Hi all. I ran into a situation this week that I wanted to share with everyone. For the past several of months I have been hitting the fingerstyle guitar practice very hard, 2-4 hours 4-6 days per week on average. This past week, all of that practice time came to a screeching halt because I had to focus on finishing the book for the new fingerstyle course. Well, I finished the book this past Saturday. After a week of playing very little guitar, I noticed that I had been feeling burnt out on fingerstyle practice and I didn't even realize it. I thought to myself... "oh great, after a week of not practicing, most of the gains I made with fingerstyle guitar will be gone." I was very pleasantly surprised when I sat down with the guitar today. I found that after 5 minutes or so of playing, I didn't notice any loss in skill or sharpness. I believe that this is because I was so consistent with my practice for so many months before this little break I was "forced" to take. To me, this is a great example of why consistent practice and focusing on the one thing you want to be best at is so critical for getting better on the guitar. I just wanted to share this to encourage everyone. If you have one thing that is holding you back, or one thing that you want to conquer more than anything, try spending 3 months focusing on that one thing. Commit to it every day for 90 days and see if it doesn't get much better. I recommend taking at least one day per week off of practicing so you don't burn yourself out. Don't forget to share what you choose for this 90-day challenge here in this thread.

As some of you might know, I picked up a new to me guitar this past week (PRS CE24). :) I have to say that this guitar has got to be in my top three favorite feeling electric guitars that I've ever owned (best color in the world to me as well.) However, I was less than thrilled with the pickups on the guitar and the bridge was the only part of the guitar that wasn't made in the US. I figured that I loved the feel of the guitar so much that I could swap the pickups out to modify the sound and upgrade the bridge to be on part with the rest of the guitar. I used to do these types of upgrades and modifications all of the time when I was younger, but for the past 10 years or so, I've just left any new guitar I purchased in it's stock condition for the most part. Maybe that's just because I'm getting older and just don't like messing around with things as much now. This guitar felt so good that I sold my Les Paul and my Gretsch and just had to pull the trigger. I'm putting some Suhr Thornbucker pickups in it and I'm changing out the bridge out to a Mann Made US bridge. I'm eager to see if these mods can darken the guitar up a little and turn it into my new #1. So... do you like doing upgrades and modifications to your guitars or do you find it to be a bit of a nuisance? I didn't think I would get back into swapping things out on guitars but this one felt nice enough to force me into it. ;) Here is a before picture. I'll keep you guys posted as the new parts are installed.

Hi all. I'm very happy to say that I have finished writing the text fingerstyle course book, and I'm done with all of the graphics and musical examples. This is my least favorite part of the process, so it's a big relief. Now it's on to the book layout and proofing process. After that I'll start filming! I do need your help though. I'm having trouble coming up with a name for the course that is fun and original. Right now the working name is Fingerstyle by Nate Savage. I know I know... super-exciting. I'd love to hear your ideas for course names. Drop them here.