Happy anniversary Toby!
This is a very nice looking studio that you have. Love the old phone 
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You are sooo young when you say that 
…or I very O…
Greetings…
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Not necessarily Roger, these phones were everywhere when I was in my 20s. Now I rarely see any, therefore the comment.
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Congrats and many more healthy happy years together, Toby.
Enjoy the monitors!
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Thought I had liked and replied to this thread when I first read it weeks ago, guess I didn’t 
That Smokehouse Burst Studio LP looks gorgeous Toby, and that restoration job on your Cherry LP was amazing 
So happy for you that you got it restored to playing condition. I chipped the headstock of my Squier Affinity Strat in my recent upgrade project and my stomach fell out the bottom (managed to fix it with a bit of superglue). So I can’t imagine what you must’ve felt like when your LP headstock snapped off 
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Third Quarter 2023 - Reflect and Assess. Long Read Warning.
Time for a subtle change of direction after a month’s break with very little playing.
So as some of you may know I have spent most of this year alternating daily, between Solo Acoustic Blues (Steady Thumb, Dead Thumb etc using Justin’s premium Solo Blues course and Dave Hamburger’s Fingerstyle Blues Handbook) and Blues Rock Soloing with Jeff McErlain and dipping into Justin’s Blues Lead modules once more. Plus learning a few songs, especially for the odd JGC OM.
I have been fairly happy with the slow steady progress. I now have around 14 fingerstyle Blues pieces under my fingers, some presented in the last Madman’s diary HERE and of the 4 Blues Rock Lead solos I have been learning, there are 2 that I play comfortably, (one Gilmouresque, one Knopfleresque 
) and a Southern Rock Allmansesque style that I can now play around 70% full tempo and an ACDC style piece I am struggling with, so work in progress. Fast full bends then double stop loops and double stop bends eek !! 
Oh and work in progress Lynyrd Skynyrd’s I Need You solos, currently below tempo and a few country bends (think they’re called that) which are being stubborn but helped by the some of acoustic blues techniques !
The plan for the rest of the year was to continue in the same vein and moving on to another Truefire course, teaching longer electric solos, alongside the acoustic work. But …
Although happy with the year so far, things slowed up in June, when I picked up some bug that wiped me out and made enthusiastic practice a chore as I had no energy and it rolled on into early July. I kept on playing but stagnated a little. Then mid July was prepping for the family to arrive for a 4.5 week holiday and things got put on hold bar the odd random pick up. The next 4 weeks continued in a similar fashion, while focusing on family time and doing loads of “yard” work with my daughter, a thing she loves but also a distraction for her day job.
By the time they went back I was left with the PIP joints knackered on 4 fingers (pinkie on fretting hand and Index, Middle and Ring on the other!!). So as I eased back into very gentle playing 8 days ago, I found keeping the fingers still and holding a pick not conducive to their recovery but the constant movement of finger picking the Blues pieces seem to improve the stiffness and swelling.
I’d dabbled with one of the lead lines to Black Sabbath’s Fluff, on one of the odd days I had picked up, while the family was here – it was sitting in GP8 saying “play me” but I ended up messing with the underlying fingerstyle pattern ala PIMAMI, with plenty of chord change snafus. I’d not really done much Folk FS since Every Body Hurts and Elvis back in the old BC and IM days. But it felt quite therapeutic,
If you put all that together and dropping on a few recent comments about focusing on one thing, which I recall @stitch posted somewhere, the plan is to focus mainly on Fingerstyle for the rest of the year.
I’ll continue working on the Fingerstyle Handbook pieces but I have just restarted Justin’s Grade 5 Folk Fingerstyle course, which I dabbled with some year back before the new site redesign. I’d been starting to learn Dust In The Wind last week and the pattern seemed familiar. Dug out some of Justin old course patterns I’d saved years ago and 10 common fingerstyle patterns from GuitarGear (I think ?). So having found DITW was just one note extra to Justin’s intro pattern, it seemed like a good idea to crack on with the course once again.
