Late May Guitar News (lots of fun stuff!)

So so so busy. But all good and some fun new lessons out and a big new project almost done! (Late) May 2020 Newsletter Howdy guitar friend Hope this email finds you safe and well. This month has been full-on and crazy busy but all really good. All the family are well and while lockdown is a hassle, it's not more than that really, so we feel very privileged. Highlights - Beginner Videos back to YouTube - Beginner Lesson 9 out this Saturday - 3 new Lockdown Lessons - ReMastered old DVDs for download I bought a new super-fast computer which is really going to speed up my workflow - I'm working on 2 computers side by side so I can get things done while waiting on exports, renders and other time-consuming video stuff. I'm trying to post more fun things on [Instagram]( too, so maybe go give me a follow over there if you're into that platform! Was hoping to get a new little project launched before this newsletter, but it's still not ready so will be in the next newsletter. It's a load of fun though. Grade 2 is GO! Nitsuj had finished with Lesson 9 and I'm working hard this week to get it all ready for release on the weekend! In this lesson, we start looking F, learn the C Major Scale and put it together in an all-time classic pop rock riff, and another super fun one. There have been quite a lot of people asking about the video assistant feature for Grade 2, which I didn't think was so popular, but turns out I was wrong - so I filmed it as soon as I realized and it's live! The website is still going crazy with traffic, so much so that I'm having to move all my beginner video embeds back to YouTube or having to pay crazy video hosting fees in Vimeo. But that's actually been great too, the perfect excuse to go back and fix those beginner lesson videos that were too dark - turned out it was a bad colour setting on my iMac that was making the screen crazy bright, and so the edits came out very dark. They look loads better now and I'm busy making thumbnails and titles and releasing them fast as I can, should be finished with it by the end of the week. Nitsuj got himself an awesome new electric guitar, a PRS SE (top pic!) - Justin is a little jealous ;) any excuse to buy more guitars? suit me sir! Just joking actually - I'm totally over having lots of gear and clutter and going to offload a lot of gear post virus. Hope you're enjoying it all and much more to come - I'm aiming for the new lessons out every 3 weeks - but there is more in them to digest so hoping that'll be solid timing for everyone! [Check it all out here :)]( New Lessons I'm still over busy with the beginner stuff to get much more done, I'm trying but I feel like I need to focus on the beginner thing to really make it as good as it can be - but hoping that my new workflow will free up more time for new fun songs and projects. I did get another few lockdown lessons out though - see below. They've been super fun and might try to continue the idea post lockdown. [Jim Campilongo]( Jim is one of my all-time favourite players and so a lesson with his is something to treasure and he didn't disappoint. We explore his approach to chord melody using the Standard jazz tune Misty and he has some super tasty ideas to share on it! [Tim Pierce]( Tim is such a great player and I've always wanted to sit and chat about how he thinks about layering his parts - that's one of his many super powers. In this lesson he reveals some of the magic! [Simon McBride]( Simon's technique is off the scale, he can play super fast with ease, but has great touch and taste too, and sings and writes great songs... but here we chat about rock chops! Products Revamped With the closing of the store that used to sell books I have revamped the products page of the website - and remastered the old DVDs for download too! I try to give all I can away for free but I know there are people who prefer to support the site by buying stuff - so this is for those people! :) [Digital Products]( The ol' DVDs got a full makeover and I remastered them (improved the audio and picture as best I could). Strumming Techniques Vol 1 & 2 are bundled together for just 9.97. All three volumes of Solo Blues Guitar and bundled them together for 9.98 - and Master The Major Scale is 9.96. [Books]( While I am no longer selling books directly, I have teamed up with two companies as preferred partners who will give me a share of the sales, so much appreciate your support and buying through them. Both are offering free shipping in the UK. [Andertons]( is owned by my friend Lee and is my local music store and [Music Room]( is owned by my Publisher (who have been great support over the years) so really awesome they could both help out here. [Tee Shirts]( The Tee's are still shipping and I'm confident that this is the biggest collection of guitar themed tees' you'll find anywhere! :) Jam Tracks & Apps Links on this page here lead directly to the app stores or the sales pages of the JustinGuitar Jams site! As always - much appreciate your support! :) I'm working on a new module of Blues Theory to add in at the moment, trying to explain how it works and explore ways to use theory in a Blues context - interesting because Blues breaks all the rules :) It's now at over 140 lessons, and 12 hours of video! The first couple of grades are free so you get a vibe on what it's like, but the real fun stuff is in Grade 3 where you learn about chords in the key - and remember you get both my old theory books as PDF files (which used to sell for 10 pounds each) with your subscription and it remains at just 9.99 for 6 months - I was planning to put the price up this month, but because of the virus situation I'm going to leave it for at least the next few months. [Click Here to check it out!]