07/01/26
Hello & here is my first log of 2026 from getting a new guitar and amp as I said in my intro. Hows it been going? I am shocked as I cant practice as much as I like, life just gets in the way eh.
Started Grade 1 on the 4th Jan 2026 just got past the anchored finger for D to A. I recorded this in my notes and wow I am so surprised tbh.
Day 1 chord changes D-A = 15
Day 2 06/01/26 = 21
Day 3 07/01/26 = 65!!!
Now I have no idea how that happened I have not picked the guitar up since last night. The only thing I have done tonight was 30 minute practice and my routine isā¦ 10 minute warm up so fretting each note up and down the neck in rows of 4 and so on. (note I am reading the notes also like E,F,G, A,B,C,D etc) I read do this to learn the fretboard.
Then I have 10 minutes learning chords C,A,G,E,D. I know theres a system about those notes, dont know what it is yet but I thought learn them.
Then I have 10 mins practicing the Am Pentatonic. I learnt this the other day and thought it looked quite easy, how wrong I was haha.
Anyway I am still struggling with finger placement its getting there but its not perfect I would say on average say 75-80% are great the other well lets say my fingers are in knots going all ways I never thought a finger could go 
Then I do the 1 minute chord challenge what happened tonight has blown me away honestly!
So there it is my routine for now Grade 1 I want to pass though I have no idea if you have to send a video or not if so Iām going to be about 12 months before I have the courage to do that malarkey 
Oh I forgot to mention I have chosen a song I wish to learn which is BOC āDont Fear The Reaperā Loved that song for years upon years if I can master that I know Iām on my way to being able to play better & better.
10/01/26
Two days rest and I had a go this afternoon for forty minutes. Didnāt really practice I was watching the grade one videos just reminding myself of what goes where.
Now Iām guessing that when it comes to updates on this log you cannot add a new section so in essence itās an all in one. Shame as Iād like to have different reference dates with new updates.
What I am trying to do is make a practice plan so far itās finger fretting each fret. I changed this up a tad by using my index & middle then ring and pinky. I find this extremely challenging than just doing four in a row. Hopefully I can develop finger independence a little bit quicker.
Surprisingly enough my fingers are not to far away from the fret board, unlike I have seen where fingers are pointing away on some videos. Thatās part one. Part two (all 10 minutes btw) is the D & A chord changes.
Then I have the Am pentatonic. I have added an extra 10 minutes for my chosen song of dont fear the reaper for the rhythm part. I placed the metronome on to see how fast I was and Iām currently 35bpm on the picking and chord changes.
According to the tab itās 141bpm 
I have a long road ahead but itās great fun. I really am tempted to hit that distortion on my amp and play about with the tone exchange, but whatās the point I canāt play anything yet 
11/01/26
Downloaded the app. Now I am learning so much to do on here and you cannot move on until the app says its correct. Great feature to make sure you are fretting correctly with no buzz, lots of practice on this then I feel. What have I learnt today?
2 Day streak thatās ok level 7 on the app score is 210 of 320 chuffed with that on grade one.
So 4 minutes learning, 10 minutes practice, 4 minutes playing songs one strum at a time & 9 songs played. Is that good sure feels like it on my fingers. Plus I had my 30 minute routine of fretting, D-A in a minute and the pentatonic along with my song as well. (Still no faster )
Quite a day and I loved every minute of it. I have stumbled on a song by pure accident and that song is the intro to Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Blue. I remember this when the film came out when I was a kid. I think the chords are D-A-G well thatās what I was playing and strumming. It was ok not perfect but I knew the tune.
I want to keep going but I am forcing myself to stop. Life is great!!
12/01/26
Missed day 11 due to shifts at work so today I have been on the app on learning and practice. i have completed Grade 1 lessons and now need to fine tune all the chords and challenges so i am confident to move onto Grade 2. Now I am still trying to find out how I clear Grade 1 I know Justin says make sure everything is in good working order before I do move so be it. Finger tips are painful as I am still learning the pressure I need to fret. Big night just want to sleep now after a 14hr shift meh 
16/01/26
Grade one oops misunderstood 
I done Module 1 & still doing it. I will be moving onto module 2 what a plum
Now I have only missed one day which was Tueday as I was late home from work. Other than that every night. I thought no point saying the same thing over & over again as reality is I am still getting my two notes down. They are however getting much much better.
