update:

well, it's year's end. things will get crazy busy until 2024, so it seems like a good time to think about how far i progressed in 2023. i will be starting a new thread for 2024, and each subsequent year, so the pages load faster and to make it easier to navigate..

2023 goals completed:

1. total practice time exceeded 600 hoiurs. my goal was 500. i plan to keep a little better record of time next year.

2. i was able to cleanly play both "jesu, joy of man's desiring" and "lagrima". i will likely re-record these in the next few weeks now that i have real microphones.

3. learned all the open chords and standard major / minor bar chords

4. learned one arpeggio shape with sweep picking, basic level.

5. changed from open pick grip to jazz/metal pick grip, basic right hand muting to eliminate ringing strings. fixed right hand not floating down far enough which also eliminated pick attack issues that were causing a string rubbing noise that drove me batty. switched to jazz iii picks. significant improvement in picking accuracy.

6. basic inside / outside alternate picking

7. learned scale shapes for all the modes, learned most of the notes on the fretboard... still have to think about the middle strings from frets 7 to 10.

8. learned the first 1/3 of classical gas at near full speed, i'm gonna call this goal 80%

9. started working on masic strumming and blues progression.

10. started working on my 2024's tango challenge.

2023 goals not achieved:

1. i had to push back on the electric improv and blues hound course after throwing out my back. this goal was tied to a custom build i was comissiing. the build fell thru. i decided to advance a few accoustic goals instead. this goal is now targeted for early 2024.

2. the classical gas goal is still in progress. i have 4 weeks to try to learn the rest of the song. i feel pretty good about this one being completed by end of year.

3. i swapped out the travis picking song goal for "synchopated" song goal, and then merged it with 2024's tango goal, as the song i selected has 3 over 2 poly rhythms.

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i played a little as a kid, but never really practiced... 15 minutes before music lessons evry other week at most. and so my old guitar sat idle for decades, until one day around my 50th birthday that tookish side woke up and decided it was time for a musical adventure.

it's no music of the ainur, but if i can learn a few walking songs i'll be happy.

i'm not much for journals, but i shall do my best to post regular updates and videos.

current goals:

1 month: finish "jesu joy of man's desiring" and post video. wrap up current exercises and transition to blues hound course. work on basic bar chords, 12 bar blues progression, and basic strumming.

3 month: basic improvisation w/ blues, basic finger style patterns with clean chord transitions. begin travis picking song (tbd), should be able to play classical gas at 1/2 speed. sign up for lessons.

6 month: complete blues hound and fingerstyle courses. start short focus session on caged. should be completed classical gas and working travis picking song up to speed.

12 month: dipping toes into advanced techniques. add a tango or fandango to list of acoustic songs. start working on some easier buckethead songs. reach 500+ hours practice for the year.