hi Shane, nice read through your update. I just heard your blues etude in your other thread, but didn’t comment, as I see myself as not competent to give any feedback, but it sounded gooood, and even I can see, what a great step ahead you’ve made. Congrats on your amazing progress, you are on track! I amire, how you develop and how fast you did that! Keep on what you are doing, it seems to work fine! Greetings from Europe!
Thanks Andrea for your kind words.
Glad to part of such a great community, all helpin each other out.
Cheers, Shane
3 years, what an awesome milestone. Your playing is great, you’re one of the people that whenever you post an AVOYP I think - “yeah, this will be a good one”. Some pretty awesome lead playing going on with your stuff!
Your focus on the electric and just playing (i.e. not singing) shows what progress can be made with dedicated practice. So good to see.
I’m curious what your goals are for guitar now, do you plan to play in public, join a band, start a band, record songs, or just play for fun? You’ve developed some pretty impressive skills.
Congratulations on your 3 year milestone. You’ve made amazing progress with theory and techniques and its been great to watch you apply what you have learned along the way. Looking forward to see what your 4th year brings.
Congrats Shane. You’re a role model and inspiration. Your progress amplifies the benefits of narrowing focus and being deliberate, disciplined, dedicated in your practice.
Keep on playing the blues, rocking and rolling.
Shane, congratulations on your 3 year milestone. An awesome and impressive solo performance in your posting of your “Comfortably Numb” solo segment. I can only dream of being able to reach that level of technical competence in 3 years.
Thanks for the kind words and support everyone. If you guys weren’t here, I woukdn’t be either.
@jkahn Next steps? Just continue having fun and getting better mate. A band or playing in public is probably not in my future. I’m more of a lone rider. Could see myself putting out some of my own stuff in the future though. We’ll see how it goes.
@SteveL_G99 Yep, enjoying learning that great Gilmour solo. I need to get onto the 2nd half (and harder part) of that one.
@DavidP You’re an inspiration to me David, in many ways. As long as people like yourself are still hangin around, I’ll keep comin back. 
@Socio Much appreciated James. And I do love myself a bit of theory - as long as its practical 
Cheers,Shane
Hi Shane,
3 years… time flies, and what a wonderful life changing event… we are kind of on par with a lot of shared music playing interest… you made me look up when I touch the 3 years Justin…28 -8 this year…
Saturday I bought a phone holder(tripod) and am now able to record my music boxes and guitar amp a little more decently…I hope
Thanks for sharing your music it inspires me to do some more (a little 
) structured practice
Wow Shane! I have taken some time to read through your Learning Log this afternoon. You have accomplished so, so much in three year’s time. I’m very impressed. I enjoyed reading about your practice routines; about how you have learned about triads, all the scales that work together up and down the neck, arpeggios, etc.
Very nice videos of all your progress.
So proud for you!
Pam
24 Sept 23 - SULTANS OF SWING. Original ‘dreamer’ song.
This entry marks my first serious work on my number one original ‘dreamer’ song, ‘Sultans of Swing’. Along with ‘Still Got The Blues’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, this tune forms the very top 3 tunes I’d like to ‘master’ before I check out. By ‘master’, I mean to be able to play to a high standard with many of the bells and whistles that these great tunes have to offer. Why? One, they are absolutely cracking tunes, that are awesome to play. And two, the skills and techniques required to play these songs at a high level would mean I’d put the work in and become a decent guitar player. And probably had a lot of fun along the way. So a win/win. This entry is more for my own benefit, to mark an important point in time, with some details as to my current skillset, and mindset.
I’ve always been very intimidated by this song. Of course, it brings back wonderful memories as a teenager, at a time when the world seemed a lot simpler and more fun place than it is today. From a guitar playing perspective, apart from the perceived difficulty, I think the very idiosyncratic style of Knopfler’s playing makes it a fools errand to try to emulate. So I’m under no illusion here. Similar with Gary Moore’s playing. However, I just wanted to be able to play it well, someday, as its a truly cracking tune that simply makes you feel good.