( Beginner Song Course App Seems like a lot of you are digging the app for your quarantine practice sessions, so we have made a special playlist called Music For Hope And Well-Being in which we've added 10 fun songs that you can play free (without a subscription) until at least the end of May! Music is such a wonderful escape that we wanted to offer some fun for everyone to jam and practice along with, music is such amazing therapy and great for stress relief too! We're still working on the big update and it's a looking awesome but the coding still not started, gotta make sure we get it awesome first), it's going to be fantastic when it's all done, so excited to share it with you but it's a ways off yet (will be a free upgrade for all subscribers when it's ready, not a separate app!). [Check it out here! :) available for iOS and Android.]( Our little [forum community]( is a very special place and there are some amazing members that deserve some recognition. The incredible forum moderators Richard (close2u) and Lieven (LievenDV) are suggesting a forum member be recognized each month and they win a $50 music voucher and an hour skype lesson with me! Also [this video]( made by some of the regulars is hilarious! :) Pillar Of The Community Award Majik helps keep this community standing tall. His efforts surpass the field of guitar, he is knowledgeable, writes in-depth and explains technical issues with clarity. This long-time member is pro-active with his countless offers to help and share insights. Thank you Majik!! :) JustinGuitar Jams Dave Marks, my partner in crime in the Jams project has been busy helping me with another new project the last month - but we also got one fun new Jams project released today! [Jam Chords]( (for Beginners!) We have made a new jam track album specially designed for beginners - easy chords but great grooves to play along with. And as a special offer for the next month, you can get any one of our Jam Blues series for half price when you buy it! No code required, just add any deluxe Jam Blues album after Jam Chords! There are loads of free tracks on our YouTube channel [go drop us a sub]( and if you have time to listen through a few tracks it would really help us out - and help you out because they are LOADS of fun to jam along with - it's what I use for my own jam practice sessions. We got some stellar players lined up for some jams on the tracks too - the plan is to get tabs done and offer them free to everyone who bought a deluxe pack of the album it's off :) a perk for supporters. If you want more you'll find all the tracks on our store at [justinguitarjams.com]( :) where you can get deluxe editions of the albums with charts and some extra special content on the way (you'll always get the updates for each pack free!). All of our workshops are now postponed, all the Italian ones (including Josh Smith and Susan Blair vocals) will now be held in late September (same venue) and the one in Petite St Vincent (Barbados) is in February 2021. [Get all the latest on the workshop's website.]( JustinGuitar App News Big thanks to everyone leaving reviews and feedback on the apps, much appreciated. We've got a new cool tool in development now too :) All these apps are available for [Android]( & [iOS]( :) Got some heavily requested features live in the Note Trainer app for iOS (Android updates coming shortly!) - You can now choose which strings and notes (whole notes or all notes) to be tested on - There is a reference fretboard where you can view all the notes / notes by string / specific notes for revision - Layout for some of the newer phones has been tweaked to make everything fit onscreen a little bit better The Magnet If you've not seen Troy Grady's videos then you've been missing out. He's quite an astounding musician and has been deep-diving into guitar picking technique for a long time and made some really interesting videos about picking technique - how it works and how different people do it. And one of the tools that helps him examine picking close up is The Magnet, a device that holds a smartphone camera in the perfect place to record video of the picking hand (especially modern smartphone cameras have a slo-mo high frame rate recording mode!). I placed my order early days but just seen that they're reached the goal and so it's going to be made. If you're into your technique then [get yourself one of these]( they're an amazing tool for picking geeks! Other life stuff... I feel very lucky that my work had not been badly affected by the virus. I have a pretty big garden and a forest nearby to explore and the family safe and well and we have all we need. I was probably a bit moany in the last newsletter because I had a run of bad luck and even with so much to be grateful for, the clouds can still stop you from feeling the sun, y'know. And for sure there are many facing much greater challenges than me. It makes me very happy that so many people have been using my lessons in the lockdown to occupy their minds, learn something new and in many cases, do something that they've never made time for in their whole lives! The great Stoic philosopher Seneca said "We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality." and I think this can be a valuable thing to remember in these times. With news outlets sending out a lot of worrying news (much of which might have agendas we are not aware of) it can be helpful to stay in the present and try to avoid worrying about things that might not even happen. I think it can help deal with things when they do go wrong too - you should find you have more energy to solve real problems when you don't waste energy on imaginary ones. It's something that helps me anyway. I've been getting into mountain biking a lot the last month - got this super fun [Kids Ride Shotgun]( seat for Vivi and we've been going out riding for our daily exercise and it's been really fun exploring our local neighbourhood - there are a maze of narrow paths and bridleways linking loads of places I would never have found just in the car, and too far to have found walking. And getting out and away from the computer helps my head for sure! Hope you stay safe and well and wishing you love and laughter! Cheers! J. Copyright © 2020 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](.