I have still been doing my song choice of learning but I am still incredibly slow at it. I have made a change in my finger choice & am I hoping its ok? So the chords are A-G-F-G repeated my choice of fingers are for the A middle and ring for the G i use middle & ring then for the F I use index & ring.
Itās hard Iām not going to lie & that is why I am so slow as I am I guess retraining my fingers I dont know but it sure feels like it. No rush slowly does it. I also have been playing the Am pentatonic, I want to look deeper into this as I understand there are 5 positions and they all inter link.
I am starting on the the E sting G then counting five down and moving up two and counting another five and two down. It sounds terrible if I hit the wrong note so a little more reading and understanding here for me. Other than that its same old same old just keep going slowly bit by bit until it all fits together, Yes I am still enjoying it. I want to practice longer but as I have read and People advise 30 minutes a day is fine. I may push this to an hour if I have the time.
Oh I forgot to add I bought new stings as the original sounded pants tbh and they are DāAddario 9-46 nickel wound. Not bad at all may I say & I aslo learnt how to restring and retune with a floating bridge Iām pretty please with myself as everything stays in tune even if I hit the whammy chuffed 
21/01/26
So a catch up what have I been doing?
Still working on Module one I have revisited it after watching some of Justins videos. Now I am tying to get my finger pressure correct and loosing my fretting hand, to do this I am playing on the 5th to 7th fret on the G string and apply pressure ever so lightly until I hear a note.
This is a great technique as my finger are no longer hurting (as much). My fingertips have got harder and the string dent are hardly embedded in my skin no more .I am also trying to loosen or relax my hand as a whole I have noticed I have flying fingers so I am getting this fixed hopefully.
How? what I am doing is removing pressure points, by this I mean when I am doing the spider I am lifting my fingers off as I place the next one down, therefore I only ever have one note and one finger under pressure. Sounds nuts but itās working slowly. I am doing this to extremes like I will pull my finger right off and far away from the fretboard to get muscle memory and over the next few weeks gradually move them closer until I am say a 16th away from fretting the note.
I have also been doing my D - A & A- E & D etc but the app is not picking up one one minute challenge on A only weird as the chord is clean and loud!
My song the chord changes are getting quicker and cleaner still a long way to go and I am using my middle and ring fingers more to fret these chords. I think its the begining of a power chord who knows I dont?
I finally gave in to the distortion and I found Hells Bells by AC/DC and that was it I was noodling for an hour
As so I 'm commited to what I am doing with the fretting hand and finger pressures, once I am satisfied with this I will continue onto module two once also my chord changes are fast. Slow going but man what great fun it is.
25/01/26
Staying on module 2 slowly but Iām finding the app is not doing my one minute challenge? Maybe itās me Iām not sure.
Practicing not learning just going over the sections Iāve learnt but hey I had a breakthrough on the fretting hand. I changed my right leg to stand on a small box to lift my leg up and boom in came my hand nice and straight and no pain apart from the finger tips.
The fingertip pain is 100% my fault as I have been learning the Am scale up and down with bends vibrato sliding half bends hammer ons and pull offs.
I have not moved out of the box yet and I found a few Am backing tracks to play to. I love playing clean but on a 12 bar the distortion came in nowt heavy just a blues slow in fact.
Also played my song with a metronome and I am now playing at 43bpm any faster and I mess up this is my breaking point.
Otherwise itās all the same still getting the muting by my fingers but itās a whole lot better since I started playing so yeah improving all the time.
I need a day off or two let my fingertips cool down 
28/01/26
Wow had my guitar a month today and learnt so much since I joined. Where am I at?
Anchor finger still working on A D & E getting better each day. The one minute challenge is doing my head in as itās not picking up the A even though I am fretting nice and clean.
Bugs me as I know Iām hitting thirty & more. I always practice with a clean tone maybe I should add distortion?
BOC is getting faster but I still struggle on the return from G to A Iām still thinking about it to much.
Am pentatonic definitely have the shape down and I have now started to incorporate Vibrato & small bends.
Never done the bends before if I bend to much the G & D strings go over my finger, so slowly goes there whilst also ear training I guess.
Very happy with my progress so far I canāt wait where I have a seven day practice streak. My fingertips have been burning