Marry Christmas! Katana Patches, more Guitar Setup series and Lees Lessons... and all the news.

Well I been a bit ill, but still got a bunch of things rocking for you! December 2018 Newsletter Merry Christmas Guitar Player! Well, that was a strange month - went from a couple of the most productive months ever, to one of the slowest and while I'd like to attribute it to my new puppy Ziggy, it was actually a nasty cold that morphed into bronchitis and a sinus infection. It was amazing and as well as the normal 'cold' afflictions, it somehow drained all motivation which was a very strange thing for me - but I read some interesting books and caught up on some tv series... It's Tuesday today and yesterday was my first day back at 'work' and man I have some catching up to do - I rarely take 2 weeks off for holidays, so to take so long off for being ill was super frustrating. Lots of fun and exciting things await me in the studio when I get down there after writing this, more on some new fun things below. Here's what's new: New Lessons Few things were still cooking, but productivity in November was on the low side to be fair, but I just had no energy left spare to make my usual enthusiastic lessons and didn't fancy doing a grumpy old man with flu style! That said, it certainly wasn't barren! [• Boss Katana Amp & Effects Series •]( New series where I'm making patches that sound like songs, I have released 10 Katana presets so far and I have another batch that just needs a little more tweaking and it'll be ready to go as well. These are TSL files, which you can load into your Katana amp and I've tried to match to tone from the songs as close as possible for such classics as Sweet Home Alabama (new lesson on that in the works too!), Highway To Hell, Little Wing, Teen Spirit, Mary Had A Little Lamb and lots more! Go have a look and let me know how you get on! [• Electric Guitar Setup with Charlie Chandler •]( The setup series with Master Guitar Technician [Charlie Chandler]( is now up to Lesson 7 and lots of great vibes about it. It was fun making and if you want to tweak your guitar to suit your playing style - this series will show you how! I've got a bit of text to add on the website lessons still but the videos are pretty self-explanatory anyhow. [• The Captian's Privates •]( I really wasn't sure how these would go as 'lessons' but they're proving very popular indeed - I film them now (they're not live) and give them a quick edit and fly them up on 'tube and on the website you'll find the notes and links to the stuff Lee is working on. There's some fun stuff ahead too so stay tuned. They go up every couple of weeks depending on our schedules. [• Practical Music Theory •]( Got another 5 video lessons done now (all of Grade 4.1) and be cracking into the next batch asap. Also been through a couple of times answering all the questions and make some new lessons to help explain bit people were struggling with. I love this web format over a 'book', the ability to add, tweak and edit the lessons to constantly improve them is what makes the web so awesome! Really cool to get so much great feedback on it. One thing I'll be adding very soon is a "Why? Learning Outcome" at the top of each so you know why I think you should learn each thing! [• Guest Jazzer Ant Law •]( Many moons ago a young man came for a lesson who was well into rock guitar but wanted some tips on getting into Jazz. We sat down and went over some stuff... and 16 years later - amazing jazz guitar player! :) Ant has worked real hard on getting his own thing done and [Tunes In 4ths]( (which we also did a mini-lesson on). Real cool guy and real deal modern jazz artist - go check out his new record! [• Shape Explorer •]( This was finished last month - but it really is a great series for most levels, and if you've not seen it yet - then I'd suggest you give it a watch :) I think it's one of my best.​ New Songs Well, the only way I could have beaten last months effort of 1 song... was to do none last month! Pitiful I know, I'm sorry, but as I said, there was just nothing left... however - I have been working on a couple of super cool detailed song breakdowns which should be done soon! :) Christmas Blasts From The Past It's early December which means it's time to get your Christmas songs a rocking! Remember too that I have a [JustinGuitar Christmas Songbook]( which as well as making an awesome gift, has a bunch of songs at different levels that you might like to start getting stuck into! You can see all the Christmas songs easily by going to the [All Songs]( page and selecting the "Christmas Songs" tag in the filter! [Fairytale of New York - The Pogues & KM]( Check out my awful moustache for this one (was for Movember many years ago) - but great song to learn for Christmas... way cooler than the usual cheese and I teach a little arrangement of th intro too. [Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon & Yoko]( And Xmas wouldn't be complete without this hit which is real fun to play and quite a lot going on - more than you might have thought from a casual listen! [Winter Wonderland - Dean Martin]( I pulled this one out last year, a kinda country strummy version of this classic - suck a nice song and a great one for 'old man singing' which is more talky than singy. Store & Tee Shirt Updates Got [loads of special bundle offers]( in the store here, and the classic Christmas Songbook and Christmas Tee are back rockin! It's still 3 for the price of 2! No code required, just add any 3 tee's to your cart and discount will be applied! [The Forum Song Comp]( The Christmas competition runs until a week before Christmas and the theme is Christmas collaboration! As well as the usual Skype sessions from me, I have some more super cool prizes, including a Boss Katana amp, a Yamaha Pacifica Guitar, and East Coast Guitar (Les Paul Type), JustinGuitar store vouchers, D'Addario 'care packs' and a selection of books. Rules are - at least 2 members of the forum for each entry (max 5), one of which must have been a member before Oct 1st (so if you're new you need to make some friends real fast!). Must be somehow related to Christmas, a carol, or pop hit or something. Not more than 3 minutes long (makes it hard to judge) and closing date is December 18. [Beginner Song Course App News]( Pumping out a new song every week at the moment on here :) still getting crazy good reviews and feedback all around. More songs using the app are due very soon so keep and eye out on the songs channel! Other life stuff... Well, I have very little to report - just been ill. :( I did a couple of great audio books, The Danish Way Of Parenting, 21 Lessons (which should be required reading for all humans!) and a crazy one called Algorithms to Live By which was interesting. I watched a bunch of TV series, Narco's Mexico and the new Michael Douglas thing on Netflix... I had no motivation for music stuff - it was almost like this cold has some aspect to it that put me off music. Really sucked. But I'm back on now, still slightly under the cloud but back working and got a good practice session in yesterday and got the fingers back working! I'm quite big on the whole festive holiday thing... I find the early dark and cold winter nights quite depressing, but I love the wood burner and cuddles with my girls and find myself getting quite introspective and thinking about the year gone by and what I'd like to improve in the coming year... The big goal for me this last year was to get the new website up and rocking by the time the Christmas rush of new guitarists comes on, and that is done and rocking! Big thanks to the developers for all the help with it, they've done amazing and we got some real exciting things that I'm testing now but I don't think will be ready for release by xmas... have to see. Now I have to try to align all my plans for next year and work out how to make them happen. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get my guitar record done this year so I want to prioritize that for 2019, but family and website come before creative expression these days... but I think I'm gonna make the making of the record a kinda lesson... watch this space. If you've not done so already - now is the time to think a little about where you want to take your playing next year and think about setting some goals and working out your practice routine. It should always be fun - but keep it fluid too so you can adapt it to life which will inevitably get in the way :) OK, I better get me some practice in before picking up my daughter from nursery and helping her learn her Christmas songs. Wishing you much love and laughter and guitar fun! Have an awesome festive season and best wishes for 2019! Justin Copyright © 2018 Justin Guitar Ltd, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up on my web site justinguitar.com, hope you enjoy my newsletters! Our mailing address is: Justin Guitar Ltd PO Box 695Farnham, Surrey GU9 1NB United Kingdom [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.