Gordon, thanks for reading and listening and for your encouraging words. This is definitely a work in progress. I listened to the original and decided that I willl need to do something completely different for the chorus, with arpeggiated chords if I want to follow the original style. I’ll see where this takes me.
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9March2025 - I am halfway through with IM Foundation 1 practice, mixed in with Grade 3 review and consolidation and also acoustic and electric blues and classical. This is my updated schedule and my weekly practice log:
I wouldn’t recommend this scattered approach unless variety is more important than progress. But I am making some progress and not getting bored, so I am happy.
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And that’s what it’s all about. 
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What is IM Foundation 1?
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Hi Stuart,
IM Foundation 1 is my shortened name for Intermediate Method Foundation Stage 1, taken from the Justin Guitar Intermediate Method book. It follows the old or classic Intermediate Method lessons that were in the classic website lessons. I am using the book organization since it gives me a starting point for my grade 4 practice shedule that I combine with the new Grade 4 lessons. Here is my lesson planning post from the end of this past December 2024:
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Thanks for the information.
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That sounded great Steve 
Good progress…of course you’re happy
Greetings
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Well on your way with those barre chords, Steve! And super structured practice schedule as always 
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@roger_holland @Helen0609 Rogier and Andrea, thank you for your kind words of encouragement.
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14March2025 - I finally finished the transcriptions of the power chords for the six songs listed for Grade 3 Module 15. When I was learning and practicing module 15 back in Nov/Dec of 2022, I only finished transcriptions for a couple of songs. I decided I could do more later during consolidation. I finally gave up on transcription as I advanced through the modules, so I am committed to completing all the transcriptions in this review / consolation phase for Grade 3.
Since it has been over two years since I started Grade 3, the review of Grade 3 feels nostalgic, since that was the beginning of this learning log. It also gives me a chance to review my Learning Log and find any gaps in my learning or practice notes that I have forgotten and need to remember. Since I am only working on Grade 3 consolidation one week per month, it will take more than a year to complete the consolidation by working through all Grade 3 module transcriptions.
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14April2025 - I finished a week of classical guitar practice which gave me time to catch up to where I had finished in the F. Noad Solo Guitar Playing Book 1 back in 1979. There was a Vivaldi piece in chapter 12 that was the furtherest I had gotten in the book and one I used to play to remind myself that I had learned to play classical guitar. On reflection, I remembered that I am completely self taught in classical guitar and had no internet, videos or iphone back then, just this very same guitar, music stand and footstool and a lot of time to practice. I did have a record player and an LP record of famous classical guitarists, but my memory of my playing ability may be distorted. I am using this as a stopping point to go back to the Werner Classical guitar method since that has the videos that promotes better practice habits. I only had a couple of days to practice this piece and thought that I could record it, since it was one that I had learned many years in the past. The resulting recording was not very good:
I decided to extend my week of classical guitar and spend a couple of more days to practice. One of my problems was that I was sightreading and my bad eyes don’t see as well at 69 as they did at 24 years of age. Here is the music I was playing from:
I decided to enlarge 135 % on two pages and tape to together to create music I could read:
With the enlarged music and 2 more days of practice my sight-reading and playing had improved some.
There is still much room for improvement but this gives me a starting point to judge my improvement in the future.
Next I need to put this song into Guitar Pro and practice a little each week until I haver it memorized. Then I should be able to play more smoothly and more musically pleasing. I only have 1 week of classical guitar scheduled every 2 months so this would just be a side project.
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Nice progress there Steve. I don’t know the piece at all but the second version is a big step on
Have you tried maybe practicing classical guitar 1 day a week rather than a week each 2 months? I think if had that gap I’d spend the first day or two getting back to where I was but perhaps that’s just me.
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Great update of your log, Steve! You are making good progress although you only have so little time to practice classical guitar. As always, I appreciate your perseverance!
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Matt, thanks for listening. I had read in Justin’s lessons somewhere that if you go more than 3 days between practicing something you start forgetting. I also think I need to have at least two days in a row to make progress. Since I didn’t want to dedicate too much time to classical guitar, I tried to do 3 days in a row in one week each month, but I found that I did 2 days of review and 1 day to learn something new. When I changed to every other month, I found that I still could review in 2 days and have 4 days to learn something new in a 6 day week, which worked better for me. It might not work for you or others 
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Hi Andrea, thanks for listening to my learning log entry and for your kind and encouraging words.
