Ukulele for parents, Beginner Lesson 12 and more news!

New eBook of childrens songs for uke, more beginner lessons and general news of the site and what I've been up to! June 2020 Newsletter Howdy guitar friend Hope this newsletter reaches you safe and well and having a load of fun on your guitar journey. Life is getting back to normal here but I know in other parts of the world things are still crazy - so sending you all my very best wishes! Been the usual silly busy month with all kinds of interesting things going on and some projects finally launching and some more shaping up nicely in the development stages! Highlights - New Ukulele for Mums & Dads series: eBook and video lessons - Beginner Lesson 11 out, 12 coming very soon! - Website Design Improvements - Jam Track Samples - Workshop spaces :) One thing I should mention is that we're rolling out a new GDPR privacy banner for EU users, we need your cookie consent for some of the new features we're using, like remembering what lesson you were on, what you've done and that kind of thing. I know they're a bit of a pain, but you only have to hit it once! Lets hit the news! Playing music with your children creates memories that you and they will remember forever. As soon as my daughter Vivienne started getting into singing I started playing songs that she was learning at school and even though much of it I could 'busk' (figure out by ear as I went along) I was looking for a book with all those children's songs in it and couldn't find one... so I decided to make one! My new ebook [Children's Songs For Mums & Dads]( available for download on the website now :) A collection of 101 Childrens & Christmas songs with super easy chords for Ukulele! Big thanks to my mate Dave Marks who did all the layout and helped with the arranging (so funny that two experienced musicians struggled to decide the chords for some of these simple songs!). As well as the book I have a new [Ukulele Quickstart For Mums & Dads]( video lesson (Learn Ukulele in 15 Minutes), and 6 of the children's song videos (of songs from the book) live on the site - another batch filmed and just need editing. And while I was at it I did a [2020 Ukulele Buyers Guide]( showing the different sizes and what to look for when buying your first uke! The eBook is also available for [Amazon Kindle]( and if you like the book and fancy leaving a review on Amazon it makes an incredible difference and help persuade someone to give it a shot and have a great time with their kids! Thanks in advance! Lesson 11 is out, 12 on the way! Lesson 11 was a super fun one - exploring fingerstyle and sus chords - Nitsuj really enjoyed it and lots of positive feedback on this lesson - it is loads of fun. The super-easy arrangement of Happy Birthday seems to be one of the most popular lessons from it. Ziggy did come to console me when I pulled a Justin classic and did most of a lesson without the camera recording. Doh! Not the first time, probably not the last! I had hoped to get Lesson 12 out before this newsletter but I'm not quite there... next week is a write-off, so will be the end of July before it's out - but it's a rocker... we get into POWER CHORDS!! Nitsuj has been doing a lot of practice on it but he's not quite there - but it'll be out last week of July I hope! [Check it all out here :)]( THANK YOU! Amazing big thank you to everyone who offered to help with the User Experience research in the last newsletter - we needed just 10 people but have nearly 1000 people offer - you're amazing - thank you! We got incredible feedback from the study and have implemented some small changes already and a lot more are in the works. And given how many of you offered to help we are working on another test to help us refine the new site framework and will put details in next newsletter! Improvements already implemented include: - Breadcrumb Trail in top left above lessons - to help people navigate the site - Moved the "Next Lesson" button to right under the video - no more scrolling to find is, especially on mobile! - Removed the "In Progress" button - almost nobody was using it, probably the Practice Assistant superseded it. - Lots of tweaking to how the site looks on mobile - but a lot more work needed! So thanks again to everyone that offered to help, and to those that participated, Cassandra said the interviews were filled with positive vibes. Much appreciated :) BTW, Ziggy is totally not into trying to play guitar! So you love the new Tee's then!! What a great response and appreciate the great feedback on the new Tee Shop!! Still got more designs to get up there, just been too busy with other projects this month to get it sorted. But as a thank you to everyone for your support, There is 10% off all Tees with the code THANKYOU for the next 30 days! There are some big new projects in the works for the theory course now... I have so many ideas and things I want to do, but so little time... I'm finally getting some help - more on that soon - but there are some very cool and fun things on the way! 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 Have you checked out the reviews for this app? I hadn't seen them in a while and there are thousands of 5* reviews on Android and iOS and so much love for it - super proud of this product and the dev team who make it all happen. We're full-on working on the update for this app to bring it in line with the new beginner course and with some really incredible new features - it's still a ways off and not even started beta testing yet, but it's well on the way and it's going to be incredible. The update will be free for all current users. Progress on the new app update is going great and it looks and sounds way better than I hoped - it's going to be fantastic when it's all done, so excited to share it with you but it's still a ways off (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.]( JustinGuitar Jams Dave was very busy with the design work for my new Ukulele book, but he made time to add SAMPLES of the tracks for each album - so if you wanted to hear what the tracks sound like - it's easy now - go check them out! Promo code JULY20 will get you a MASSIVE 20% discount on everything, but only until the end of July, so don't delay 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!). After all the craziness of 2020 I am so looking forward to the Italy workshops :) And all the workshops still have some spaces now, both of mine, the vocal workshop with Susan Blair and the one with the legend Josh Smith. If you fancy a release after the crazy days too then check it out and join us in the remote Italian hotel with amazing food and wine and nothing to think about but the music. :) They're special. Petite St Vincent (Barbados) is still on in February 2021 and well and also has 1 vacancy. Oh man am I looking forward to that one - looks like paradise. [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]( :) Other life stuff... I just finished listening to the audiobook of [How To Think Like A Roman Emperor]( a book about Marcus Aurelius and his meditations and it's an incredible book. I read the (paper) book a while ago but like to listen to audiobooks in the car and the author has a very engaging voice. Aurelius is one of the leading Stoic thinkers and it's his bust you might see sitting on my amps in the background. The author offers real insight into happiness and how to lead a fulfilling life in how he adapts the mediations for a modern life... I highly recommend it. I've been super consumed with work lately and other than exercise I've not had time for much else, but looking forward to a short break soon. The pic was me this morning after doing another 30 minutes max calories on my Rogue Echo Bike (an exercise bike designed by the devil) and just breaking 330 cal. Oh man, it wasn't a good start to the day :) but I've let the lockdown pounds creep on and I gotta shed them. And while I was finishing this newsletter off I got the email about a podcast I did about a while back on designing learning systems and things I think about writing courses for the website - might be of interest to some of you! Cheers Gary and Adam of [Experience By Design]( was fun! 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? 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