3 years ago, when I started with Justin, Sultans of Swing, even the rhythm parts, was a far away prospect. A real dreamer. All those barre chords, fast pace, tricky rhythm etc seemed impossible.
Well, I’ve pretty much got the rhythm parts down now, and it now seems a relatively straightforward tune rhythm-wise. I’ve had it down for a little while, but have hesitated to move onto the crux of the song; all those ( many) cool fills, and the solos. As Knopfler plays it all basically with his thumb and index finger, I thought I’d have to become very proficient at fingerstyle before attempting it. Or, just even work out a way to attack it. Now, traditional fingerstyle, as a playing style, doesn’t really do it for me. Its one of those things that I haven’t really pursued.
But I have pursued hybrid picking, and am getting reasonably proficient at it. So thats how I plan to really learn this tune.
I also wanted to feel ‘good enough’ to start tackling it seriously. The mind is a peculiar thing indeed. I think I kept putting this song off, so I wouldn’t get to this point, and find out I still wasn’t ready for it. But ready I am.
So 4 days ago I’ve started on all the ‘Knopfler’ parts of the song. So, basically, all the cool little fills/ licks that accompany almost every bar of rhythm. Have the intro and all the verses down, at a foundational level, bar the very last verse after the solo.
The general plan is to;
A few things I’ve noticed. Firstly, its impossible to play this song without moving around/ jivin’ to it. It just gets me every single time I play it. 
. Two, not nearly as difficult as I had let myself believe. I’m not saying its easy, but am learning the fills/ licks at a much faster pace than I thought. This is probably due to me getting better, both technique and knowledge wise, over time. My theory knowledge has helped immensely here too I think; the licks/ fills etc all make sense as he’s just outlining the chord progression. Of course, he’s doing it in a masterful way that draws the listener right in. If I’d tried doing these fills etc 2 years ago, I would have really struggled. So, Im pretty pleased that I’ve knocked over the intro and nearly all the verses to a basic level in a few days. Looking ahead, lots of these little fills/ licks are repeated, albeit often altered/ extended etc across different verses.
Another thing I’ve noticed is just how elegant the melody is. Not highly technical or difficult, but just highlighting/ accentuating the chords underneath, providing contrast and resonance, and the to and fro between tension and release. At its core, its the same basic chord tone targeting that I’m learning everyday, BUT, done to such a sublime level of elegant sophistication and beauty that makes this song a masterpiece. Plus Knopflers style really is the song.
Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s a playthrough of where I’m at after 5 days with all the fills n licks etc. It’s not the whole song, cos I obviously haven’t learnt the solos, but its pretty much the rest of it. Thought I better put something up, in case the reaper comes for me Of course, there’s several little errors here and there in regards to notes, phrasing, articulation etc, but feel I’m finally on my way with this tune.
The backing track is the original, with all Knopfler’s fills/riffs/licks removed. Hopefully a revisit here down the track will bring a smile at my early journey into the heart of this great song, and a bit of a milestone for me in my guitar playing.
Cheers, Shane
Not much I can say, Shane. Sounding great, clearly well on your way.
As you said, it’s a great song. In fact, I think the first four albums are superb, pretty much start to finish. Still to this day, I regularly go back to listen to all 4 back to back plus Brothers In Arms (the song).
Hi Shane,
Very good and I enjoyed it very much. Six months ago orso I reached your points 1 and 2 (but not in a couple of day`s 
) (but I have to do something about my memory because now my fingers wouldn’t remember more than half of it) and actually this song is the biggest reason that I have to delve more into recording DAW and such… When I started playing I had 3 songs in my head that if I who could play live would die satisfied …This song…Romeo_and_Juliet_ and Brothers In Arms instead of all three for half, I would have been better off mastering 1 
And again and again you hold up a mirror to me
Thanks and greeting
Great recording filling in on “Sultans of Swing”, Shane.
This log caught my eye since you’ve been coming through for quite some time with updates. Neat to see you progress these past few years. Wish you the best with your continued playing.