Socio's Learning Log

Congrats and well done, James. Doesn’t seem like 4 years. You keep making great progress and love to listen to you play. Sure the next year will be just as fulfilling and exciting.

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That a pretty impressive list of recording. Well done. I’ve really enjoyed watching your progress over the years. Looking forward to your next video. Happy to hear you’re still playing you acoustic.

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Happy 4th guitarversary, James! Man, you’ve come a long way in that four years. It’s great to see and follow your progress. BLIM and all that was coming after shows how dedication and practice work together to make you grow as a guitarist and musician.
I’m really looking forward to a new recording of yours even though I’m rarely in the AVoYP-section due to time constraints. I’m thrilled to see what the next years of your guitar journey will lead you to. :slight_smile:

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Well done James, great update. What a busy boy you’ve been in the past year and what a busy boy you’re going to be in the next 12 months if you do everything you’ve said in your post! I admire your dedication.
I’ve missed your covers and originals on acoustic but realise that now you’re a Bluesman :smiling_face_with_sunglasses: you are concentrating on other things.
Yes indeed, you’ve covered a lot of ground since you appeared - minus your head - on the forum 4 years ago. :grin:
Here’s to the next 4 years my friend.

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Happy anniversary, James! :grinning_face:
Looks like you definitely sold something at that crossroads, eh? That ol’ blues has you well an’ truly by the pointy tail…
You forgot to mention that between all that learnin’ and practicin’, you’ve still been able to find the time to pop your head into the Community and drop the occasional sarcastic comment :winking_face_with_tongue:
Keep it up!

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Congratulations on your anniversary with learning guitar, James :smiling_face_with_sunglasses::partying_face:

I just crossed the 5 year mark here learning with Justin…phew time flies and also has this :money_with_wings: since :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: … but most use for the best

Greetings

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Congrats on 4 years of learning guitar, James!

You’ve always gone about your learning in a structured way and reported it here and I’ve found your log to be useful reading.
Not as much nitty gritty detail in this update, but then that’s understandable considering you’re working on outside courses. Don’t know how you find the time to fit it all in!

Have another good year! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

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@DavidP @stitch @Lisa_S @sairfingers @brianlarsen @roger_holland @BurnsRhythm Thanks for following me on this adventure and taking the time to comment.

Toby always say’s that its a marathon and not a sprint but the years seem to be going by faster and faster.

Thanks for your advice and guidance over the years.

I’m starting to find a perfect balance now between playing the electric and acoustic which has been great as I enjoy strumming a song on the acoustic or playing some fingerstyle blues.

Absolutely, like @sairfingers points out from a headless beginner to an advancing beginner musician :rofl:

That’s understandable. It’s great and admirable that you still pop in from time to time to give your support and encouragement to the community. I’ll try and not disappoint you with my latest AVoYP when I get it performance ready and find the time to record it :wink:

You’ll be pleased to know my friend that I’ve got a new original on acoustic that I’m currently polishing up to get performance ready. I’m sure I’ll still be recording covers or originals on the acoustic. I just need to get back into the swing of it. It’s been a while since you’ve posted a recording, I’ve missed my weekly one take Wednesday fixes.

I could see your soul by the side of the road while I was there :rofl: Your audience demands more blues from you :wink:

admit it, you’d miss me if I didn’t :winking_face_with_tongue:

Absolutely but every minute and every penny has been well spent (at least that’s what I tell myself) :grin: Now I must go back to window shopping :rofl:

Time boxing plus everything is connected. For example I’ve went down the path of rather than learning the scales as patterns, I’ve built from the ground up e.g. major chord shape > Major arpeggio > major pentatonic > major scale in a musical context.

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Me too :roll_eyes: ,at least all the stuff (incl guitars) i don`t use did gave me this :downwards_button: feeling for a while
:sweat_smile:

Greetings

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Happy 4th Guitar 'versary James! Your year has been really full of things while keeping the main focus on Blues!
What strikes me is the number of courses you’ve been doing…that’s impressive to my poor slow information processing brain ! :joy:
Just a friendly thought…please make sure you’re giving yourself the time to digest properly things before you move on…which I’m sure you’re already doing…I’m just jelaous of your fast learning efficiency :zany_face:

That’s the most important thing :star_struck::raising_hands::blush:

It is great to read you’re progressing so well, your being structured has always been an example for me.

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Thank you, Silvia :smiling_face:

Think of it like time boxing where I create my own practice routine split between the modules of a couple of courses. For the main course I focus on all of the modules in the level but for the side courses I take them one module at a time.

Absolutely. I’ve been progressing slowly through the main course and will only move on once I’m happy with all elements in the level. Where I need either guidance or reassurance then I will take the opportunity to get feedback from the instructor.

To keep me from getting bored this is where the deep diving and other courses come in useful as for the elements I’m comfortable with I can dig a bit deeper whilst working on the elements that need more attention. Likewise, the other courses I’m doing such as CAGED and Triads help keep the learning and practicing fresh.

An other approach which I’ve been using the past few months for practicing and consolidating is an something that I call the ‘Sesame Street’ approach, where each practice session is sponsored by a letter :rofl: for example that might be the focus of the practice session is the Key of G :wink:

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Four years. Congrats James. I think a similar amount of time playing as me. I remember the early days of learning, it felt like a month or two saw huge progress! Now the time seems to go much faster, and the learning changes are slower. Do you find the same?

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Thanks, JK. Yes, we joined the community at around about the same time which was great as we got to follow each others progress as we made our way through the beginner’s course. In terms of progress, yes, I think the learning changes are slower but have also changed in the sense that the practical side has slowed down but the knowledge side of things has picked up.

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James @Socio

Wow, four years it seems like no time at all. I started a few months after you, how time flies.

Can you remember the time when you thought if I can only get to 30 one minute changes I will have made real progress and look at you now.

It is interesting where you end up on the journey and in a way that is what Justin sets you up for with the basics so you can go off on your own way.

I was aware you were very much into Blues and BLIM in particular and from what I gather it involved a lot of hard work.

Glad you are not going to neglect the acoustic guitar as there are plenty of interesting avenues to follow.

All the best for the next 12 months.

Michael

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Thanks, Michael. Oh yes I can still remember all the challenges and the rewards working through the beginners course from the very first unit like it was yesterday. There is so many different and interesting avenues to take on the guitar. I’m sure that I will touch on other avenues on the side or in a more focused manner once I get to the end of this years blues adventure.

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Just got to this, with selective reading while a little AWOL. You have made fine progress young man and applied yourself well. Certainly lots of really focused work over the last 2 years and is paying you dividends. Just keep the momentum going and see where year 5 takes you !

:smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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Thank’s Bossman.

Absolutely, I’ll keep the momentum going under the radar and we will see if it leads to an album being released :wink:

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Happy 4th year anniversary James :slight_smile:

That’s a huge list of recording and in many different styles ! Congrats for the achievement :slight_smile:

I’m happy to see that I was aware of most of your milestones regarding blues, caged, triads and acoustic. So that means we had really good conversations during the past year :slight_smile:

I can’t wait to see what the 5th year will look like.

Keep it up, you are making good progress ! :partying_face: :birthday_cake:

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James, happy 4th guitar anniversary. You are making a lot of progress with blues guitar. It has been fun following your progress.

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Wow, James congrats Mate. :party_popper::party_popper:, I’m not even sure how long I’ve been here but anyway, its always good inspiration to see the progress of the guys (and girls :grin:) like yourself. :+1::+1:

Congrats again.

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