@brianlarsen Thanks Brian. That’s a good point, I’ve been meaning to tidy up the first post. Thanks for the listen and feedback. Let’s hope this years AVOYPs show some sign of improvement. To be honest I get more out of it helping others out and giving my support and encouragement.
@dobleA Thanks Andrés. Better to move on over prepared than under prepared is the way I look at it.
Year #2 Week #1
Well this new year has started off promising. I posted two AVOYPs, The Circle - Ocean Colour Scene Cover and Justin's Acoustic Solo Blues. When uploading them I noticed that it had been 5 months since I last posted an AVOYP. It’s amazing to see the progress that has been made over those 5 months. I’ve promised myself that I’m not going to wait another 5 months before posting another AVOYP. So I will definitely post the stuff I have been working on during the consolidation period to be able to look back at when I reach Year #2 to see the progress I have made over the course of a year. Consolidation is going really well, I’m more or less done with the blues, just have to close out the blues lead I’ve been working on. I just need to work more on consolidating the rock techniques which I’ve also added riffs to my practice sessions like Don’t Fear the Reaper. So I’m getting the benefit of working on my left and right hand techniques whilst learning some really cool songs along the way.
That time has come. Well I’d already watched the Practice Effectively Lesson and added the Finger Gym into my practice schedule and a couple of the Grade 3 Modules Lessons are covered by the Classic Course. So as from tomorrow I will start to add one lesson at a time into my practice schedule starting with the D Chord Explorer lesson whilst I round off Grade 2 Consolidation.
While I was set up to record an AVoYP of Don’t Look Back In Anger I decided to record practice session of Supersonic. Another Oasis song that I was using to consolidate the Stuck 3&4 chords.
Finally managed to keep that foot tapping on the beat going through the shuffle riffs and triplets. Now the inner metronome has been re-calibrated I can get back to polishing off the acoustic blues solo before commencing the Solo Blues Course.
This is much harder than it sounds, at least that is my experience, so good on you, James!
Hey James, timely for you to bump this back up as I’d missed your last couple of updates. Terrific work with your consolidation and steps into grade 3!
Gutted I missed your couple of Oasis AVOYPs when they were fresh but so glad to have seen them now. Your intro into Don’t Look Back in Anger set it up really nicely and the overall playing and vocals were smoooooooth. Supersonic is an awesome job on taking a heavier song and acoustic-ifying it, plenty of inspiration in there for me!
You can say that again. I think it gave me a few more grey hairs.
@Notter
Hey Mark, good to see you about mate. Thanks, still got a bit of consolidation to do (mainly rock techniques) but finding myself stretched a little bit. Starting to think for Grade 3 I might have to approach it on a lesson by lesson basis rather than module by module basis.
Glad you enjoyed the Oasis AVoYPs. It was about time I did a cover of one of their songs. I wasn’t sure whether to progress further with Supersonic or keep it as a B-Side; it’s one I’ve just used to practice the stuck 3&4 chords whilst having some fun at the same time.
How flippant 
Definitely warranted an A-side release in my book!!
Since I’ve got the Katana I’ve been playing backing tracks on the Amp and playing over it which has been fun. When it comes to recording if I add the backing track to reaper I presume I can just continue with setting the windows output to the katana and record without headphones. If recording with head phones I presume I either have to connect the headphones to the katana or connect the katana to my AI instead of via USB? So no way to connect the headphones direct to the computer the Katana is connected to via USB?
I was just thinking (after a few nice drinks), watching the news, and about Justin’s paying it back motto. And was thinking giving the current crisises wouldn’t it be nice to do an OM, promote it via YouTube/social media and sell the tickets for a donation of their choice and donate it to a good cause whilst promoting Justin’s work. Can you imagine the publicity but at the same time the more rewarding feeling of helping people through this difficult time through music.
That’s a terrific idea, I’d be more than happy to support and promote that out 
October 2022
It’s been a fun, challenging and rewarding month. I’ve still not stepped up to Grade 3, not because I don’t feel ready, I’ve just been working on other things at the moment.
As I’ve mentioned further up in the log I decided to enroll in a supplementary course ‘Master Fingerstyle - Beginner’ which I am finding really good and compliments everything that I am learning from Justin’s beginner course.
I’ve also been spending time exploring the blues. I really enjoyed learning the acoustic blues solo which I plan on updating shortly taking onboard the valuable feedback I got from the community.
I’ve enjoyed it so much that I purchased the Solo Blues Guitar Course and plan on working my way through the course and posting my attempts on the guitar challenge thread.
I finally got around to spending more time with the electric guitar now that I have a decent amplifier and enjoyed learning Justin’s blues lead set piece.
With the feedback I got from the community when I posted my recording it gave me the urge to take a backing track and record some improvisation and try to implement the suggestions that were made.
Now that I have completed what I set out to do for consolidating the blues I plan on tackling my other goal which was to work my way through Justin’s Master Rock Power Chords course.
I also need to start working my way through the second part of Justin’s Strumming Techniques Course as that has been on my list of things to do for quite a while now.
On a personal level, I read with interest some comments recently by @CT and @Rumil about being empowered to post recordings in public.
It took me a few months before plucking up the courage to record and post my first AVoYPs (unlisted) on the forum. From that day forward I didn’t look back as the world didn’t end as I know it.
@brianlarsen made a good a point on on one of my AVoYP posts about doing things when you’re good and ready.
When it came to posting the blues lead I debated with myself posting public or unlisted, am I ready to step up to the next level and put myself out there to the wider world (not that anyone out there would be particularly interested in watching me play guitar).
At that moment in time the answer was I’m good and ready 
I thought to myself if someone makes any cheeky remarks then the response is “I’d be interested in seeing you play so that I can learn from watching you” as anyone that plays guitar started off where I started and knows its not as easy as it looks.
Now that point made by Brian was in relation to a different subject raised by @batwoman which is a question I have still to ask myself 
It’s been interesting looking back at not only the progress that I have made but the confidence that I have gained on this guitar adventure.
Hi James,
Extensive story again,…nice to read 
,…and good to see that you are also working on a lot and (or) want to be with a whole lot of things at the same time soon,…just a little bit more and you’ll make it just like that chaotic path (or at least a little bit) i`m running 
…there are now 17 tabs of guitar stuff open on my computer that are done throughout the day…
you can turn off the comments,…I did that because it’s busy enough here,… soon strangers or family will also respond to you-tube, no way 
Greetings,…
Oh but is it really a chaotic path or are we just laying wider and deeper foundations?
that’s something I’ll need to look into before the spammers start doing my head in
one day I’ll post a (average day) picture of my daily work table,…I’ll do you @ then… 
Keeping busy obviously James!! The time you’ve been putting in, especially with the blues focus, has really showed with your AVOYPs, kudos to you.
Oh yes indeed, and I hope you’re not talking about getting any cheeky remarks here (well aside from any usual suspects…!) Fully with you on the sentiment though, it all comes back to ultimately who are you learning to play for, you!
Nice update to catch up on, a productive winter ahead I’m sure!! 
@Notter
Absolutely, Mark. All those assigned minutes in a practice schedule don’t half add up quickly to the time you have available to practice. Then it’s making sure you’ve got a good chunk of fun time in there too.
Definitely not referring to the cheeky remarks from the usual suspects on here. That’s what I would consider as good banter.
Katana to AI and headphones on AI is the way to go when recording, if you can - I assume the katana has an XLR line out. Minimal latency.
If your headphones are connected to the PC instead of AI there will be latency. Fine for jamming but not for recording