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When you put it like that it makes perfect sense to me
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@Stuartw Stuart, I forgot to mention back in March, that you don’t need the JG Intermediate Method book to see the basis for my practice schedule. You can go to the website and search for “intermediate foundation” and select the “intermediate foundation (classic)”, then select Intermediate Foundation 1 and then select the “Foundation 1 Practice Schedule”. My practice included this list of practice items plus the blues lessons on the website. I am also using the list of songs from the “Songs for Foundation 1” from the classic lessons for my practice also, although I am leaving off “in the Cold Cold Night” since it doesn’t have a video lesson and “Fire” by Jimi Hendrix is really a Grade 5+ to Grade 7 song (a little too hard).
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10May2025 - I decided that I needed to add more time to my Grade 4 (part 1 or 2) practice plan. I added another 2 weeks of grade 4 practice which also allows more time for all the other areas of learning and fun:
This also means that I will be in grade 4 practice for at least 18 months or 1 1/2 years. I will also be consolidating grade 4 when I am in grade 5.
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6July2025 - 3 Year JG Guitar Anniversary
NOTE: I noticed that a couple of the linked classical guitar videos were no longer available. I ‘ve had that happen before, but at least I know now that it is not due to copyright issues. I will fix this soon in YouTube.
The last 6 months of 2024 were spent finishing up grade 3 lessons and grade 2 consolidation. Then I have been able to start grade 4 in 2025. I knew that it would be a little more difficult and I have had some challenges with learning blues licks and starting to learn intermediate level songs. Since I am only averaging 30 minutes of practice per day I can tell this will be a slow marathon of several years. Fortunately I have been able to enjoy the journey so far, so it is easy to be patient.
1 - Grade 3 lessons completed
I finally finished all the Grade 3 lessons and practice sessions ending with module 22 practice finished in Sept 2024.
2 - Grade 2 consolidation completed
Since I have been alternating with grade 2 consolidation, I spent the next 2 months (Sept. to Nov.) focusing on a big project of choosing, practicing and recording 10 songs for grade 2 consolidation. I spent a month listening to Grade 2 songs in the JG beginner songbooks and playing and narrowing song list to twenty-two grade 2 or grade 2 relevant grade 3 songs and practicing and singing the songs.Then in the the middle of Oct. 2024, I narrowed to list to 10 songs that I could sing and play. I finished recording all 10 of the songs for Grade 2 consolidation by the end of Nov. 2024.
In Dec. 2024, I decided to practice and record some of the songs in Justin’s Christmas songbook.
I learned and recorded a weak version of Silent Night chords melody, and an even weaker chord melody version of We Wish You A Merry Christmas. I also started leaning Carol of the Bells and made.a lot of notes as I put into Guitar Pro.
3 - I finally started intermediate lessons in Grade 4 and successfully finished 6 weeks on grade 4 lessons over the 6 month period. Back in 2018 I tried to start Grade 4 in the old classic lessons and gave up in a mixture of boredom and frustration and lack of purpose in my practice. Thanks to all I have learned in grade 3, that is no longer a problem.
At the end of Dec. and the beginning of Jan .2025 - I did a LOT of planning and finally made to jump to Grade 4 practice.
My Grade 4 practice is the technical items from the old Intermediate Foundations 1, combined with acoustic blues solos and electric blues lead from grade 4 and beginning fijngerstyle from grade 5, since I already have some fingerstyle experience. I am also starting to play through the four J G Intermediate songbooks, with focus on
Acoustic and Vintage Songbooks.
I injured my ring finger doing the string bending for the 5 blues licks practice so I put off grade 3 consolidation and focused on classical guitar with the Werner method and the Noad Solo Guitar book and the Practical Music Theory beginning with grade 2 and 3 review and then grade 4. I put lighter strings on my Strat.
I started on Grade 4 songs and also practicing songs on my grade 3 song list. I recorded a beginning version of Sounds of Silence and Angie at the end of Jan.
Sounds of Silence and Angie initial recordings
In March, I started learning the grade 5 song Torn and posted a short intro video with one verse to document my starting point.
4 - Grade 3 consolidation focused on transcription
In Feb. I started Grade 3 consolidation, reviewing all the Grade 3 lessons and practice items and focusing on the transcription lessons, since I did not give those lessons much time in the first time around. In April i finished transcribing all the songs for the power chord transcription In May, I transcribed all the melodies in the listed songs in module 16. In June, I transcribed all the riffs in Grade 3 module 17.