I’ve mentioned a few times in my singing and playing journey, that I always wanted to move on and be able to sing while playing fingerstyle. And I guess the biggest hurdle to that was not actually playing fingerstyle, doh! So, hopefully this will help address this but I expect to be in for a long haul.
There are a few songs lined up that I’d like to sing and play, plus James @socio sent me some suggestions of “easy” songs that should help the process but always willing to consider other suggestions, as long as its not John Denver ! Especially if you know what floats my boat musically.
As to the electric Blues soloing, it won’t be put completely on ice but I hope to spend a little more time on the tracks individually once or twice a week, until they are recordable.
But the main focus will be Fingerstyle for now.
However, a little teaser for those who have been here since the old forum days. In my JG Fingerstyle Pattern folder I found the original TE-021 and TE-022 Folkfingerstyle from the old course but also found these :
They are labelled TE-310-fingerstyle-ex1 to ex5
And I was hoping someone could match these up to the current lesson that covers the material, assuming it still exists. Any pointers would be gratefully received, as I haven’t got a Scooby what these related after all these years !
Madman Over and Out.
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Great update, Toby. You have made a lot of progress this year especially with the fingerstyle blues. If your still looking for some blues material to bounce about with in the background whilst you focus on fingerstyle I think you would enjoy the blues courses Justin was involved in for ICMP Elevate particularly the blues guitar styles course presented by Justin.
As for your fingerstyle pattern conundrum:
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That will be the one ! Hidden in plain “site” but I sure it wasn’t called that back in the day. Hey, as Staind said, its been a while. Just taking a peek. Could have just searched for TE-310 but assumed all the tags had been revised in the rewrite. Live and learn.
And thanks for the comments and shared material throughout the year. Top man.
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… and the Man from La Manche powers on relentlessly, whether mojo is there or not.
Kudos and vibes
You usen’t to sing or play fingerstyle… 
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Great update Toby. You’ve got a lot of irons in the fire and concentrating on fewer of them sounds like a plan.
Looking forward to hearing you play fingerstyle and sing some John Denver rockers.
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Hi Toby, I’ve just read through your LL update, and had to smile, as - oh wow, what a coincidence - I’ve just decided this morning to change my learning path a bit to focus on fingerstyle for a longer period 
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Actually, I should move on to module 12 now (power chords, palm muting, aso), which would have been a good reason to dust off my 2 electrics. But at the moment, I don’t feel like doing that.
Having been to a Peter Ratzenbeck concert recently, has influenced me and my guitar focus for the next time considerably.
So, it seems, we’re having something in common, when it comes to practice time 
.
@Rod58 posted an AVOYP of Simple Man (I just wanted to post the link, but saw, that you’ve already checked it out 
). I think, this would suit perfectly to your musical preferences and your voice 
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Always admire your thoughtfulness and organisation, Toby. Having direction and a plan is a first step, without that all the energy in the world makes no difference. On that score, I know how you feel.
I’m sure you’ll have fun and make progress on the finger-style and I am sure in time you’ll sing and pick and wonder what all the fuss and bother was about.
I like to keep it simple and my picking equivalent of ‘old faithful’ is T M T I T M T I played with alternating bass notes. Seems to sound OK for many songs. Two in my repertoire are Blowing in the Wind and Going to be Friends.
Keep on rocking in the French world.
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The times they are a changing my friend !
@sairfingers sing some JD ? I’ll need a years diet of granola and hiking before there’s a chance of that idea even been kindled.
@NicoleKKB No harm in staying where you are if you are building and consolidating a style you enjoy and from what I have seen, are excelling at. Being more rock orientated I did indeed take the power chords and palm muting route as it was laid out in the old course. So like me returning to fingerstyle now, your rocking days will come. But listen out to the whsipers coming from your plug in stable, they will still be gently calling “play me play me”.
As for Simple Man, its one I have dabbled with in the past, when I could not get the pick picking 
up to speed. Experimented a little after Rod’s post.
