Back on the axe

[Ian Stuart]

It’s been six months since I last picked up a guitar. No matter how hard I tried to push myself it just felt forced and my heart wasn’t in it…I just played old songs that I’d learnt years ago and wasn’t learning anything new.
Not long after I last put my guitars down I sold all of them (needed the money bad) and haven’t even really thought about it until the past few weeks.
Recently I’ve been watching a lot of music live and I’ve got to say, I’ve got the itch!
I’ve got a new guitar on the way and can’t wait to pick it up again and get stuck in, this time I’m going in with a different approach. I want to balance my time between learning theory, technique, and songs from my favourite artists in order to do covers of them on YouTube (which I’ll share here!)
I’m writing this down here because it’ll make me more accountable and I definitely need to rely on the community more this time around!
This is my New Years resolution anyway! Anyone got any guitar/music-related New Years resolutions?

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Dude that is so awesome to know that you got back into it! Please don’t feel sorry about doing it because everybody goes through that at least one time in their life. But after reading what you were originally doing by just learning covers and songs, you may have lost your spark because he didn’t have an ultimate goal. I know everybody has this dream about having a great YouTube channel Where it’s full of their favorite covers and they hope to get lots of followers and good comments. But ultimately being a YouTube guitarist is Only going to take you so far. I can’t even tell you how many times I see guitarists that devote their entire life to making their channel perfect. And ultimately what it is, it’s a channel where you broadcast yourself for the entertainment of others. If you are just looking to have a simple YouTube channel for your own progress that’s great! But please don’t get sucked down the rabbit hole of it. I Think it would be great if you could find some sort of local cover band or even tribute band that you could be a part of period or even become a teacher at a local community center. I’m just nervous that with all of this new excitement you have, you’re going to be trapped in the YouTube world and you will never extend beyond that. I cannot wait for your videos in your future work my dearest friend!
As far as my resolutions goes, this is the year that I actually get my album recorded. We have 14 years worth of music that we have not been able to financially record or release and now it’s the time for us to be able to do it. I’m extremely excited! I am looking to do more classical guitar gigs as a little bit of side money as well

 

[idssdi]

Awesome that you got back to it! You seem to have a good balance to keep it being fun. Don’t forget to write your own songs aswell!
As for my my resolutions. I’ve been working on improving my ‘feel’ a lot lately. Which means I’ve been barely learning new songs or techniues just trying to get all the inflections as good as I can possibly get them and I’d like to continue with that next year. Besides that work on some gypsy jazz and my singing while playing guitar. Also learn some new songs for shots and giggles. Ooh and I want to start working on my songwriting a bit more serious.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Great! Just stay Up to Date in the school because asking questions, participating in Student Projects and similar stuff really helps keeping yourself motivated

 

[Ian Stuart]

Hi @jak!
You’re absolutely right!
I hope to use YouTube as a way of tracking my progress and keeping myself accountable through putting out regular content on the channel. I feel like having that end goal of recording it to put it out on YouTube helps motivate me more when learning new stuff even if it doesn’t get many views
I’ll definitely be on the lookout for a band this year though! I’ve been terrified about playing in front of a live audience for years and thats held me back massively. It’s time to face my fears! What’s the worse that can happen right?
@Ids that sounds like an awesome plan! I think I might join you on the pursuit of feel also
Thanks for your input guys!

 

[Ian Stuart]

And @jak I can’t wait to hear your stuff!

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

Great initiative man. Now that you have told us, you just HAVE to do what you said. Your covers are awaited.

 

[Ian Stuart]

@Sayonil it’ll certainly push me to put more effort in! I think joining a band will too and keep me practising