5 - occasional classical guitar weeks
I took a classical guitar break from my regular practice schedule at the beginning of Oct. 2024 to practice and record Layenda (also known as Asturias). While not a metal aficionado, I found it cool to record a metal-like recording of Asturias in GarageBand on my Strat, that was inspired by the Iron Maiden usage in Mother Russia.
I took another classical guitar break at the beginning of Nov. 2024 and recorded both parts of the Minuet in G duet from the Werner method. I gave me a chance to learn to use the iMovie editor to show me playing both parts side by side.
In my week of classical focus in April, I finished playing through the first few chapters of the Noad Solo Guitar book. I made a first recording of the Vivaldi piece in the chapter on dotted notes. It is a chord melody style piece so i need to do more practice to get to performance appeal
5 - supplemental rock guitar practice
I also added the Belwin (no Alfred) Rock Shop guitar method to my practice and started by playing thought book 1 again and also entering the main study pieces or songs into GuitarPro. By the end of June 2025 I completed learning and entering the riffs and licks exercises from Belwin Rock Shop 1 into Guitar Pro. Now I need to consolidate by playing with backing tracks.
I also reviewed the practice exercises in Wolf Marshall Method Book 1.
The next 6 months will be much less structured. I will spend as much time as needed to learn and play the songs that I have started practicing in the last 6 months.
Items to practice and record in the second half of 2025:
Grade 4 items:
Boom Bass with Licks - Acoustic Blues
Vari-Shuffle Climb - Acoustic Blues
Using Lick Effectively study with 5 licks - Blues Lead
Angie - grade 4 song
Dust in the Wind - fingerstyle from Vintage club lessons
Leader of the Band - fingerstyle that I did 15 years ago in an open mike at work
Grade 3 consolidation items:
Greensleeves - Justin’s version on Acoustic and Noad Sold Guitar version on classical guitar
Neil Young’s, Old Man - for D chords up the neck and picking individual strings while strumming
Paint It Black.- picking individual strings while strumming
Blackbird - Thumb and Finger strumming on acoustic and classical guitar fingerstyle
The Sounds of Silence - fingerstyle on acoustic
Before You Accuse Me - acoustic blues
California Dreamin - I had put a WIP video in the AVOYP section back when I was still a little bit of a noob, so I definitely need to record a completed version.
Note: The grade 3 songs will probably change some in the next 6 months.
Other activities as I find time:
Review all the grade 1 and 2 songs that you have recorded, to keep those skills fresh.
Continue with Grade 4 PMT lessons and more practice with GuitarPro and GarageBand.
When you get more experience with GarageBand you can complete the two song projects in AVOYP and/or with Moises tracks:
Fortunate Son by CCR - was WIP and needed a lot more practice
Venus by Shocking Blue - was a special project while waiting for finger to heal. This will be a good song to finish in GarageBand.
Practice songs from Wolf Marshall Songbook 1
Practice and Record the Rockschool grade 1 electric guitar exam pieces.(optional)
It is easy to see why I decided that my consolidation phase should grow from 2 months to 6 months. I’m not even sure if that is long enough time, but I will be able to consolidate a lot.and I can prioritize and reduce my goals as I progress.
Beginning in 2026, I will continue with the rest of Grade 4 practice with JG Intermediate Method Foundation 2 and the rest of grade 4 blues lessons and some grade 5 fingerstyle lessons.I will also continue Grade 3 review and finishing transcription lessons. I will make a detailed plan before the start of 2026.
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24July2025 - This is an addendum to my 3 year anniversary summary above. I have been finishing listening to all the grade 2 song lessons that I have n’t already heard or played along with. I found that for the Thumb and Finger Percussive strumming on acoustic, I found that the perfect song to use is Buffalo Springfield Again. I think that this is the song that prompted Justin to learn the thumb and finger percussive strumming technique. Besides, I find that I like all of the Neil Young song lessons and will probably learn all of them eventually. I also have an excuse to dust off my blues harmonica (after a 20 year pause) and see if I can remember how to bend a note on the harmonica 
Also, since I can’t edit previous posts and I had a couple of videos that were deleted from YouTube that were referenced in my summary, here they are:
New link for 4Oct2024 post in my learning log:
Leyenda or Astorius - second usable take
and new link for 11Nov2024 posting in my learning log.
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