I found there was not much substance song wise to Justin’s Folk Fingerstyle courses on my first visit but experience has shown me sometimes you just have to go looking for the right song. Dust In The Wind is a good builder and I now have the Intro and Verse down. The problem is chord changes I once took for granted are now a mess due to the focus on the pattern. Early days, look forward to you sharing your own experiences.
I appreciate the sentiment dear friend ! Having plan and mapping it out is one thing. Sticking to it is something else but I am determined to be a little bit more disciplined for the rest of this year. Then it will be a further reassessment for what the 2024 targets will be.
Right now it’s a matter of getting some patterns down, learn songs from end to end and worry about the singing in due course. But I suspect there will be another eureka moment, like the one that trigger the “Diaries”.
I came across that pattern you suggested for a trimmed down version of Dont Think Twice but I guess some Dylan will definitely be on the cards.
At the moment and from an early singing perspective, I found a “traditional” Folk Fingerstyle course on Truefire and unlike Dylan and going back to the 60s, some of the material harks from the 1600s and hails from @sairfingers country ! Songs that are truly off my radar but it takes what it takes. If I record them my rep will be blown to tatters !
Anyway, Bob and the Stripes will feature somewhere along the line !
Stay tuned folks.
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And maybe check out the Jack Johnson version of Friends. One of those that I take the cover over the original
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Quick update on the non-Blues (Folk) Fingerstyle progress, so obviously not Blues Diary material and certainly work in progress, so an LL drop makes sense.
So the Folk fingerstyle development continues alongside acoustic blues. I think this is now week 6 and I am back to getting chord changes right whilst playing the patterns ! Yehaaa !! So along with Dust In The Wind and old 16/17th century folks song, this was the other pattern I chose for development. Mainly as it is constant 8th notes for the best part but has a relaxing flow to it once you get going. Neither of the other two are ready for vocals but I’ll try and record them at some stage. So this is just a taster.
Plan now is to work on increased tempo the apply to songs, when I find something that fits.
As @LievenDV expressed recently, its all about layering and this around point B on that chart at the moment. Example of the pattern below for those who are interested and the progression as per the Music Theory Live Show thread.
As my OBS videos have been a disaster recently, I decided to go for audio only. My mixing skills are a little rusty but the BT was tabbed out in GuitarPro and the midi dropped into Reaper. Short bike vid from my last ride out a few weeks back.
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Hey “Toby”!
Nicely played and cool video!
I knew that you are a biker, what’s your current ride? My wife & I love our bikes (we’ve cut back to only 3)!!! Was that ride in the Normandy countryside? Looked like a beautiful day for a cruise!
Tod
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Thanks Tod much appreciated. Picked up a Dyna Low Rider back in 2019 and its the 2017 model so last of the Dyna range. I’m am only a couple of miles from the Brittany borders, so that short run was still on the Normandy side but most of the ride (just under 70 miles) was over the border. But some super roads round here for sure. Opportunity to ride now will be few and far between over the coming months. As to cutting back, I sold 4 before leaving the UK, then got a Yam FZ8 in 2012 once we’d settled in over here. Great bike but like sitting on a plank ! Anyway at my age laid back Harley style riding is perfect but I’ll still rip it up now and then.
HaHa! I hear you loud & clear… give me a sofa with wheels!
About 10 years ago ( I was 52), my wife asked me if I thought that I would have a mid-life crisis. I said “Hell Yeah, you wanna have one with me?” So we bought a couple of matching Harley 883 SuperLow Sportsters! We’ve added since then and give the Sportsters to our kids. Right now I have a 2015 Indian Chief Vintage & a 2017 Harley Breakout. My 5’ tall wife rides a 2018 Harley Softail Deluxe that is arguably the most beautiful bike I’ve ever seen!!! We had to have it lowered & she has to wear boots with a big heel just so she could touch the ground!!!
Ride safe 
, play dangerously 
!!!
Tod
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